Page 87 of All's Hell That Ends Well

But there was a part of me that took personal offense at his obvious carelessness. I’d grown up in this court, had been raised in the shadow of Lucifer’s overwhelming power and authority, and the proper respect for what it took to lead an entireterritoryandthe whole of Hell had been drilled into me over and over. The kind of weakness he was showing now with this negligence? If one of the archdemons had displayed anything like this, Lucifer would have personally deposed them, making an example of them in the process.

The youth I’d been at his court bared his teeth inside me at seeing the vulnerability evident in my grandfather’s behavior, for Lucifer had been the one who’d taught me that strength was everything, to always keep my guard up, to anticipate threats before they arose, and to take care of my reputation like I would any other piece of my armor, because that was what it was.

And now he was failing at those very same lessons, making a mockery of how ruthlessly he’d once drilled them into me.

We reached the private wing of the palace, and yet again, no one checked us. I was an archdemon with an entourage of powerful warriors, but our presence here didn’t raise any eyebrows, let alone prompt any attempt to halt me for questioning.

No fucking wonder that Zoe had been attacked with impunity.

My nostrils flared as I clenched my jaw and raised my hand to knock at the door to Lucifer’s room. A combustive cocktail of anger, frustration, dread, resentment, and worry churned in my blood, and I had to forcefully rein in my power and don the mask of cold indifference I’d perfected over the millennia.

At Lucifer’s call, I nodded at my warriors to wait for me in the hallway, and then I stepped inside.

The draft from the door falling shut behind me stirred the single candle that sat on a side table to Lucifer’s right, and its light flickered precariously for a moment. His face half wreathed in shadows, Lucifer raised his chin as he managed the feat of staring me down from his seated position.

At his feet lay a familiar hound, her tail wagging as she beheld me.

I didn’t dare greet Vengeance, however, not when keeping all my attention on the factor of uncertainty that was Lucifer seemed to be the more prudent choice.

I inclined my head and bowed from the waist, my skin prickling with the awareness that I was—if only for a second—baring the back of my neck to a supreme predator. But even archdemons had to display a level of submissiveness to the King of Hell when meeting him personally.

At least I didn’t have to go down on a knee anymore since I’d climbed up in rank.

“To what do I owe the honor of your summons, Your Grace?” I asked as I straightened, keeping my voice calm and respectful.

He regarded me with quiet menace for a moment before he whispered, “Do you wish to supplant me?”

I blinked and kept a tight leash on my power. “I beg your pardon?”

“Do you have designs to undermine my rule and take my place?”

“I do not,” I said in a clipped voice. “And I swear to the truth of that by our shared love for my mother.”

Something flashed in his eyes. “Then perhaps you are not familiar with the territorial laws of this realm? Though that would raise the question of how you have made it to the position of archdemon without knowledge of our basic rules and regulations.”

I ground my teeth, irritation spreading like an itch over my body. I hated standing before him, hated having to endure his interrogation, his prodding and poking that was all too reminiscent of the times he’d called me to the carpet as a youth at his court. I’d put two thousand five hundred years of distance between that past and the here and now, and yet it seemed asif the millennia and all the experience and maturity I’d gained in the meantime melted away in an instant the moment I once more stood before my grandfather.

I was a boy again, grappling for words and the strength to keep my chin up in the face of a public lecture, trying so hard to be the kind of demon that would earn praise instead of ridicule, and failing over and over.

I’d never been good enough. The very way I’d breathed had seemed wrong.

His eyes glinted hard as he pinned me with a cold look. “I asked you a question.”

I barely kept the sneer off my face. “Yes, I know the territorial laws of this realm.”

“And yet,” he said, leaning forward, his black hair swallowing the light, “you deliberately station your warriors in my palace, violating the sovereignty of my domain. If you do not intend to supplant me, and if you are well aware of the rules regarding territorial integrity, then why would you run the risk of incurring my wrath? Is it hubris…or imbecility?”

Fury was a rabid beast snapping at my control, warring with the familiar feeling of humiliation his words caused. Always, always, he would doubt my competence, poke at my pride, and insinuate ineptitude. As if I were a blundering idiot.

But I wasn’t. I was an archdemon now, was no longer that boy who’d flinch at the slights thrown by his grandfather. I had worked my way up with grit and blood and an inner fire fueling every grueling step up the ladder, and I had earned my fucking place so high up in the hierarchy that only Lucifer himself outranked me.

My power fairly vibrated in the air, so strong that a humming sound filled the silence. I clenched my jaw and met his gaze head-on, squared my shoulders, and lifted my chin.

“Speak,” Lucifer ordered. “Or have you lost your tongue along with your wits?”

Something inside me snapped. I’d meant to lay out the arguments and explanations I’d prepared to defuse the impending conflict, to be diplomatic and conciliatory. But—by the heat of Hell—he brought out the worst in me. While the insults of others rolled off my back without impairing my ability to play the game and keep my mask in place,hecould make me lose my cool within seconds.

“So concerned you are about my warriors’ presence in your palace,” I said, my good reason and fear of consequences burning to cinders in the flames of my fury, “claiming a violation of the integrity of your territory, yet you are the one who allowed the security of your domain to crumble. If keeping your lands safe from intrusion were truly so important to you, you would have invested in actually running your estate and ruling your court instead of withdrawing to your quarters and letting your authority become a thing of myth and tales of the past.”

---