Page 64 of The Demon Prince's Accidental Mate
His eyes tightened, glowing a bit less yellow. “It happens all the time. More often than you would think. People just don’t want to acknowledge that someone they know might have made such an agreement.”
“No. I refuse to believe it.”
“See,” he said, lifting a hand to emphasize the point. “You’re doing it right now. You’re in denial. I’m a demon, and you’re telling me my kind doesn’t do that. Which one of us is likely to know better?”
“But …”
“The phrase ‘make a deal with the devil’ didn’t just appear for no reason,” he said softly, trying to cushion the news. “People, real people, sell their soul all the time. We don’t always answer, but it’s a part of who we are, Lily. Has been for more years than you can possibly comprehend. It’s in our nature.”
I don’t want to believe him, but how can I not? He’s the demon prince. Just becauseIcan’t imagine people making such a deal doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.
“Why would she do such a thing?” I asked into the silence filling the room, tugging nervously on my hair.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “But my brothers and I, we can grant some extraordinary boons. Especially if the soul is pure to begin with.”
“What use is there in asking for a reward if you’re going to be taken to the Underworld?”
Belial shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Me neither. But I’m not sure it matters. She’s there, and I need to go get her.”
He shook his head. “Why? Why are you willing to risk so much for a mother you’ve never known? A mother who could have very well abandoned you for her own selfish desires.”
“Howdareyou!” I shouted angrily.
“I know you don’t want to hear it,” he said, lifting both his hands placatingly, trying to ease me down, “but it’s a valid question, Lilith. You don’t know her.”
“Maybe not,” I said, still stewing over his comment. “But she would come for me.”
“Would she? Sheleft you.”
“She was taken!” I yelled back.
“You’re using emotions. Not logic. And you know it. Stop being a child and lashing out just because this doesn’t fit your fantasy,” he said, his face like stone as he delivered the harsh rebuke.
“How can you be such a nice person one moment and a huge asshole the next?” I snapped.
“Because I’m trying to make you understand the gravity of your decision,” he said hotly, his temper flaring, filling my mind with his anger. “But you don’t want to listen to me because you’ve spent all this time building up the image of your mother as this saint who could do no wrong. You think she’s just waiting for you to come save her, and then, somehow, that will save you as well. But you can’t know that! And by going to save her, you could destroy yourself. And I don’t want you to do that, damn it. I don’t want to lose you.”
His jaw clicked shut, and he turned away.
“Lose me?” I asked in a much gentler tone. “You mean if I die?”
“That’s one option,” he said, looking around the room. “But when you go into the Underworld, Lilith, you’ll be exposed to me.”
I glanced at him up and down. “I’ve already been exposed to you. In pretty much every way I can think of. What more is there?”
He tapped his head. “This. Our link, our connection. When you cross over, your mind will be in my world, where I’ll be at my fullest power. You’ve experienced a taste of it leaking through. The strength you talked about, and the other things. You’ll receive more of that.”
“Good,” I said. “That’s good. It’ll help me to stay alive.”
“And it could destroy you,” he said, coming close and taking my hand. “On Earth, you’re shielded from me, Lily. From therealme, the demonic side. Once you cross through, that protection will cease to exist. You’ll be exposed to the essence of a demon. And it will change you.”
“How?”
“Depends how long we’re down there,” he said. “But you may very well never fit in with humanity again when you come out. Mentally. Or physically.”
I stared. “Are you telling me I’m going to grow a tail like you? Or horns?”
