Page 42 of Hell's Queen

She lets out a sigh. “But where do we go? We have put too many people at risk.”

“We are all at risk if the gates open,” Lucifer states. I didn’t think he had a brain under the mountain of hair gel he uses.

“Do you know,” I ask Asura, “how I told you that you have more power than I do, even as king?”

She nods.

“I think it’s time to use that.”

After a deep breath, Asura straightens and looks at the council. It takes her a moment to catch on to what I’m saying. “Protect your families first. Only the people in this room will know where we are going. Ryker, I need you to recruit as many Soul Reapers as possible. Anyone willing to protect and fight should. Satan, will you get Agnus?”

Satan nods.

“I need time for my men to heal.”

“For you, too,” I add.

Asura nods. “Meet at the Faelands.”

“Faelands?” Satan snickers. “Isn’t that a fake place?”

Asura rolls her eyes, and the room gets hotter. “Are you questioning me?”

“No, ma’am,” he answers quickly, making me laugh at him. He sends me a glare, almost making me forget he is a king, though I am too.

“Let’s move,” Asura says.

My nerves never go away. I had to kick King Christopher to the side so I could take over the castle of Faeland. Though he wasn’t happy, he let it happen and willingly provided people to heal my men and me. Seeing the state of my men, I forbade Jigsaw from using his hellhound ever again after noticing that it took most of his skin off. I check in on Khazon, Ledger, and Ozias a lot.

I pace the conference room, thinking about what happened today and what I could have done differently.

“Can you stop moving, so I can heal you?” Hollister snaps at me.

“Agnus is here,” Ozias informs me. I move from the dining room of the Faeland’s castle. He follows me as we walk to the bridge, just as Agnus appears with my two brothers and their protective hounds in tow.

Killian wraps his arms around me first, and pain radiates through me, but I don’t pull back.

“Why aren’t you healed?” Agnus asks.

“Been busy. Others are being healed. You and I need to talk,” I tell her. She nods and follows me back to the room. The council members stand to greet her.

She nods at them, and I move to the head of the table with Ozias by my side. His hands touch my back, and I am more than happy to see he’s doing okay. “Let Hollister heal you more,” he says to me.

I wave him away a bit. “Agnus, did you calculate the next Hell Storm?”

She nods. “Firstly, I watched what happened, and I’m so sorry. No one deserves that.”

My jaw tightens. It has been an hour, and there’s no update on Inarian.

“Secondly, the next Hell Storm is tomorrow at six in the evening.”

My throat tightens. “That’s not much time, and we have no followers. Meanwhile, they have the whole Blood Clan and probably a horde of demons by now.”

“It’s enough time for us to prepare,” Ozias assures me.

Everyone around the table begins speaking about their concerns. It is pure chaos, and I can’t hear anything. I run my hand over my hair, sighing. Killian raises his hand and tries to say something but is cut off by the voices.

Rage rushes through me as I snap, “Hey! Shut up!” The room silences at my outburst.

---