Page 72 of The Demon Prince's Accidental Mate
Chapter Thirty-Five
Belial
“Hello, brother,” I said, standing up to my full height, my shoulders pushing through the ceiling into the second floor—or where it would have been.
“Belial. What is going on here?”
I gestured at the dead Furies scattered around. “Your lackeys forgot how to properly treat one of my rank. I taught them a lesson. Nothing more.”
Astaroth snorted, his eyes glowing with the same inner flame that now covered much of my body. “They were carrying out my orders.”
I hadn’t expected my lie to work, but it certainly would have been nice. Standing there, staring up at Astaroth, reminded me all too much of when I met him in battle on Earth.
It hadn’t gone so well for me. Or Lily.
I glanced behind me, but she was gone. Our bond still beat in my chest, her love still pulsing through, filling me with a new kind of fire, one I’d never known. Wherever she was, she was alive and unharmed.
Through our bond, I caught the impression of determination and focus. Lily was looking for something.
No, not something. Someone. Her mother. In the confusion and aftermath, she must have slipped up the stairs, rushing to the higher levels. The castle was huge, and she would take some time to get up to the penthouse, where Astaroth and his coterie of women and followers-on lived.
Which meant I had to give her that time.
“What are you doing?” Astaroth rumbled as I squared up with him, rolling my neck from side to side. His black-clawed hands flexed, already reaching for the sword sheathed at his side. “Belial …”
The wellspring of power burning in me had granted me newfound power, the sudden surge in size. Perhaps it would grant me more strength. A strength to rival Astaroth?
“I owe you,” I said, lifting a finger and pointing at my brother, who tilted his head sideways, the inky black of his horns glinting in the reddish light of the Underworld.
“Where is she, Belial?”
“Are you still playing Dannorax’s minion?” I said, fake yawning. “I expected better of you than that.”
“Dannorax and I are old friends. I spent some time with the dragons when there were more of them,” Astaroth said. “I am not his minion. But, given that my younger brother is being such a thorn in his side, it only seemed appropriate to lend a hand. Besides, I am bored.”
“A thorn in his side,” I muttered, repeating the phrase. “All because he cannot handle it when someone makes a decision he doesn’t like. Has to lash out like a child.”
“Careful,” Astaroth warned, lifting one arm to level a finger at me, the muscles cording like steel bars under the taut skin. “Watch your words,brother.”
“Why?” I challenged, still exploring the new emotions circulating through me. Emotions that I was learning from Lily. Emotions a demon like me had never considered before.
It was strange. There were many fountains of power in the world. I was born of one. My entire being was power. Many others had access to magic innately part of our reality. Certain places harnessed that and used it. The Underworld was one of them.
But one thing I had never known was the strength of emotion. Of the bond. Knowing that, no matter what, she would be there.For me. A strange tingle ran down my arms at that notion. I had asomebody. Not a prisoner or worshipper or lackey. They were mine, but they weren’tmine.
Lily was mine. And I was hers.
And that feltgood.
“You overstep your bounds,” Astaroth growled as I kicked a handful of the dead Furies down the stairs, sending the reinforcements clattering back down in a series of surprised cries.
I hefted my axe, the blade glowing red-hot from the inside out, and stared at it. Red. The color of blood. But also the color of love.
A color I would gladly bleed for her.
“No,” I said coldly, lifting the axe and leveling it at my brother. “Youoverstep, Astaroth. I have laid a claim to the human. She is mine, and your refusal to accept that is a slight against my honor. I am a son of Lucifer, the same as you.”
Astaroth spat. “I am thesecondson.”
