Page 65 of The Demon Prince's Accidental Mate
He shrugged. “It could happen. Your skin could change color. Your hair. Or you could become a ball of rage, unable to calm yourself. Ever. Because of you, I hold myself in check. I find the strength because of you. But if you come to my realm …”
“I could lose myself,” I finished.
Belial nodded. “And then I will have lost not only you but a piece of myself. I don’t want to risk that. Please.”
He wasn’t begging me. Not quite. But it was as close to pleading with me as a demon prince would ever likely come.
And I had to turn him down.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “But I have to try. I just do. She’s my family. Even if she didn’t want me, Ihaveto know. I have to find out. I can’t explain it. I just do. Besides, there’s one thing you haven’t thought about when it comes to the danger.”
“What’s that?” he asked with a frown.
“Right now, Astaroth is on his way here, isn’t he?”
Belial jerked, standing upright in sudden thought. “And if he’s on his way here ...”
I smiled, trying to appear confident and absolutely not shitting-my-pants-scared at what I was about to do. “Then his castle is unguarded.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Lily
“This is still crazy, you know that, don’t you? On some level, you have to be aware this isn’t the rational choice.”
I shrugged his point off. “You already agreed to it, Bee. Let’s just get going before we waste too much time. The minotaurs will be combing the streets, and your brother will be homing in on us here. Let’s not stick around and find out what happens when either of them finds us, okay? I don’t want to go back to prison. If it’s between dying in the Underworld with a chance to meet my mother, or that, I know which one I’ll take.”
He shook his giant head, a mixture of admiration and exasperation pouring off him. “Fine, fine. Come here. Wrap your hands around my waist, and put both your feet on top of my boots.”
“Why?”
The demon in human form glanced down at me even as his left hand came up and began to cast magic, drawing markings into the air that stuck around. “Have you ever heard of the game kids play called ‘the floor is lava’?”
“Of course I have,” I said, crinkling my face at him. Did he think I was an idiot or something? Best not to ask that question, actually, given what we were about to do.
“Right.” The air shimmered, and heat poured out through an opening that turned a hellish orange-red. “Well, this is where it originated from.”
He stepped through from the hotel room, and I gasped as we dropped straight down toward a roiling pit of lava. Steam curled up all around us, drenching my clothes and immediately plastering my hair to my neck.
Spreading his wings as he fell, slowly arresting our downward motion, Belial held me tight to his side with one thick arm, his skin glistening from sweat.
“Ahhh,” he said in a happy, relieved sigh.
“Youlikethis?” I gaped, staring around at the blasted and torn landscape. Lava fields spread far and wide as the eye could see, broken up here and there by islands of rock.
“This is my home,” he said, a little bit defensively.
Nothing lived in the deadly wilderness of the Underworld. The only movement was that of the lava as it boiled. Dead silence greeted the ears as well. A reminder that everything therewasdead. We were in the land of the damned.
“It’s so hot,” I complained, tugging at my clothing.
“That’s just you,” Belial said, trying to keep his voice light even as he looked around.
“Right,” I said. “Me and my ‘I love Niagara Falls’ t-shirt with its giant cartoon drawing.”
“It’s the lack of a bra,” he said, leering at me. “It’s already going see-through.”
“Pervert.”
