Page 140 of Their Demon

“It’s not like it makes a difference now.” I shrugged as we continued down the dimly lit hallway. “I’m already here. No time to prepare.”

“You’re not getting shit from me, so shut the fuck up.”

I blew out a dramatic breath and cut my losses. The last thing I wanted was to get the shit beat out of me before this trial.

After a while, we came to an open circular area with other corridors seeming to connect to it.

And what would you know—guess who stood right in the middle, surrounded by his guards like a fucking coward?

“Lillian.” He addressed me by my name, much to my surprise.

“Satan,” I spat out, wanting to call him much worse, but self-preservation won that argument.

He smirked. “I do hope you are ready for your trial today; it’s a special one, I assure you. I can’t wait to watch you fail.”

I gestured around the room. “So, are you going to tell me what the trial is? Is something waiting for me in the halls? Is this an ambush? Some sort of maze, maybe?”

I didn’t like the laugh that left him. It made my skin crawl and my blood run cold.

“You’re funny. It’s a shame you have to die. I think I would’ve rather enjoyed you if you weren’t a filthy human.” He spoke like I was garbage, worthless, dirty trash on the side of the road.

“I never did anything to you,” I snapped at him.

He shrugged, unbothered that his violence and anger were pointed at the wrong fucking person. I meant nothing to him. I was a means to an end.

“Unfortunately, my sons thinktoohighly of you. I’ve been trying to win them back to my side the nice way for quite some time.” He walked to my side, but I refused to turn to see him. “You see, I was waiting for them to come to their senses about this whole thing. They ran off to live their rebellious, bachelor lives, sure, but once they were done having their fun, they were supposed to come home.” He was behind me now, walking a circle around me, trying to get under my skin.

“You have erased any chance of me bringing my sons back into the palace. As long as you are here, they’ll blindly—stupidly, follow you to the end of the universe. It's beautiful, really, and tragic—so fucking tragic. If this had been any other circumstance… Say you were the daughter of one of the lords. Honestly, I would’ve even been fine with some lost soul they took pity on, butno, you had to be a human.” He’d reached my other side, but I still refused to look at him. He could walk back around and face me if he wanted to see me.

“A human who opened a portal. A human who stole the hearts of not one, not two, but all three of my sons. A human who sealed herself in Hell, closingmyportal. A human who will always be in the fucking way unless she is removed.” He stopped in front of me, our eyes in a silent staring contest. “I’m sure you can understand my frustration here.” I started to open my mouth, but he lifted a hand. “It honestly doesn't matter if you do or you don’t. After all, you’ve got less than an hour of living left anyway.”

“I cannot wait to see the looks on their faces when I take your life. It will take them time to recover, sure, especially Keir, but they’ll eventually realize I was right. You were nothing but a pathetic little human who got in the way of their glory. I will prevail,pet, and when your soul is trapped here, I’ll make sureyou're the first they get their hands on when they return to me. You’ll suffer an eternity of pain carried out by the men you thought loved you, the men you thought were on your side.”

“So that’s why you had your guards keeping an eye out for me? To separate me from them? Isolate me so I feel helpless?” I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest. “Sorry to disappoint you, but you don’t scare me anymore.”

He seemed taken back by my confession, blinky rapidly as everyone else in the room looked at him, wondering what his next move would be. When he started to open his mouth, I lifted my hand.

“What you have to say doesn’t matter. I’ll be on the other side of this in less than an hour anyway, and you’ll look like a fool in front of all your people.”

His upper lip curled and his eyes blazed. I expected him to come at me, possibly turn this mental battle into a physical one, but someone ran from one of the corridors.

“It’s time, Your Majesty. Everyone is seated, and they’re chanting your name,” the timid messenger told him.

The king hadn’t even turned to acknowledge the girl, instead looking me up and down as though he was trying to figure out whether to waste time coming back at me or to go to his kingly duties.

“I cannot wait to bathe in your blood,” he remarked with a grin before turning and storming down the corridor after the messenger.

What the actual fuck?

I tried to shake off his words, but the image of him, red with my blood, refused to leave my head. The thought of losing theprinces, the thought of them having to watch me die, the thought of all the heartbreak…

I couldn't let that happen.

I wouldn’t.

“This way,” a guard commanded rather rudely, pointing down a different corridor.

Chapter 57

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