Page 81 of Prince of Ruin

“One big hot meal a day.”

He grunts in dissatisfaction. “Our Sovereign deserves so much more. Where did you sleep?”

“In the guest room.” I don’t mention the prison cell. I don’t need anymore feuds between the bat king and Tarsus.

“Did they beat you?”

“No. They didn’t touch me.” Another lie. Tarsus touched me in the best way possible, but Abaddon doesn’t need to know that. I’m not sure how possessive he is, or how jealous. There’s enough going on with having to meet with Mother Terra and then getting back home to the human realms as soon as possible. I don’t need one more thing to go wrong.

Although…thinking about returning to the human realms makes a pit form in my stomach. It’s all I wanted since the first time I arrived in this realm. Those ancient memories that haunt my nightmares tell meI don’t want to be here. I don’t want to become the king I once was.

So why does my heart sink at the thought of leaving all this behind? Tarsus will never see me as more than a traitor. Aden could always come to the human realms and visit me. Why do I feel such a connection to a place that has caused me nothing but pain?

We venture deeper into the pit of the volcano, the corridors becoming denser and smaller as we travel. And silence. It’s so quiet that if I couldn’t hear Abaddon breathing beside me, I would wonder if I was even awake, or trapped in some dream-state. There aren’t any battle drums, no chanting like there was that night I was first brought to the cavern. All the bats fled due to the volcano’s fury.

I’m not usually claustrophobic, but knowing this mountain could collapse at any moment, with the understanding that if Abaddon left, I could get lost in these caverns forever, my chest becomes tight.

“Breathe,” Abaddon coaxes gently, and I feel his wing extend around me, a wall of comfort. “One breath at a time.”

I suck air into my lungs, counting to three before releasing it to steady my rapid heartbeat.

An orange glow appears ahead, and I follow it until we step out of the corridor and arriveat a ledge, the drop off leading to a stream of lava. I can feel theheat from all the way up here and I take a startled step back, only to crash into Abaddon’s firm form. My heart stops, as I consider whether I’m the human Abaddon intends to throw into the volcano as sacrifice.

His large wings flaring, he grips my shoulders with his talons to keep me from stumbling in.

“Carefully, Clavicle,” he says, and I swear, I can hear a hint of concern in his deep voice. “We didn’t bring you all this way only to throw yourself in.”

A nervous chuckle bounces out of me. “Where to?”

“I can’t go any further,” he says as he releases my shoulders. His black eyes glitter in the torchlight when they meet mine.And in any other circumstances, standing in the heart of a volcano with only the lava as my light and a massive, eight foot beast with wings and talons standing before me, I think I would pass out. This…I can handle this.

But meeting with some sadistic goddess who wants humans dead, that’s a different story.

“Y-you mean I have to go the rest of the way alone?”

He jerks his chin down the ledge, where stone protrudes from the cliff face, just enough for one person to walk down. “Follow the path. It will lead you to the Heart of Faerie.”

My chest constricts. “Are youfuckingkidding me?”

Reaching out, he places his talon on my cheek, tenderly caressing me. “On your first day as a human in these realms, with no memories of your past life, you flew into battle on a wyvern, leading an army of bat folk. You faced the Spine Regent head-on.” He leans down until his lips are mere inches from mine. “You fucked a creature who could only be described as a demon in your human world.”

I’m engulfed with the memories of that night we fucked, and warmth fills me. Reaching up, I cover his cheek with my hand, running my fingers down the downy softness of it.

“You’re braver than you give yourself credit, little boy.”

That familiar warmth spreads through my belly at his nickname for me, and I lean in, brush my lips across his, because I might never see him again.And even if he lied, there’s a part of me that’s wildly attracted to this beast before me.

“What if she doesn’t listen?” I ask against his lips, hating how my voice has become hoarse with fear.

“You’re the only one shewouldlisten to.”

I release a humorless chuckle. “Even in my mortal body?”

His inky black eyes roam down my face, black ribbed ears twitching. “Maybe she will turn you back into a fae.”

That makes my stomach roll. I don’t want Sovereign Clavicle’s memories.

“I don’t want to becomehim.”

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