Page 237 of Mated to Monsters

“I don’t know. I’ve never heard anyone talk about it. But I’m going to find out.”

Trinity’s eyes look like they nearly bug out of her head. “You want to find out?”

I nod. “It’s easier to fight the known than the unknown.”

She wraps her tiny arms around her knees and clutches them close. “I’d rather just be in here. I think that I could handle.”

I don’t argue with her, but in the back of my head, I can already hear the voice of doubt. They won’t leave us in here forever, and I want to be prepared for what’s to come. There’s only one way to do that. To face what’s outside those bars.

Before I can answer, I hear the door slam open again. Surely, they aren’t feeding us. Which means…

I leap up to my feet, balling my fists and giving the demon a hard glare. Its beady eyes connect with me the second it rounds the corner and I let my lips tip up in an almost deranged smile. Sometimes I’m not sure how much of a hold I have on my sanity and this feels more like letting that slip through than putting on an act.

Trinity seems to forget everything I said as she skitters back immediately. Rarely do they listen, but I can’t risk too much for the others. I have to stay alive. That’s my top priority. Otherwise, we’re all doomed. Who will protect the others?

The door to the cage is ripped open as I cock my head and watch the demon, the smile still on my face. He’s still facing my direction, and I’m certain that he is going to go for Trinity. They always take the small and meek ones, and she’s put on the best show for them.

But then the unexpected happens. Claws close around my upper arm, and I don’t have enough time to register what’s going on before I’m pulled past the bars.

They’re taking me.

Which means I am totally fucked.

141

ASMODEUS

The fire in the hearth across from me roars as though in tandem with my thoughts. The snapping and crackling of the embers fill my too-silent room, echoing off of the tall ceiling as I stare into the hearth. Warmth kisses my bare skin, the pleasant sensation a snide reminder of how vulnerable I am without my armor and hood, how separate I must keep myself from the world around me.

Oltyx has grown weary of this game we’ve been playing, and I no longer know how much time I have left before everything collapses.

The souls of the human women seemed to be enough to keep my god happy thus far, to allow me to continue in his favor, but with each passing day that favor wanes. There are only so many solutions to the problem before me, and none of them allow me to continue with my people the way I have been.

Familiar ire begins to rise in my chest. I have worked too hard, too tirelessly, to allow this life to be taken from me now. I am a king, by title and right, and I have dedicated myself to my people. I’ll be damned if I allow it all to fall apart now.

I push myself out of the armchair, pacing across the worn wood floors. Perhaps an unbroken soul, broken right as it is sacrificed, will be more potent. One of the feral ones forced to bow to my will, to Oltyx’s will, may provide more power to help keep Galmoleth afloat.

Even if it only extends the inevitable by a few more days, I will do it. I need time to plan, rally my people and prepare them. There has to be some move that will keep everything from falling apart, I just haven’t found it yet.

As if by instinct, my hand trails toward the amulet hanging around my bare neck. Perhaps if I were to directly call upon Oltyx again, find out what it is that I can offer to maintain Galmoleth as it is…

No, I tell myself sternly, yanking my hand away. Hot shame prickles across my skin as I realize what I was about to do. The fact that I even called upon Oltyx once is enough to condemn me in the eyes of every demon in existence- to do it twice would surely mark my end, whether at Oltyx’s hand or my own, in an attempt to regain the only shred of honor I have left.

Besides, there is no telling how such a summons would go, even if Oltyx did deem to answer it. His wrath is not to be toyed with, and the god clearly no longer has an interest in entertaining me. He could expose everything, ruin everything, but instead the bastard seems content to toy with me.

Thunder claps in the distance, as if the god has sensed the direction of my thoughts and is issuing a warning. I gulp against the sudden tightness in my throat, shaking off my train of thought. There’s no use brooding- I know what must be done.

“Drar’ran!” I bark, shattering the silence of my room. Scuttling echoes outside my door before the knob turns, the blind demon appearing in the doorway.

“Yes, Hooded One?”

“Dress me. Immediately.”

Drar’ran springs into action, whispering hurried orders to the other blind servants lingering outside. Another two join him as he gathers up my armor and hood, the three of them working in tandem to robe me and settle the heavy armor over my shoulders.

I watch them work in the reflection of the large mirror on the wall, watching as everything that makes me a demon, or recognizable as something of this planet or any other, leeches away.

By the time the armor is strapped across my shoulders and the hood is placed and carefully arranged around my horns, I no longer bear any resemblance to something of this plane. I loosen my hold on my chaos, allowing it to pulse around the hooded figure I see in the reflection.

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