Page 92 of Lourdes & the Mafia
She isn’t screaming, even as blood seeps out from where her wings are staked and pooling beneath her on the ashen ground. She doesn’t look particularly bothered by her position at all, given the smile that’s tilting her lips. Her yellow eyes blink against the flickering harshness of the flames and she hums along to the tune of the screaming.
I’m jolted back to reality then, breathing harshly. The glass I reached for is now in the sand, and Lorenzo has all but shoved the demon aside to stand in front of me.
“Amore, are you alright?”
The glare that overtakes my face is instantaneous. “Pero, ¿que coño, Lorenzo?”
He takes a step back at the sight of my wrath.
“Why is she in The Pit?” I demand.
Lorenzo looks confused. “Who?”
“The she-demon!”
He blinks in confusion.
“The one who tossed me back to the human world and took me on a joyride through the Underworld sky?”
“You mean Ralgoron?”
Was that her name? We didn’t exchange pleasantries when she was kidnapping me. “Yeah. Her.”
“Amore, she’s in The Pit because she broke the rules and put your life in danger. She is to be punished for it.”
“Punished by having stakes shoved through her wings?!” Joder, what the fuck?! I knew they were mafia, but coño, that’s vicious even for them. And wasn’t he the one preaching to me about how not all demons were bad?
She didn’t seem bad to me. You know, yeeting me through a dangerous portal notwithstanding. She was creepy, but I don’t think she’s evil.
At least I hope she isn’t fucking evil, because I’m really going to bat here for her.
Damn.
“Amore, that is the punishment for demons here…”
“I want her out of The Pit,” I demand.
I have no idea what’s gotten into me. I know I have no right to be making demands of him. This isn’t my domain. We’re just fucking. I have no real power here at all, even if the demons are calling me their queen. I’m not. Not really.
“That’s Kane’s domain, Amore.”
My heart almost rips from my chest at those words. Kane. I haven’t seen him since he protected me. I wonder if he’s mad at me for what happened in the parking lot. Do I even have a right to demand anything of them, least of all Kane?
But she helped me. That she-demon helped me get out. Maybe it wasn’t a smart idea at the time, and maybe I shouldn’t have, but it was what I wanted then. And it helped me discover the truth and secrets of my lineage, if a little.
Maybe she broke their rules, but does it really warrant such a harsh punishment?
“Tell Kane to bring her here,” I order, lifting my chin and meeting his gaze. “Right now.”
Lorenzo sighs, looking to the sky as if I’m exasperating. But when he looks back at me, he smiles. “Okay, Amore. Let’s ask Kane to set her free.”
“No.”
Kane barely lets me finish explaining before he barks the single word out.
“Kane—”
“I said no.”
