Page 31 of Her Darkest Devils (The Seven Sinners of Hell's Kingdom 3)

Micah grabs the fire whip from Lucian and dangles it in front of me, proving that they’re serious. “As many times as you feel is necessary. We don’t take these breaches lightly, heathen. It’s important in maintaining a semblance of peace between us.”

I hesitate, nervous to touch the glowing chain. I’m afraid it might burn me.

Lucian mistakes my reluctance for something else and grins. “I told you she didn’t have it in her to follow through.”

Kase and Dante both chuckle at the same time, knowing exactly what Lucian’s words just did. I summon my strength and bravery to snatch the glowing chain from Micah and narrow my eyes at Lucian.

His nostrils flare, and a wave of sweet, sweet smugness crashes over me. I just proved him wrong, and he knows it. We all know it.

I step forward and meet his eyes, hoping that I can summon even an ounce of intimidation. “Why don’t you make things easier on yourself?” I say, using his own words against him. “Tell me where the fuck you have Vincent imprisoning Elias, or face my wrath.”

Huffing a breath, he grabs the hem on his shirt and yanks it over his head, tossing it at Micah. His muscles bulge and flex with his movements. Lucian locks his dark eyes to mine and proceeds to unbutton his pants, kicking them off too, showing off the fact that he goes commando.

It takes everything in me to keep a straight face and not look down at his cock—big even soft—though I expect it to rise and harden at any second.

“Why don’t you make this fucking easy and get on your damn knees, suck my cock, and beg me not to throw your soulmate’s soul to my hellhounds.” His jaw twitches as he smirks. “I’m sure they’d eat it faster than the glutton over there.”

Micah scowls at Lucian’s words but doesn’t respond. None of my devils do. A part of me wishes they’d stand up to his comments, but I know if they do, Lucian will never take me seriously. He will never consider me worthy of a throne in Hell. I’ll always be a lowly mortal in his eyes.

I tighten my grip around the chain, strangely hot but not painful. “Turn the fuck around, you asshole. I’m done with your bullshit. You think you’re some badass, but all you really are is a weak, rejected bastard who thinks he’s a king. In my eyes, you’re a fucking peasant. Now bow, Lucian. Bow and feel my punishment.”

Lucian growls and fists his hands. He opens his mouth to say something, but Dante surprises me by kicking his legs out from under him. Grabbing Lucian’s hair, he yanks his head back and places his leather belt in his mouth. Silence fills the room apart from Lucian’s boiling anger, his resolve tested by the fact that Kase, Dante, and Micah all surround him, ensuring he remains before me.

My heart raps against my ribs, the discordant beats twisting my soul. On his knees, naked, and hunched forward in his human form, Lucian no longer embodies the fierce ruler of Hell. He embodies the bastard who deserved more wrath than even Kase can offer. He deserves the wrath of a woman like me, scorned, put through Hell, and thrown to the demons over and over again. And I’m done. I have one job, and I will complete it. Lucian will not stand in my way. If he can’t accept that the rulers of Hell are intended to be by my sides, not above me, then he can fuck off and live eternity with a wounded ego in the farthest corner of our rising kingdom.

“Just fucking do it,” Lucian snaps, his voice rumbling with annoyance by my prolonging his punishment.

“You know, if you’d just tell me where the fuck Elias is so we can bring him home, I might grant you mercy this time.” I flick my attention to my devils, but they remain expressionless. Again, they’ve put this punishment and Lucian in my hands.

“Mercy is for bastard angels,” Lucian snaps. “Now do it or don’t. I have things to do.”

I heave a few breaths. “I just don’t understand what the fuck goes on in that head of yours. You keep telling me things could be easy if I give in, but have you ever thought that it’s your ass making things difficult? This could be easy if you’d just devil the fuck up, stop acting like a dickhead brat, and accept that my eternity belongs to those who see me as what I’m intended.”

“Because your soul should be mine! Mine and no one else’s. You will be the reason I rise and change Hell. I’m taking control of the damn Mortal Realm and then Heaven. This universe will be mine.” Lucian’s horns poke through his forehead, startling me.

Fury explodes in my very being, and I swing the chain, lashing it across his back, stopping him from transforming into his devil form. “Fuck that! You’re not. You’re going to follow through with what you originally had planned.”

Lucian tenses as a thick, molten line ravages across his back. “Not when you fail, Raven.”

“Shut up!” Something insanely dark steals my vision, shadowing everything in red. Like my soul separates from my body, I stand beside myself and watch as fire lights my eyes as I whip the fire chain over and over across Lucian’s back, screaming and yelling at him incoherently.

Lucian falls to his stomach, heaving and clutching the floor, but I can’t stop. Hell consumes me. I want him to suffer like he made me suffer. Like I’m sure he’s made tons of other people suffer.

And then the world stops. The fiery chain disappears from my fingers, and I shudder and gasp, trying to figure out what the Hell is going on. Bright light shines in from the living room window, and I stumble toward it and away from Lucian’s body and the three dark figures huddled around him.

I yank the curtains open and meet Zade’s blue eyes, his features so soft and ethereal, glowing with his heavenly light. His eyes widen as his gaze darts past mine to peer at the mess frozen behind me, and he opens and closes his mouth, but no words come out.

Zade slowly shakes his head and frowns.

I reach out and press my palm to the glass. “Zade, I—”

He vanishes, kicking on the world around me. My body and soul collide back together, winding me, and I drop to my knees. Anger and despair course through my body. Zade’s expression screamed everything. He now thinks I’m a monster. He was afraid of me.

And angels? They don’t help people like me.

Especially because Lucian’s darkness feels heavy in my soul.

“Damn, angel-girl,” Kase murmurs, touching my shoulder. “Let me—”

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