Page 79 of Happily Ever Bitten (Underworld Royals 2)

“My blood?”

“Mmm, yes, you’re the key to unlocking the box, so to speak. It’s part of your true betrothal.” Lucifer frowned at him. “You couldn’t possibly think I wanted you to marry that horrid snake of a female?” Silence fell. “Oh. You did.” His lips went to Lux’s ear. “Really, darling. You know me better than that.”

“Well, I didn’t foresee this,” she replied, an angry gleam in her gaze. “You mated death, famine, war, and pestilence into a Graystall halfling, all to appease my son?”

He shrugged. “My four horsemen, my four kingdoms. Yes. But for you more than anyone else.” He sounded pleased with himself. “She’s a product of Graystall, Nova, Noxia, and Neptune. A beautiful creation, I might add. And a fitting queen for your son.”

Caluçon had felt like home.

Then Noxia.

Then Neptune.

No wonder I recognized the realms. They were part of me. They’d crafted foreign memories in my mind of kingdoms I’d never visited yet knew.

This can’t be real.

I pinched myself, certain I’d fallen into another insane nightmare. All that walking through the swamp had left me exhausted. Clearly, this was just my mind fucking with me.

I’m just a normal person.

Grigory’s blood awoke my powers. Sort of.

This isn’t really happening.

“You’re absolutely not normal, and this is absolutely real,” Lucifer replied, hearing my mind. “And it isn’t Grigory’s blood that truly awoke your powers. It was life experiences that placed the key in the box; he merely turned the latch when he saved you. And most recently, he opened the box, through love.”

I didn’t understand at first.

Then the memories came, causing me to stiffen. “Necros,” I whispered.

Grigory growled, pulling me more firmly into his side as if he could protect me from the truth. But it was already in my past. It’

d already happened.

“Yes,” Lucifer replied flatly, allowing me to glimpse the powerful man beneath the veneer.

The true depiction of evil.

The creator of the Underworld.

The Devil himself.

“The attack brought your powers to the surface, and imbibing Grigory’s blood accelerated the process. It’s why you’ve been able to adapt so quickly. Why the auras, your strength, and the memories of my horsemen are all awakening inside you now.”

“And having me tormented, nearly broken, was truly necessary?” I asked him, my ire mounting inside. Because how cruel and fucked up was that? He’d done the same thing to Valora, his twisted mind working in ways of punishment and torturous fate. Surely there was another way to unlock power in this universe?!

“Yes. It was the only way.” No apology, just an emotionless statement. Seeing him with Lux, holding her as his prized possession, almost made him relatable. But I saw the darkness inside him, the savageness guiding his harsh resolves.

This was a male who thrived on violence and pain.

Yet he fancied himself the creator of our kind.

A monster.

A king who enjoyed playing with pawns over his eternal chessboard.

And I’d been his latest move.

---