Gold
My head jerks back. “What? I’m not going to the reaper kingdom.”
“Sorry princess, but you are. No way around it,” he says, sparing me one quick glance before turning his entire body away from me. “I’ll need to leave with her by nightfall,” River continues, and I have the urge to shake him.
“I don’t know anything. I already told you that.” My voice pitches from both frustration and a growing sense of panic.
I don’t want to be in Hell, but at least here, Luke will be able to get to me. If I’m taken to whatever otherworld the reaper queen hides out in, it will be nearly impossible for him to find me.
“She’s not going anywhere. If Queen Camille wants an audience with her, she shall come here. I, for one, would like to know what this angel could possibly know that the queen wishes to uncover.”
“That makes two of us,” I say curtly.
River takes a threatening step toward Nolda, and the wolf-like beast bares his teeth.
“If the queen learns that you’ve kept someone she deems special locked up here in a cage, you can be sure you’ll never wear the crown.”
Nolda blinks rapidly, looking between the two demons at his side. The wolf dips his chin as if to say let her go. Or he could be giving the approval to end River’s life. Either is a possibility.
“Fine,” he snarls, looking none too happy to have to kowtow to anyone’s wishes. “Go to the queen. Take her with you as a sign of good faith that when you return, I’ll have your allegiance for allowing her the audience she’s requested.”
Nolda’s tight-lipped smile belies his shaking hands.
He’s good and pissed, all right. And worse, he’s not sure this is the right move.
But he knows not to cross the reaper queen.
“I must say, congratulations are in order, if she’s the key to uncovering where your future wife has been hiding out all this time. ”
Future wife?
“Yes well, she seems to believe Victoria is the key to uncovering her whereabouts.”
“Are you all insane? I’ve told you already, I know nothing about this missing princess. I hardly knew a thing about reapers before today.”
I level River with a glare that promises harm. “If you’re counting on me, your future is bleak. And for the last time, I’m not going anywhere.”
His lip curls into a grin that boils my already scalding blood. “Sorry to disappoint, princess, but you are. I’m sure of it.”
Disgust is too small a word for what I feel in the moment. Rage. Hatred. All of it bubbles to the surface, and before I know it, my fists are slamming into a solid wall of muscle.
I might not have my full power here in Hell, but I’m strong, and that truth is evidenced by the way River’s brows tilt inward with every smack to the chest I deliver. He’s taking me away right before Luke can get to me.
“You bastard!” I yell, continuing my assault. “You’re not taking me anywhere. I won’t go.”
“Jesus Christ and Christmas, will someone get her under control?” Nolda bemoans.
My fists are caught in River’s solid grip as he bears down on me with that same infuriating grin. I want to slap it from his entirely too beautiful face.
My chest heaves with every shallow breath I take. The walls are closing in, and I know I need to get myself together or else suffer a major panic attack in front of these vile people.
“Calm down, Victoria.” River leans into me so that only I can hear his next words. “You don’t want to show weakness here.”
I continue flailing, trying and failing to kick River in the shins. I’ll show him weakness. “You … monster.”
River crashes me to his chest. “I’ve been called worse, princess. Now calm the fuck down.”
His tone is one of warning. And it pisses me off even more. If he thinks that dominance is the way to get my submission, he doesn’t know who he’s messing with.
I stomp my foot down onto his, slap him across the face, and bring my knee up into his crotch.
Then … I run for it.
I don’t get far before strong arms circle around my middle, hauling me back into his firm chest. I know it’s him without even looking. The intoxicating scent of pine, leather, and whiskey gives him away.
“Let me go!” I screech, kicking my legs out.
“Damn it, Victoria,” he curses into my ear, before loosening his grip and spinning me around to face him. “Can’t you just trust me?”
“Hell no!” I snap out breathily. “Why would I trust you? Huh? You’re fine with just letting these demons torture and kill innocent humans. Children, River. How can I trust you knowing that you’re fine with all of that so long as you get your holiday?”
He sighs heavily, taking a step back, but still holding my arms to my sides.
“There is more at stake here than you know. I have a part to play, and you might not know what that entails, but you have to trust that I’m not the bad guy. Can you try that, Victoria? Can you give me some time?”
“Do you really plan to take me away from here?”
“Yes.”
“I won’t go. I can’t, River. He’s coming for me.”
He throws his head back in frustration. “He can’t. They won’t allow him in, Victoria. It’s why Heaven sealed the doors. I was meant to find you here and take you home. The queen said so herself.”
“How do you know this? How did she?”
“On my part? Call it a very strong intuition. As for the queen, she knows things that are beyond my comprehension. All I can tell you is that Heaven is trying to keep you safe while also preventing an all-out war.”
“And going to the reaper kingdom, which by the way I didn’t realize existed, is the way to keep me safe and prevent war?” I throw my hands up in the air.
“I believe so.”
“You believe so? That’s not good enough, River.”
“It has to be. It’s all I can offer you at the moment.”
“Detain her,” Nolda screeches, drawing our attention. “She’s assaulting the reaper prince.”
“For fuck’s sake, Nolda, I can handle myself,” River barks.
“Be that as it may, our conversation isn’t over, and I’d prefer she not maim you until I have your oath.”
River groans. “Take her,” he instructs the demons from before. “But if you harm a hair on her head, your life will end.”
“We’re not done here, River,” I yell as one demon picks me up off my feet, hauling me down the hallway. “Now’s your chance to prove how trustworthy you are,” I screech.
“Too late for that. You jumped me. You can calm down in a cell for a while.”
I growl. “Just wait, Riv. I’ll do more than knee you in the balls next time.”
He smirks, but there’s something else in his eyes. Something that looks an awful lot like a dare.
“We’ll finish our conversation in private, Nolda,” he says, as the demon drags me around the corner and out of their view.
“Where are you taking me?” I demand, but the demon only grunts, continuing down the narrow hallway.
Screams and unintelligible moans come from closed caverns, and I thank God above that I’m spared a glance at whatever torturous acts are going on behind those walls.
We round another dark corner and come to a room that’s full of cells. My stomach bottoms out as I take in the scene.
A red-skinned demon has a man chained to a chair. A table next to him is full of various knives and whips. He picks up a serrated blade and runs it across the man’s cheek.
The accompanying scream pierces my eardrums.
I’m thrown into the cell directly across from the atrocity playing out in the room. As soon as the bars are slammed shut, locking me in, I crumple to the floor, bile rising up my throat as I watch in horror.
What plays out, in what feels like the next hour, is nothing short of gruesome. I don’t want to watch, but I can’t turn away. The tortured soul shrieks in agony, begging for it to end.
It doesn’t.
The demon takes his time, and all I can do is cry. What have I become?
“Don’t shed a tear for him,” a voice calls from the cell next to me.
My eyes snap up to find the vampire, Julian, rubbing at his neck. “They’re here because they’ve done vile things to innocent people.”
“How do you know this?” I ask, because my head had concocted a sob story for the man in the chair.
“He’s in Hell, isn’t he?”
I chew on my lip, recalling River’s account of the child he brought here earlier. “That doesn’t always mean they’re truly unforgivable.”
His brow quirks. “How do you figure?”
“You’re here, and you don’t seem so bad,” I smirk.
He chuckles. “Touché. Although in this instance, I partly chose to be here. I’m not that guy.” He bobs his head toward the wailing man.
“Yeah, about that. Didn’t you question whether this was a trap?”
He laughs, but there’s no humor there. “No. I figured Nolda was using my brother’s request as a way of getting me here and convincing me to join his fight.” He sighs. “There are other rumored portals to the Fae land. I went along with this because I also had questions.”
One brow lifts. “Were you thinking about siding with Nolda?”
He shakes his head. “I’d never join his fight. He knows that. I was here to uncover whether my brother was.”
I look to Lawrence, who’s still out cold.
“Not him. We have another brother. He’s the one working with the witch Nolda mentioned.”
“Who is this witch he has working for him?” I’d never heard her name. Not that my path crosses with witches typically. Well … not until recently, that is.
“She’s … bad news. Way worse than Nolda.”
“That’s … not good. If he has access to a witch, it could be hard for Lucifer to get to him.”
“She’s powerful and dark. It’s not good news at all that she’s working with Nolda.
Knowing she’s been behind the vampire revolt isn’t giving me confidence that war can be prevented.
She was supposed to be bound to the Earth by her coven.
If she’s managed to escape and they don’t even know it, that’s … well, it’s not good for any of us.”
There are so many wars on the horizon, and it’s looking bleaker by the minute for the humans. So many questions run through my mind, but only one matters in this moment.
“What do you plan to do?”
“After we get out of here? Go on a witch hunt,” he says without any trace of excitement. I can tell he doesn’t want to have to deal with any of this.
I nod my head. “Good luck with that.”