Page 75 of The Demon Prince's Accidental Mate
I reached the door. A heavy steel beam was all that kept it locked, set between hooks on the door and the wall. All I had to do was lift it out of the way, and the door should come open. It was simple, really. Except for the size of the bar.
Dropping my weapon, I approached it. It was thicker than one of my legs. Twice as long as I was and made of solid metal. Crouching, I set myself against it and took a deep breath. Then I shoved.
It wiggled. That was the most flattering description of what happened. A little wiggle. I tried again. And again. Each time it moved a hair. But I had to lift it over a foot to free it from its shackles.
I nearly slumped to the floor to cry. I wassoclose! So close. The other side of the door. That was it.
Frustration built. Tears fell. I screamed at the empty hallway. Tried again. And again.
“I did not come all this way to fail!” I shrieked, setting myself up once more. I took the anger at my situation, at how close I was to finally finding my mother. The hatred of the situation. Of Astaroth. I took it all and poured it into the cauldron inside me. I screamed. Shouted. Shrieked.
And I pushed. The bar still didn’t move. I pushed harder. And harder. I embraced the demon energy inside me. Instead of using it, I opened myself to it. I welcomed it into me, ignoring the darkness that came with it. Ineededit. Right here. Right now.
My voice altered, deepened even. My skin crackled with energy. And I hurled myself upward at the bar.
It started to rise.
“More,” I howled, stealing it all, there in the Underworld, the well of Belial’s power. “More!”
Inch by inch, the bar moved upward. My fingers blackened. My eyes grew in size. My desire to hurt people intensified. Rage. Hatred. Vengeance. It swirled inside me, and I poured it into my muscles. Absorbing it. Using it. Being usedbyit.
I pushed once more, as hard as I could, using every ounce of power within me. The symbol on my forearm, the mark of Belial, glowed bright yellow.
And then it went out, the mark disappearing entirely.
Weakened, I fell to the floor, pushed down and away by the awesome force of the bar. I rolled over cold stone, my skin abrading from the rough surface.
“No!” I screamed, slamming a fist into the floor in frustration.
The floor bounced, and my entire body strummed with vibration. I whipped my head around just in time to see the steel beam hit the floor.
I had done it. In the last instant before the power left me, I haddone it. The bar was gone.
Then the crippling loneliness hit me, and I cried out in agony, clutching at my heart.
“Belial!” I howled, rolling around at the sudden loss of his presence inside me. “No!”
I stared at my arm, where the mark had lived ever since we’d signed the contract. The skin was empty, unmarred. It was gone. Belial was gone. Was he dead? Was it even possible that Astaroth could have killed him?
My tears flowed freely at the gaping emptiness. At what point had I gotten so attached to having him there, my constant awareness of him? It was like a safety blanket had just been ripped out of my hands as I clutched it for support. One moment he was there. The next, he was just gone. Not faint, but absolutely gone.
“Bee!” I moaned. “Bee, please …”
He didn’t come back. He was gone.
I stared at the beam and the door. What would I do now? Without Belial, I had no hope of escaping. Even if I somehow left the castle, I didn’t know how to get home. He was my ticket out of there. Now I would probably end up in the harem a level below, if I were lucky and didn’t end up dead.
Cold rationalization settled over me. If that were my future, then I had to make sure I took advantage of the moment. Before it was snatched from me like my future with Belial had been.
Distantly, as if someone were controlling me with strings, I saw myself get to my feet. I stumbled toward the door. Leaning into it, I pushed. The huge metal slab swung open smoothly on perfectly oiled hinges.
“Mother?” I shouted, letting go of the door as I staggered into the darkness beyond, lit only by the light coming from the entrance. “Mother, are you here?”
I crashed against a table, rebounding and rolling around it, forcing myself to keep moving.
“Hello? Anyone here?”
I shivered as I looked at the objects in the room. It was a torture chamber. Racks with cuffs, drums that spun, covered in spikes, and all sorts of knives and cutting devices hanging from the walls, it was all there to see, silent and unmoving in the darkness.
