Page 60 of Pain

I didn’t want to see my aunt—the Dowager Queen Mother—and I should have just left the room when I saw her sitting in that chair. Of course, the demons at the prison wouldn’t listen when I said I didn’t want to see her. They didn’t care. They also probably wouldn’t have let us in if I didn’t tell them who I was, so they just assumed I wanted to see her.

Much like Maxar’s mother, my aunt hadn’t changed in the years she’d spent locked away from the world. She probed me for information about Howar, and as badly as I wanted to keep it all from her, obligation and duty prevailed. I told her about Howar’s young daughter, Princess Fiorella. She wanted to know who from the family remained alive, who had perished, and who was in power of the Realm.

But something in her eyes and the way she asked who was in power of the Realm gave me pause. There was a glint of defiance there. A flicker of knowledge and a secret that she desperately wanted to unleash, then bask in the pain and suffering it created. I held off telling her anything of importance for as long as I could. She continued to press though, asking of the monarchy, and the state of the Realm. Finally, I bit the carrot she dangled.

“King Donovar is dead,” I simply said.

“I am aware.Whois in power now?”

Did she somehow know about my mate being the rightful heir? Did news travel this far into the bowels of Hell? Even though I’d only been here once before, I was fairly certain they kept the flow of information about the Realm and Earth to Helltower pretty minimal. It was one of the ways they avoided the potential of insurrection.

“What have you heard?” I asked.

“Why are you answering a question with a question, nephew?” She lifted one dark brow, pinning me with her sharp blue gaze. “I still outrank you. Answer me.”

“I think my freedom, and your lack of it, negate anyrankinghere, Aunt Quintella. You are, after all, the Dowager Queen. Not regent, not consort, not reigning.”

Her nostrils flared and fire lit up in her eyes. “I have heard rumors that a usurper, amongrel,is trying to lay claim to the throne. To Lerris’s rightful place as king. Did you know that Donovar was slumming it?”

“I didn’t make a habit of keeping up with the late king’s dalliances. My job on your son’s security detail and in his court keeps me rather busy.” All I got in response to that was a slight brow lift. “Who told you about this anyway?”

Her eyes formed thin slits and a menacing grin curled her mouth. “I hear she’s your mate.”

Heat lanced through me. “Who told you this?” I demanded, urgency filling my tone even though I tried to keep my volume to a whisper.

Believing she had the upper hand—because maybe she did—her smile grew. “Why, Lerris, of course. He came to visit me just yesterday. I must say, two visits in a week, such a treat.” Her gaze slid to Omaera, who stood with her arm around Maxar. “Is that her? Is that the little mutt? Lerris said she hadthreeFated Mates, which I’m not sure I believe. However, the fact that you, a demon, a mage, and a shifter all arrived … andthatis the putrid cocktail Lerris described …” Excitement filled her gaze. “How utterly delicious. I shall wait for the announcement of her death. I hope it is long and painful.”

That’s when I stood up so abruptly my chair flew backward and tipped over. The desire to launch myself across the table and embed my fangs into my aunt’s neck had never been more consuming. Only, my fangs wouldn’t drop here. I was no more than an immortal human behind these walls.

I glared down at my aunt, and she glared back. One corner of her mouth tipped up into a half-smirk. I needed to get out of there. I couldn’t be in a room with that woman for another moment. I spun on my heel and stalked across the room, pounded on the door, and headed for the corridor. I only knew the rest were behind me because I heard their footsteps. None of us spoke though.

I led the charge toward the door, through the pitch black, narrow hallway of before. Even though we were deep underground, it was still incredibly hot. The longer I stayed in Hell, the harder it was. And now that Omaera had mate-bonded with the mage, the Mate’s Ache in my body was stronger than ever. I couldn’t even a be a room away from her. I hadn’t slept well since she mate-bonded the mage, and our days were spent with her learning how to torture, using me as a guinea pig.

Despite the absolute misery that being in Helltower was, because of the borromium and our lack of magic, the Mate’s Ache was also gone. The tightness around my chest ceased to exist and I could breathe. My stomach didn’t ache, and my head wasn’t cloudy. For the first time since the lightning strike, I felt like my old self. I didn’t have the pull to Omaera like I normally did. At least not the magical one.

And even though I hated being inside that hideous cage for the damned, it was reassuring to know that it wasn’t just the magic that made me want her. My heart still beat for her. My body still burned for her. The blood in my veins still pumped for her, and only her.

Now we were on our way back to Kenvin’s and she was staring me down, threatening to unlock the box of secrets in my mind.

There was very little I could deny my mate. Which made me appreciative she wasn’t pushing for me to tell her about the Mate’s Ache. If she knew about it, it might change the course of our bonding. I wanted her to want me for me, and with nothing else pushing her to commit to me for life. I could handle theagony. I’d endured worse. Her threat made me smile though. My breath rose and fell rapidly. I knew I needed to tell them. “Lerris has been to see Quintella,” I finally said, my jaw so tight it throbbed.

Maxar jerked the wheel hard, sending us all swaying sharply to the left.

“When?” Omaera whispered once the mage straightened us out again.

I swallowed. “Yesterday.”

Omaera’s gaze flew to Zandren quickly, then back to me. “What did he tell her? What did she say? Where is he staying? Where is he now?”

I shook my head. I didn’t ask my aunt those questions, but I already knew she wouldn’t have told me—or at least, wouldn’t have told me the truth—if I did ask. She was pure chaos and would get too much sick satisfaction sending us off with the wrong information. “He told her about you. Aboutus.” I met Maxar’s eyes in the rearview mirror, then glanced at Zandren. “About all of us.”

“Okay, so what does that mean?” Omaera asked. “What could Lerris gain traveling all the way to Hell and Helltower Penitentiary to meet with your aunt?”

“She was the one who started the war a hundred and fifty years ago. She’s the Dowager Queen. I’m sure he could gain a lot.”

“And can she do anything with the information about me … aboutusfrom behind the prison walls? Does she have any clout? Any way of contacting people?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know.”

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