been for my men who had been ready to sacrifice their own lives to save hers. Fuck, but I was so fucking proud, which was why, once Clay’s memories led to him clinging on for dear life back in his mortal form, I let him go.
“My Lord, I am so sor…”
“You fought with your lives to keep my Queen safe, and for that, I am forever in your debt,” I told him, cutting him off and needing to do so once more when he started,
“But we…”
“You saved her life after I was the fool who put it in fucking danger! This is on me, Clay, not you… along with our loss,” I said, looking back to where Ruto’s body had been laid on the ground. Clay followed my gaze and did so with a pained look on his face, as he too felt the loss.
“He fought with strength and honour, my Lord,” he informed me, and I placed a hand on his shoulder and told him,
“Yes, I know, and now it is time to avenge him and while I am at it…” I paused, looking back at the portal in the Tree of Souls that I knew Matthias had used, and vowed,
“It’s time to kill my brother and…”
“…Get back my Queen.”
21
Lustful Interruptions
Admittedly, the last fucking place I wanted to be was in the realm of lust, meeting with Dom’s father once more. But if the shit hit the fan and Matthias managed to pull off his plan, then I would need all the help I could get. Because now he had Amelia, that meant he had the power to transfer every soul that was tied to me, onto him. Which meant that I would need an army, and one I didn’t command. It was ironic really, for I had amassed the greatest army Hell had ever known, and the first time I was to see them in battle, it would be by the command of another and ordered to fight against me.
Hell was most certainly a brutal place and, in many ways, was one that mirrored the multiple realms that surrounded it, for greed and the need for more power was in the hearts that held the claim of ruler. Hence why I had amassed such an army in the first place. Because despite what my father had feared, being that of my ambition for more power than even he, I had not built my forces for that reason. No, it was solely done as a precautionary manner, so there were those that would not dare to try and claim what was mine by my supernatural birth right.
This, of course, included Lucifer himself.
But now my army and all the beings I had changed were in danger of becoming nothing more than a means to an end, for Matthias intended to make pawns out of each of them. And now Amelia was smack bang in the middle of it all!
My biggest fear of all wasn’t actually losing control of my people or all my armies. But it was that Amelia would sacrifice herself before she allowed this to happen, something I knew her noble soul would do if she believed it could save her mother, my people and myself included.
After all, sacrifice ran in her family, I thought bitterly.
Thankfully, my brother was more successful in creating his portals now that none of them included trying to access the Temple of the Tree of Souls. Which meant he was the bearer of bad news as he found Dom topside… and with Clay and Caspian, had to explain to him what had happened. This was after I had him create me a portal to the Realm of Lust because I didn’t have a moment to lose!
Because I also knew I would need the aid of another family member if I had any hope of getting Amelia back and well, Asmodeus also had a large army of his own.
With regards to Dom, I could only imagine his reaction upon hearing all that had happened to his daughter. After all, the blind fucking panic that turned to rage was one I knew well, for he would have no idea why his daughter was not now stepping through that portal into the waiting arms of her family. No, he would know something had gone wrong.
But sending Dariush was my only option, as he was the only one who could get to him in time and, at the very least, Dom would know my men so trust