Page 41 of The Demon Prince's Accidental Mate
I glared at him. “I might be biologically your offspring, but you were a piece of shit. Calling you a parent is more than you deserve.”
The impish thing trembled with anger. “When I get out of here, I’m going to—Ahhh!”
Victor’s voice cut off as he screeched in pain. The tiny body flexed and bowed as it was racked by pain. Behind it, Belial leaned in.
“You will behave,” he rumbled in dark, ominous tones, leaving no doubt about who was in control. “Be nice, or you will regret it.”
The imp fell forward, gasping for breath as Belial released it from whatever he’d been doing.
“You’re dead,” I said. “You aren’t coming back. Your days of taking out your miserableness on me are done, you pathetic sack of shit.”
The things eyes shot pure hatred in my direction. “If I’m dead, then why am I here?”
“To give you one last chance to do something useful with your life. To not be a total douchebag for once.”
“If I’m dead, I don’t need to listen to you. Send me back.”
“No.”
The imp crossed its arms defiantly.
Belial hissed a word, and golden chains wrapped around its wrists and ankles, yanking the creature down into kneeling. “If you are of help, I will see that your time in the Underworld is not quite as harsh as you deserve.”
“Deserve? I—”
“You hit your daughter,” the demon prince snarled angrily in my defense. “Youhither. Yelled at her. Abused one of your blood. You deserve everything you’ve received and much, much more. You were pathetic in life. Make something of yourself in death.”
Victor fell silent, but he glared up at me.
“He can’t hurt you,” Belial said softly, speaking to me now. “Not anymore.”
“What do you want?” Victor asked.
I gathered my courage as best I could and asked the question I’d held onto for so long. “What happened to my mother? Why did you never talk about her? What was wrong with me?”
The questions came one after another, the words tumbling from my mouth, pulled forth by the desperate longing of one who’d never truly realized how abandoned they’d felt until that moment. Until then, when I was within spitting distance of answers, of the truth.
Of finding out just what I’d done to deserve such treatment.
Victor took his time replying, unwilling to meet my gaze, though hatred burned deeply in his eyes, and the tiny muscles of his imp body strained against the chains with which Belial had bound him.
“You look like her, you know that?” he spat, turning partially away from me.
“I do?” I asked, eager to learn more. I’d never even seen so much as a picture of her. It was news to me.
“A spitting image, the older you got. Same eyes. Hers had that yellow tinge to them, too. She wore her hair down all the time, and it had the same waves.” He shook his head. “Even your face, that roundish mousy look. That’s all her. That’s all Katrina.”
I leaned back, rocked to my core. “Her name is Katrina?”
Victor snarled. “Was. Her namewasKatrina.”
“Is she dead? What happened?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t care,” came the heated reply. “That bitch left me. Leftus, Lilith. So, I don’t know why you care so much.”
“But why? What did I do?” I needed to know. Why couldn’t I remember?
What happened next was perhaps the most shocking thing my father had ever done. He softened, the imp’s body going limp as he made a ragged, pained noise.
