Page 10 of Queen of the Wicked
He looked over his shoulder and narrowed his eyes, his words cutting her like a knife. “The people who arrive in Hell arefarfrom innocent, but if torturing them makes me a sadist in your eyes, then sure. I’m a sadist. They deserve every ounce of pain inflicted upon them, and I enjoy every second of it.”
She gulped.
Loudly.
Maybe the Lord of Hell was more intimidating than she thought.
Erebos, where are you?
Alessia’s body stilled in the middle of the field, earning an irritated groan from Erebos as he turned to face her with nothing but impatience on his face. “What?”
She shook her head to try to clear the deep voice that entered, but it happened again.It’s Eryx. Please respondbefore we send a search party to you, as per your request, if a situation like this were to occur.
What thehell?She was communicating with someone in her head,a man who worked for Erebos. She tried not to let it show on her face that someone was currently speaking to him telepathically through her, but Erebos wasn’t an idiot. He seemed to sense her uneasiness immediately.
“What’s happened?” he asked firmly. “Tell me.”
She was hesitant to tell him anything. Although they made the blood pact and he couldn’t torture her, she didn’t want to go anywherenearthe pits of Hell. There was a reason she didn’t learn the history of it, and adding his staff to this seemed like a terrible idea. This confirmed that she’d taken Erebos’s powers, which terrified her more than she wanted to admit.
They could send out a search party if they must, but she wasn’t responding to whoever Eryx was. She couldn’t even if she wanted to, anyway. She didn’t know how.
“I’m not going to ask again.” Erebos crossed his arms over his broad chest to make himself taller, but she didn’t shy away from him.
“Or you’ll what, torture me? Because, per the blood pact, youcan’t.Nothing has happened. This backpack is heavy, and it’s hurting my back. That’s all. Now, can we go?”
If she hadn’t been so emotionally drained and broken from today's events, she might have laughed at Erebos stalking away from her. The Lord of Hell wasn’t used tonot having powers, and his little temper tantrum was ridiculous when he didn't get his way.
After jogging for a few seconds, she caught up to him, already out of breath from the stupid backpack.
“If only I had my powers to let me know if you’re lying or not,” he said with a shake of his head. “So unbelievably frustrating.”
“Why? Because your ego is taking a hit for once?”
“No,”he snapped. “Because if I don’t have my powers, we are defenseless in the middle of the woods. You have no clue what to do with all of my power inside of you. We have no food, no place to sleep, and if the king sends more seraphims to find us, we’re dead.”
Well, when he put it that way…
“I have a tent attached to my backpack, and there’s enough food to last us a few days. It’s not much, but it’s something.”
“And if you didn’t kill the seraph, why did you have an escape bag packed in the first place, Little Mortal?” When she didn't reply right away, he arched a brow. “What? You’re allowed to annoy me with questions, but I can’t ask you any? That seems unfair.”
“I explained it to you already. My parents told me that my powers would come to fruition on my twenty-sixth birthday, but I was also informed that I would be valuable when they did. Because of that, people might attempt to use me. It happened sooner than we thought, but we had a plan long before tonight. I already knew where to run.”
An expression of confusion passed over him. “They told you to run to the clearing in the forest?”
She nodded.
“Interesting,” he murmured. “So very interesting. What were your parents’ names?”
“I’m not telling you that.” He had no right to ask about them. She still didn’t know if he was a threat, and until she knew for certain, their names would be sacred to her. Only when he proved he could be trusted to uphold his end of the blood pactwould she divulge pertinent information.
He stormed ahead of her in another tantrum, but this time, she let him. He walked at a measurable distance for the next hour or two, leading her blindly through the woods. She had no idea how he knew where he was going, but she didn’t bother to ask. Her limbs were shaking and wobbly from the backpack she carried, but, of course, Erebos didn't offer to help. She assumed he had never lifted a finger a day in his life.
An hour later, when they reached another clearing, she was forced to set up the tent because Erebos didn't know how to do it. He made that clear when she started to unravel the pack, and he tried to analyze it like a bomb about to explode.
He ate a granola bar while she did all the work, utterly exhausted once she was finished. She was so exhausted that she no longer felt like eating.
The sun hadn’t risen yet, but she needed sleep, and so did he. Well,did he?Did demons sleep? Is that what he was? A demon?
