Page 38 of The Demon Prince's Accidental Mate
“You can’t be serious,” I whispered.
“I am. Come, we must go.”
Shouts echoed in the hallway behind us, and Belial glanced over his shoulder, hissing in anger.
“I …”
“No time, I’m sorry!” he said sharply, wrapping me in his arms as he kicked open the gate and then leaped out into the water, shielding me with his body.
My scream was abruptly cut off as we soared through the water and then out the other side, tumbling downward.
I felt a twitch through my body, transferred from Belial to me, and then suddenly, we weren’t falling. We were gliding.
“I’ve got you,” he said. “And I’m not letting you go.”
My fingernails dug in so tight to his arms I doubted I could be shaken free, but he held me tight anyway as we flew low over the raging waters of the lower Niagara River, escaping into the night, leaving the roar of the falls behind us.
We weren’t just escaping. We were running away. Away from the men who wanted me. Away from my hometown.
Away from my bakery.
I moaned. It was over now. All of it, it was gone.
“What’s wrong?” Belial asked as we flew on. “Lily, are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“Take me back,” I whispered. “Please.”
“We can’t go back, Lily. We can’t. We have to leave.”
“But my bakery …”
Belial snarled. “What is your obsession with that silly bakery? I’ll buy you a new one once this is over!”
“Need it,” I said, slumping in his arms. “It’s the only way …”
His anger softened. “The only way what? What is it, Lily? I can feel the torment inside you. You said your father was a piece of shit. Why do you care about his legacy?”
“Not his legacy,” I said. “I don’t have anything else. And … and it’s the only place my mother knows of.”
“Your mother left, though, isn’t that what you said?” he asked, his head near my ear, his body pressed hard against me as he held me to him so that I didn’t fall. He was also extremely warm, which helped to ward off the cold from my soaked clothing.
“Yes,” I confirmed. “But I always thought—hoped, really—that maybe one day, one day, she would come back. That maybe she would tell me.”
“Tell you what?”
I hung my head. “Why she left me. Why she never came back. Maybe she would tell me what I did to make her leave me.”
Belial growled, his anger rising. Then it paused, and for a moment, he seemed to deflate.
“I … might be able to help you with that,” he said at last, sounding resigned to something he didn’t want.
“What do you mean?”
“You touched my mind, looking for him,” he said. “That’s what you told me. You wanted to find his soul, to speak to him.”
“Yes.” Where was he going with this? What did he know?
“I’m a prince of the Underworld, Lily.”
