Page 27 of The Demon Prince's Accidental Mate
I was nothing to him. Which was fine. I wanted him gone, too. Didn’t I?
So, why did his answer hurt so much?
Chapter Fifteen
Belial
There was only so much of the hurt and embarrassment from Lily I could take before it got the better of me, and I stormed out the back door of her bakery. Again.
It wasn’t a good look, but I needed to put some distance between us. The emotional bleed through our connection was becoming too much, and I no longer knew how to handle it.
The instant the door closed behind me, I wrapped myself in shadows. Bending my knees, I leaped for the sky as huge red bat-like wings spread from my shoulders. Using my demonic form so blatantly on the mortal plane was frowned upon, and I was sure I would hear about it, but the volcanic eruption of anger building would be even worse if it tore itself loose.
Flying was one thing, but that was purely visual. If part of my powers slipped free, I could be in serious trouble. Demon-rage was no laughing matter. I had to get free of people, and soon. My wings took me north, past a raging whirlpool of the Niagara River and over a golf course, before a dark sliver of land indicated emptiness.
I landed there, where the ground was scraped flat and cleared of trees but otherwise unused. No humans close by.
And that was when I lost control. For an instant, flame licked out from me in every direction, an explosion brought upon by my anger.
Not at Lily. Not at the bond linking us. Those were frustrations, but I had long ago learned to channel and deal with those emotions. Being a demon meant my blood boiled swiftly, and with it came extreme repercussions. Losing control meant my true form would emerge from the cloak of humanity I’d draped over myself.
Not just visually, however, but also my power would come with it. And the mark I had just etched into the ground with the rolling carpet of fire would become little more than a footnote of the damage I caused before I was stopped.
Hands clenching into fists, I walked across the flat field to the nearest tree and slammed my fist right through its trunk. Fire scorched the wood as it shattered under the blow. I was sure whoever came around next would have an interesting time trying to figure out what had happened, but just then, I didn’t care.
I’d hurt Lily. With my words. The pain had come through our bond like a lightning bolt, blasting it into my mind. Scarring me. A permanent reminder.
“Idiot,” I growled, smashing another tree, searing the wood with the heat of my skin as it burst into pieces.
Yet what other choice had I been given? Ihadto do what I did. Even if pretending like she meant nothing to me was a lie. That was the rub of it all. Lilyshouldbe nothing to me. Just another victim to torture and punish. As I’d done a thousand times before. I was good at it. A master of my craft, and I should have been further honing it on the petite brunette.
Instead, I was trying to find ways to help her. Comfort her. Make her bakery a success. Everything that went against my mission to Earth.
“What the fuck are you thinking, ‘Lial?” I cursed myself out loud, raging and felling another tree.
It made no sense. None at all. She was a tiny human. Not even a magicker. Just a normal. Beautiful, yes, but I’d seen beauty before, and I’d broken it. Left it a shattered shell. But I couldn’t bring myself to do that to Lily.
Even before the contract signing had gone awry, something about her had spoken to me, trying to stay my hand. And I was losing control because I’d hurt her with my words.
I had to apologize.
After smashing another tree, I flung myself skyward, darting back toward the bakery. Perhaps it wasn’t too late. Perhaps I could still make amends with Lily.
In the back of my mind, the entity of pure rage was screaming that I should be going to destroy her. It tried relentlessly to escape, but I’d had a thousand lifetimes to hone my mind, and I clamped down upon it with a ferocity that would have sent Lily scurrying away if she knew what lived within me.
I would have to tell her what I was at some point. She deserved the truth, just like she deserved the apology I was going to give her.
Landing behind the bakery with barely a whisper, my wings folded back into my shoulders. The shadows I’d called dispersed as I shook my clothing into place, letting them settle properly over my shoulders, and went for the door.
My fingers froze inches from it. Lily was inside. Though I did my best to shield my mind from hers, something she had not yet learned how to do, a sliver of surprise slipped through.
“Belial.”
I straightened, gathering my emotions and placating them. Despite my shock at not being alone behind the bakery, I rapidly realized I shouldn’t have been surprised he was there.
Turning to face him, I regarded the gray-clad man with indifference. He stood with feet slightly more than shoulder-width apart, clad in a mono-color hooded robe that fell to a few inches short of the ground. A hood came up and over his head, hanging down to just above his eyes. It didn’t matter. I knew the voice, and I knew the look, including the staff he gripped casually in his right hand.
“Triuk,” I replied, staring down the head of the Gray Knights, the long arm of Dannorax’s law.
