Page 50 of The Misfit Mage and His Devilish Desires

“Not on your life.” I smirked. “Which I’ve already taken once.”

“Oh, come now. An ass like that needs to be worshipped.” Corson had the foulest grin. “We can take turns if you insist. I’vebedded a few of Beelzebub’s demons, and you lot tend to be the most ravenous.”

“Flattery will only get you closer to Oblivion. Especially if you don’t step out of my way.”

“I simply thought we could enjoy each other’s bodies while my mommy is busy bedding your boy.”

“What?” I stopped walking, finally giving Corson the attention he craved.

“The things I’d love to try out on your luscious body.” Corson chuckled; his grating voice reverberated loudly. “Think of the fun we’d have dancing and dueling and dying in each other’s arms with each thrust.”

I growled.

Corson slapped an arm over my shoulders, pulling me closer to him. “Bet I can make you purr so much better than that, darling.”

My insides twisted in knots, essence uncertain of whether to lash out or curl inward at the realization of this news.

“Come now, you must’ve realized this wasn’t a typical Devil’s Banquet.”

There was an air of overly considerate demons who didn’t scheme or conspire nearly as much as anticipated. Though, I didn’t attend many events or court appearances with Beelzebub, and the few he dragged me to usually turned into brawls or sieges or full-blown assaults meant to catapult our Hell into a war with another.

“She’s always hungry for new devil progeny,” Corson continued.

“What?” I cocked my head.

“Yep.” He ran his hand over his sculpted torso, tracing his fingers over the fine muscles of his body. “That’s why I’m one of Mommy’s favorites.”

I waited for him to finish fawning over himself and explain his answer as the pieces of this madness slowly clicked together.

“I’m not purely spun from her essence.” The sapphire of Corson’s eyes glowed. “I got a bit of Lucifer inside me, too. The big, famous daddy devil. Well, before his demons conspired and gutted him, ripped him to shreds, and divvied up his essence.”

“You’re born of two devils,” I said.

It wasn’t impossible, simply uncommon. Merging essence meant offering vulnerability, even if only during the ritual itself. And devils didn’t do vulnerability. But who dared to deny the devil Lilith?

Wally would have no choice but to obey Lillith’s whim. And with that realization, my world fell in on itself. What would this do to him? When I ripped the devil essence from my being, it nearly killed me, but somehow, it was enough to resurrect Wally, to heal him, to keep him alive and healthy and always improving. What would happen if he broke off a piece of himself and offered it to Lilith?

What would it mean to me? Every part of me wanted to lay waste to this temple, storm the chambers of whatever room Lilith had taken Wally, prevent any union that meant Wally shared a piece of his soul with another. But I didn’t even know where Lilith had gone. And I certainly couldn’t fight off a devil.

15

Wally

“Wait…you wanna make a baby with me?” I asked with what must’ve been the most dumbfounded expression in the history of expressions.

My jaw had fallen slack with shock. My eyes were wide yet locked in on Lilith. Literally zoomed in on her with the power of my essence in the same way I’d done when observing the distant details of Hell. She sprawled across the edge of her bed, posing a proposition to merge our essence while also…well, posing seductively.

“This isn’t real.”

“It’s quite real, Walter,” Lilith cooed. “Naturally, I’d want your offspring. It’s a fascination of mine to see the wonderful Diabolic diversity different devils bring when our essence collides.”

“Could you clarify what you mean by mating?” I asked as my throat tightened. “Like actually pushing our bodies together ina… Well, you know how people push their bodies together. Or actually, maybe you don’t. Do Diabolics do sex? Bez does. He’s really good at it. But he might’ve learned that from mortals. See, we’ve got some cool stuff. And Mora does it, too. A lot, based on the way Kell discusses it. But again, she might’ve picked that up from people. Hmmm.” I swallowed the lump building in my throat from the million other random words about sex threatening to spill out into this very awkward conversation.

“Devils do, in fact, have sex when merging essence.” Lilith shifted her position, letting her legs dangle on the edge of the bed. “I adapted it for mergers—a bit of pleasure for the process, an intriguing absurdity that lesser things require. The requirements for procreation are such a foreign concept.”

“Oh?”

“When I wish for life, I simply will it.” Lilith waved a hand. Essence pooled at her fingertips, curdling inward and transforming into a tiny glowing yellow light that exploded with black tar. Energy coiled around the light, adding a golden hue beneath the sheen blackness of the blob.

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