Page 22 of Forgotten Monsters
A bitter pout twists his face as he grazes my tricolored curls, the purple and red strands somehow angering him further. “My soldiers swear they saw you use infernal magic. How did you conjure it?” He slices off the gag with his dagger.
The sting in my cheek tells me it left a bloody line.
“I have it inside me,” I croak, testing my voice.
Sharp interest registers on his features. “You’re a demon? What kind?”
“The kind you used to like.”
The obscurion nudges the tender skin of my throat.
Okay. Flirting won’t work. What else?
Think, Jules!
What else?
“Last chance, demon. Truth or death.”
“Let’s make a deal. I’ll talk, but you have to vow to let me go afterwards. Otherwise, you’ll gut me regardless.” The Cole I know is always itching to strike a deal, especially with his enemy.
“Torture will get me the same results. Let’s find out what amount of pain is enough for you to drop your glamor.”
A low pinch stings my neck, and blood drips to the space between my breasts as Cole carves into me. I look up to the chains tied around my wrists and concentrate on the pressure of their hold not to scream.
“If you kiss me now, your debt will be paid in full,” I chant in prayer, hoping my husband has got better memory than instinct.
He said those exact words to me before we had sex for the first time.
The blade stops.
Cole whips back with such force that he stumbles backward. “What did you say?” The low growl reverberates off the tent walls.
I convey all the weight of the last few months—years for him, clearly—into a bone-chilling gaze. “You heard me.”
“How do you know that?”
My chest expands. “Make a deal with me, and I’ll tell you who I really am.”
He tugs hard on my hair. “By the Dark Gods, I won’t harm you if you tell me the whole truth about who you are and who sent you here.”
“I swear it,” I vow.
Magic pulses in the air.
A long exhale whizzes out of my chest. “I’m Jules, Cole. Allie flew us through the underworld portal seconds after Darkwood fucking shanked me, and I’ve been trying to get back to Dark Falls—to you—forweeks. I have no idea how much time passed here, but I’m stupidly confused—andthirsty.” I wince at the soreness in my arms, suddenly lightheaded.
This is not happening. I’m dreaming. I must be, I mean—
“Oh, and Onyx tagged along. She’s a woman, did you know that? A bit intense, but a woman.” I’m breathless and half-mad. “You’re the King of Faerie. Dark Falls was nuked by the hollows. Gods know if Dad is still alive, or Lydia. How can underworld time zones be so fucked up?” I swallow hard, eyes glued to the scars on Cole’s neck. “Please tell me I bumped my head and this is not real.”
A coarse breath flutters down the valley between my breasts. “Tell me your name.”
“Jules.”
Cole squeezes my cheeks hard with one hand, and his amber gaze slithers inside me like it wants to hook my brains out. “Your whole name.”
I attempt to kick his shin again, and this time, the feeble blow hits. “I’m Jules Winslow, your Gods-damn bride.”
