Page 46 of Darkest Heart

Hamza.

He shoved his hands in his pockets, his lips curling on his deceivingly mortal face

“I shouldn’t be surprised,” I said, my tone shaky. “I just thought you were a psychopath when I couldn’t detect any empathy from you.” I stared into the face of the demon, recalling the times I’d searched his emotions foranything. “You tried to rape me.” I fiddled with the bracelet keeping my power at bay. If only I had I could reach it…

“It’s rather humiliating,” he said, the admission stilling me. “I’m not used to failing.”

Ah. There it was. “I’m surprised my power affected you.”

“I wasn’t a demon then.” He paced the throne, gliding his palm over a rib forming part of a throne. “Salenia made me one, when your boyfriend killed me.”

“Husband,” I corrected, balling my fists.

“I’ll admit,” he said, rolling back his shoulders as he looked down at me. “He has a skill for torture. With enough motive, he would make an excellent demon in the afterlife.”

I gulped in a deep breath of air, filling my lungs to their extreme, anger clouding all other questions. He would never get his hands on Sebastian. I’d protect him from harm and find a way to make him mortal. He was not a monster. He did what he had to, for me, for the people he loved. “Sebastian is nothing like you,” I growled after letting out a long exhale. “Nothing.”

A clipped laugh bubbled from his lips. “I’m delighted to see I have hit a nerve.”

He glanced at my cleavage, his intrusive stare trailing over me, making my skin crawl. “What will you do now?” I asked. “Kill me?”

“Oh, darling, I have waited a long time for this.” He brushed his fingers through his dark hair. “You’re the reason I’m dead.”

I shook my head. “No, you’re the one who tried to rape me.”

His expression darkened. “There’s that word again.Tried.”

I’m immortal now.I don’t have to be afraid of him.

I stepped back, but the memory of his hands all over me before he died rushed back, and I froze. “Try anything now and I will call them back in here. Let them see who you really are.”

He laughed, casting his brimstone gaze focused on me. “They will pin you down while I do it. You have no friends here,” he spat.

I swallowed thickly, a lump forming in my throat. I wished the racing of my heart didn’t give me away, but my body betrayed me. “You sent them away,” I remembered, searching for leverage. “You didn’t want your identity revealed. If you call them back in…”

“Then I will just be their king, fucking the false queen,” he finished.

I stepped behind the throne, placing a wall of skull and bone between us. “I’ll tell them.”

“You’ll be dead before you could open that pretty little mouth. I have no qualms about fucking your corpse.” My eyes widened, my fingers tugging against the metal bracelet with a newfound desperation. He paced closer, resting his hand on the back of the throne, sliding to the side, closing in on me. “Or I can take you in the afterlife.”

“I’m not going to the afterlife.”

“No.” I recoiled as he laced a finger under my chin, gliding a nail against my skin. “The gods gave you pure immortality.” He pressed his lips to my ear, his presence rooting me to the spot. “You are my greatest prize.”

His breath sent a shiver snaking down my spine as my eyes darted around the room, looking for an escape. Beyond Hamza and the double doors were hundreds of aniccipere. I was a mouse surrounded by snakes. I cleared my throat, careful not to move too much. I didn’t want to give him a reason to snap. “Salenia,” I blurted. I could fight him. But even if I could beat him without my magic, I couldn’t take on all the soul vampires. “What does she want?”

I had to talk my way out of this. If that was even possible. The poison had worn off, but the bond with Sebastian was still weak. Burying my emotions had suffocated that connection as well, but I needed to open up. I was reminded of something Erianna had once told me.Sometimes bad things happen for a reason. We can become stronger, or we can let it destroy us.

I couldn’t let this ruin me. I wouldn’t die here.

He cocked his head, the lines on his forehead more prominent in death. “She wantsyou.”

“Why?”

He moved back, and I let out a small sigh of relief. I quickly put several feet of distance between us, although it was an illusion. I was pretty sure he could grab me at any moment, no matter where in the hellish court I was.

“Why would I spill all our secrets?”

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