“Oh, yeah? What kind of punishment?”
“You’ll be forced to service me. Repeatedly.”
His gaze fell to her lips, lingered. “Did you like having sex with me?”
Shivering, she said, “Like is too mild a word, Charming.”
“Even though we had no skin-to-skin contact?”
“Even though.”
“It will be enough for you?”
He wanted her, treasured her just as he’d said, and that would always be enough.
“Toothbrush. Shower. Then I’ll prove just how enough it can be.” Donning a regal air, she clapped her hands. “Make it happen, warrior, and the Red Queen will make you happy you did.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
BADEN REMEMBERED THE black fog...and the hellish minions who had dragged him out of it. They’d carted him here, to some prison cell, while he was too winded to fight. He would have thought this was a spiritual realm rather than a natural one because 1) demons constantly passed by, and 2) they’d been able to touch him. But there were golden bands locked around his wrists, pulsing, pulsing, and he could touch things he shouldn’t have been able to touch.
If he had to guess who was responsible for his capture, he would say Lucifer. The gossip he’d picked up from the fiends...
Lucifer, rounding up everything the Lords of the Underworld prized.
Lucifer, allying with some kind of queen of shadows, a female who had forced a powerful Sent One to wed her.
The Sent Ones would freak out when they discovered the truth. They were winged warriors tasked with killing demons, not aiding them.
And lastly Lucifer, preparing to overtake Hades’s throne—to kill the man he’d once considered a father.
Baden could only guess he himself was to be a bargaining chip. Something to force the Lords to fight with Lucifer rather than against him. What Baden didn’t understand, however, was the fact that Cronus and Rhea were trapped in the cell with him. The Lords would do nothing for the pair.
But more important, where was Pandora?
“This is an outrage!” Cronus shouted. “How dare I be treated this way. I am the king of the Titans.”
“Not anymore,” Rhea spat at him. “You’re the king of nothing.”
“Shut up, woman. Your opinion wasn’t solicited.”
She shrugged, then checked her cuticles. “Wasn’t stating my opinion. Was stating fact.”
The two continued to argue.
Baden wanted a dagger. Hell, even a spoon would work. He just wanted to open their throats and cut out their voice boxes.
The creak of a door sounded down the way.
Baden rushed to the bars of his cell. Two demons were striding down the walkway, headed in his direction. Both were around five foot ten and stacked with muscle. Horns protruded from their scalps, and wings extended from their backs.
He stuck out his hand to gain their attention, and two sets of glowing red eyes landed on him and narrowed.
“The girl. Pandora. Did you bring her to this realm?”
Both bared yellowed fangs and laughed gleefully.
Dread twisted Baden’s stomach. He’d take that to mean yes, yes they had. And she wasn’t being treated well.
The thought enraged him. He hated Pandora. Had rued the day he’d found himself stuck with her. But for centuries, she was all he’d had. His only companion. He couldn’t abide the thought of her being tortured. Wouldn’t stand for it.
He grabbed the demon on the right, slamming the creature against the prison bars. The other one came to his buddy’s rescue and punched Baden in the face. He held firm. Cronus and Rhea finally shut their mouths, realized the entire point of this endeavor, and rushed over to help him stealthily pat down the demons, hoping to discover the key to the cell.
Baden didn’t find one.
When their majesties finally backed away, he released the creature and moved out of reach. His eye was swelling, even leaking blood into his mouth.
“You’re lucky we’ve been summoned. Otherwise,” said the one he’d grabbed, “I would teach you a lesson you would never forget.”
Never heard that one before, he thought dryly.
The pair strode off.
“Tell me you found a key,” Baden demanded.
“I did not.” Cronus.
“Nor I.” Rhea.
Baden kicked one of the bars. Pain radiated up his leg, then throbbed through the rest of him, reminding him that the poison had not lessened its hold on him, and he wasn’t at his best.
Even still, there was only one way out of the cell.
The demons had to open the door. Which meant he had to challenge them.
“Hey,” he shouted. Please. Hear me. “You’re lucky you’ve been summoned. You could try to teach me all the lessons you want, but we both know I’d have you flat on your back and dead in a matter of seconds. Cowards!”
Nothing. No response.
He despaired.
Until he heard a rush of footsteps and the two demons came back into view. Their eyes were narrowed, glowing brighter. Their fangs were bared, dripping saliva.
“Get ready,” he told his companions. He couldn’t trust them. Knew they’d leave him behind without a moment’s thought if given the opportunity. “If you want the Lords to use the four artifacts to find and save you, you’ll help me escape this cage.”
Hinges squeaked as the demons entered the cell.
“Let’s see what you can do,” one of them said.
Yes. Let’s.