Chapter 22 #2
The first place my power seeks is toward the center of her body, near her throat, and I realize her windpipe is crushed. Motherfucker. Isadora thrashes as the cartilage repairs itself, emitting small, vulnerable whimpers until the tissue is once again whole.
The next area I feel a rift is on the left side of her body—shattered bones. He broke her fucking collarbone, the son of a bitch. Isadora lets out a piercing, agonizing cry as the bones stitch themselves back together. Her back arches off the bed, and I push down on her chest to keep her pinned.
Finally, I focus on her mouth, watching the cut in her lip mend itself and the bruising fade from her left eye, which she slowly opens, followed by her right.
“Raph?” she says in a voice like she swallowed sand.
“Get her some tea,” I command Caliste, who nods and swiftly leaves the room.
I remove my hands from Isadora, placing them in my lap as she sits up, clutching the comforter to her chest like a frightened child.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her, and I mean it.
Her black eyes are sad. “It’s not—”
“It is,” I interject. “No need to pretend otherwise. I promised to protect you, and I failed because I was…occupied.”
I don’t regret my time with Rhi for one fucking minute, and it’s not that I feel the need to apologize for it. But I still don’t think it’s fair to Isadora to divulge I have been with Rhi since last evening, completely ignoring the fact that my actions have consequences.
But it’s Isadora’s statement that surprises me. “That’s her, isn’t it?”
Silence ensues as I contemplate how to answer.
Isadora sighs, dropping her hands and gaze to her lap.
“You don’t have to spare me, Raph. I know it’s her.
When you arrived, you were desperately trying to hold on to the memory of her.
Somehow, against all odds, she came here, all the way to Hell, for you, and you remember her.
” She glances up at me with glassy eyes and whispers, “What is it like, to be loved like that? To be in love like that?”
It’s in this moment I realize I can trust her.
Isadora never loved me, she just wanted what I could offer as protection from her father.
She wanted to feel safe, and perhaps, later on, loved, if it was in the cards.
But she knows she won’t find that with me.
I offer her a half smile. “L’amor che move ‘l sole e l’altre stelle. ”
“The love that moves the sun and the other stars,” she translates, returning a sad smile. “What’s her name?”
“Rhi,” I say, and as soon as the name falls from my lips, my heart swells, because gods, how I love saying her name.
“Rhi,” she repeats, the sad smile morphing into something less melancholy. “She helped me, you know. She caught my father trying to hurt me in the corridor one day, and she defended me.”
My own smile transforms into one of pride. “That sounds like her.”
Isadora grabs my hand, and I don’t pull away. “Can you promise to still protect me, Raph? I know you can’t be affectionate with me, I just…” Her bottom lip trembles.
Squeezing her hand, I say, “I promise to protect you, and I mean it. You won’t have to worry about Argos. I swear.”
“Thank you,” she says with a grateful smile.
“Can you promise me one thing?”
“Of course.”
“When no one is around, call me Nick.”
She quirks a pale brow then laughs. “Whatever you say, Nicholas.”
I find Rhi sprawled on her stomach across my bed, and I groan at the way the black dress she wears fits snugly over her ass, which, from this angle, makes me want to crawl on top her and fuck her into the mattress. Hard.
But I’ll get to that later.
She looks up from the book she’d been reading, eyes burning with a lust-induced haze.
“What are you reading?” I ask, concealing a knowing smirk.
“Nothing.” She slams the book shut. “Something Aurelia let me borrow. There’s no Wi-Fi here, you know.”
I shrug. “It’s not that bad. Besides, smut in books is much better than watching porn.” A grin spreads across my mouth as blood rushes to her cheeks.
“I wasn’t reading smut!”
“Sure, you weren’t.”
Rhi scrambles to grab the book just as I do. She beats me to it, clutching it to her chest as she presses her back against the headboard. The bed sinks beneath my weight as I climb in after.
“What is so scandalous that you won’t even give me a peek?”
She shakes her head.
“Come on. I want to see what made you look like a deer in headlights when I walked in.”
Rhi doesn’t answer, but the corner of her mouth ticks up.
Leaning in, I drag my mouth across her ear. “If you show me, we can try it later.”
She turns so her mouth ghosts across my own, intrigue flashing in her eyes. “First, I want to know what happened. Then, we can talk about my reading preferences.”
First, I fill her in on how I found Isadora and our conversation.
“Gods, I feel awful,” she says. “I didn’t think—”
I pull her close to me so she sits on my lap. “You have nothing to feel awful for. This was my fault. Isadora is my responsibility.”
Her fingers dance along my chest. “You still need to protect her.”
“I know, and I will.”
She nods. “What else?”
I suck in a deep breath before answering, releasing it slowly.
“In three days, something called The Harrowing will take place. It’s a series of obstacles where the chosen participants must fight their way to victory.
The choosing will happen tonight at random, and despite who you are to me, you will not be excluded. Neither will Isadora.”
At that, Rhi’s brows shoot to her forehead before her features smooth into a thoughtful expression. “How would someone know if they were chosen?”
“A black stone appears. No one knows how or when.”
“And everyone in Court is included?”
“Everyone except me,” I clarify with a grimace.
“Hmm. And what is the purpose of this trial?”
“This is Hell,” I glance at her quizzically. “Does death require purpose?”
Rhi just stares at me expectantly, now tracing her soft fingers along the tattoo of her monster.
“It is to weed out the weak, I suppose. Although Hell is unlike the legends say in its appearance, it is still a place of death and destruction. The Harrowing occurs once every six years. Everyone in this realm is subjected to its devastation, save for me and any of my heirs.”
Rhi sighs. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised it holds no regard for the woman you love.”
I hook a finger beneath her chin to tip her face towards me, brushing a quick kiss to her lips. “The Devil was never supposed to fall in love.”
“And yet, he did,” she says with a smile.
“He did,” I agree, sweeping gilded laced tendrils from her face.
“And the realms should tremble with fear at the lengths he would go for her.” I place a soft kiss on the column of her throat.
“I told you once, I would burn the world if it meant protecting you. Do not for one moment think I would not raze this place to the ground in Hellish glory if anything happened to you.”
Rhi takes my face in both hands. “Promise me if I draw a black stone, you will do nothing of the sort.” She stops my protest by placing two fingers on my lips. “You will act as the King should act: indifferent, so no one will be the wiser and let me do what I do best.”
She removes her fingers, and I quirk my brow, my mouth lifting in intrigue. “And what is that?”
Her lips curve in a playful grin. “Win.” I smile back, moving to kiss her, but she again stops me. “Do you promise?”
“Yes,” I begrudgingly answer.
“And what of your plan to leave?”
“It’s in the works.” My hand creeps up the side of her thigh exposed by a treacherous slit. “I have sent word to my uncle, Belial, that he is needed at Court. The next part is more difficult and will require some planning, but it is probably the only way to bring Lucifer back to Hell.”
A sharp gasp escapes her mouth as my fingers dance toward her pussy. Her bare pussy. Fuck. I love that she never wears anything under these dresses. Two fingers tease her opening, already slick and wet and welcoming my fingers with ease.
A moan slips past her lips. “What does this next part entail?”
She grinds against my hand, gripping my wrist, instructing me to up the pace. I oblige, adding a third finger, savoring the sound of her pleasurable scream as she throws her head back. It isn’t until she comes all over my fingers that I answer her question.
Her eyes flutter open, chest rising and falling as she manages to catch her breath. I hold her stare, lick her arousal from my fingers, and say, “Kill Argos.”