Page 44 of The Demon Prince's Accidental Mate
“Belial, Belial. This can’t end any other way. Just give me the human, and come peacefully. She’s broken the rules. She must be punished. You know how it goes, just as I do. Or did I not teach you well enough?”
I snorted. Astaroth had vacated his chair on the jury in my favor when he had decided to retire back to his castle in the Underworld. He liked to think that he’d been generous to me because of it.
“Very well. Come, let us go. Enough of this.”
Astaroth took a step toward Lily. She backed up, and I interposed myself between them, blocking the second son’s path.
“You can’t have her,” I said quietly, giving my brother a hard stare as a sword of pure fire gathered in my hand. Its blade extended nearly four feet into a tip that burned blue-white, slowly softening to orange-yellow and then finally a hard red as it descended toward the base.
“All this for a human?”
“ForLilith,” I snarled and launched myself at Astaroth, driving him back in a flurry of blows as he reacted to my attack.
Through my mind, I shouted at her to run. To get out of there. I didn’t know if she heard or understood, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw her turn tail and race away into the night.
Astaroth recovered, the huge broadsword he wielded demanding my full attention. Despite its size, he moved with lightning speed and perfect form. I blocked his attacks as best I could while trying to determine a weakness in his form, something I could exploit to either hurt or banish him back to the Underworld.
Hurting would be my preferred course of action. If Ididbanish him, I wouldn’t have won. By removing Astaroth from the equation, Dannorax would either come himself or worse—he would go back to the gates of the Underworld and ask the first son to come instead. Considering he was owed a favor by my eldest brother, a refusal seemed unlikely.
And if Abbadon came to Earth, I was well and truly fucked. Me, and lots of others. He didn’t earn the name Abbadon the Despoiler because he made crops go bad. I couldn’t let that happen. Not to all those innocents, but especially not to Lily.
Hurling myself at Astaroth, I swatted his sword away and drove my shoulder into his chest. As he stumbled backward from the blow, I kicked one of his legs out from under him, and then with a vicious chop that he barely blocked, I drove him to the ground. The earth rumbled at the impact.
I backed away and turned toward Lily, intending to run.
Instead, I glimpsed her in the distance just as a purple oval appeared in front of her. She screamed, the sound cut off as Triuk strode forth, gray robes flapping as he snatched her up, clamping one hand over her mouth.
“Triuk!” I bellowed, taking a step toward him.
The flat of Astaroth’s sword came around in a blur. I barely got my sword up in time, but I wasn’t set. The impact sent me cartwheeling sideways away from Lily.
I hit a tree trunk, cracking it along with some of my ribs. The giant tree swayed, and then with a deep groan, it began to topple over. I stumbled away from it, the right side of my chest wrapped in pure agony.
Astaroth came at me, covering the distance in three huge bounding leaps. I rolled away from his blade, and he cut through the downed timber.
In the distance, Triuk held Lily as she kicked and struggled. But she was too weak.
Just as I was too weak to defeat Astaroth.
I turned and hurled my sword at him. He wasn’t ready for the move, and even though he managed to block it, the hilt of my blade swung around and bounced off his skull, rocking him back.
Using that moment, I picked up the shattered upper half of the tree. With a mighty roar, a mixture of pain in my side and anger at knowing I wouldn’t win, I swung the trunk around in a circle. The end connected with Astaroth’s shoulder. Wood shattered, and my older brother tumbled away.
I turned, intending to make my way to Lily, but she was gone. The portal hung there, but she was nowhere to be seen. Triuk had her and was on his way back to Dannorax.
“No,” I moaned. “Lily …”
Astaroth stirred.
I had to go. There was only one option open to me at that point. And if I stuck around, I wouldn’t be able to take it.
Frantically, I dismissed my demonic powers, shoving myself back into my human disguise. I calmed my temper and took off into the copse of trees as Astaroth returned to his feet, looking around.
I moved as quietly as possible until I found water. There, I slipped into the cool liquid and, with a giant inhale, dipped under the surface and began to swim as far and as fast as I could.
Without any of my normal energy to track me, Astaroth would be reduced to following me as if he were human. Under the water, he would be hard-pressed to find me. Not until I used my powers again would he be able to.
I’m sorry, Lilith. I’m sorry I couldn’t stop this. But I’m not giving up. I’m coming for you, and I won’t stop. Not until you’re mine.
