Page 41 of Hell's Queen

She looks up at me, rage filling her eyes. The moment she sees me, she calms down. “Ryk—”

My arms wrap around her. Her flames hurt and burn my skin, but I endure it. “Thorne,” I order.

He steps through the fire, grabbing us all and taking us away from this mess. Inarian, in a heartbeat, is taken away by the nurses and doctors, despite Asura’s cries.

“I fucked up.” She calms down enough for the nurses to work on her. They have to isolate her, and she wails, creating a fire that lashes against the walls. “I fucked up!”

I bury my fist in my hair as I pace outside the room. The council members all move towards us, entering her room without my say-so. I follow behind them, wanting to tell them all to fuck off right now.

“I fucked up!” she shouts again. “They—they—”

“Have the sword,” Satan finishes. I’ve never met him and wouldn’t be able to tell him apart from some fat short guy on the street. “So, what do you do?”

Asura freezes.

“Queen?”

“You guys still trust me after what I just did?”

Hades steps forward. “We watched the whole thing. I’m sure if that was Persephone… I would have done the same thing.”

Her eyes water. “Uh.”

The bedroom door opens, and Hazen moves inside. “That book you had me read, Queen. It talks about opening the Gates of Hell and all that.”

Asura’s chocolate eyes shine with hope. She probably feels so helpless.

I close the door behind us, not wanting many people to hear it.

“To open the Gates of Hell, they have to have the blood of the heir or the person on the throne,” Hazen starts. “The sword and its fragments and the mage for the ritual.”

Asura throws up her hands. “They have all of that.”

“And the blood moon.”

She freezes.

“That’s when the earth and moon are exactly aligned or—”

“When the souls leak out their powers in Hell. After an authentic Hell Storm, a blood moon rises,” Asura says.

“I thought the storms were unpredictable?” I ask.

“Agnus,” Lucifer suggests. “She was coming up with a way to figure out when they were coming to warn them.”

Asura nods. “Let’s send people to get Agnus and my brothers. They have my blood on one dagger, but I don’t want to risk them needing more.”

There’s a knock on the room door, and a nurse opens it. “I, uh… Queen. There’s a mob starting outside the hospital.”

She frowns, and so do I.

“They think you’re human and want you to give up… The Flame.”

Hades rubs the bridge of his nose, sighing. “We must get Asura and her men out of here and safe.”

“Inarian—” Asura starts.

“Will be protected,” I add. “I’ll have my most trusted reapers on him.”

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