Cipher (Demonica Underworld #8) - Larissa Ione Page 0,46

me.”

She swallowed her loathing and the “Fuck you, you piece of shit,” that sat on her lips and instead uttered a mandatory, “Yes, my lord.”

For the ten millionth time, she regretted agreeing to serve him in any capacity he wished for all eternity if he helped her get the revenge she craved. She’d been out of her mind with anger and grief, and the implications of any capacity and for all eternity were, for the first time, truly hitting home.

“Everything of yours belongs to me,” he said, and her mind instantly flashed to Flail, who must have told him about finding them in bed. “Including your virginity.”

He knows? Shock stole her breath, and then a blow to her spine sent her sprawling to the floor and gasping for air. His heavy footsteps fell like thunder, coming closer, threatening destruction.

She tried to push to her feet, but something held her frozen to the floor and she could only watch as Bael’s gore-crusted boots stopped next to her head. He bent over, his hot, rancid breath blowing in her ear.

“Betray me in any way, and I will take your virginity with a sword. Do you understand?”

“Y-yes,” she gasped.

Her skin crawled as he stroked her hair. “But help me use Cipher to free Satan, and you can be our queen as we serve at his side.”

Oh, God. She couldn’t have heard him right. “Our queen?”

“Moloc and I. We are one.” He yanked her to her feet with a painful jerk of her hair and tossed her at the door, where she landed in heap. “Go. Make my viruses.”

She had her feet under her and was out the door in a heartbeat.

The Ramreel guard watched her with beady eyes until she got around the corner, where she stumbled to a halt, grabbed her knees, and struggled to catch her breath.

What had she gotten herself into?

Her conversation with Cipher earlier came back to her. Haunting her.

You shackled yourself for all eternity to Bael and his empire of evil for the sole purpose of getting revenge and without any thought about what comes after?

At the time, what he’d said hadn’t really sunken in. Her daily life since falling had been about one thing: revenge. But what would happen later? Was becoming some sort of brother-wife demon queen truly what she had to look forward to? Why her? Why wouldn’t they choose Flail, who seemed to enjoy the brothers’ penchant for vile acts?

And was revenge really even all that important anymore? Merely surviving filled most of her life, and helping Bael try to jumpstart Armageddon filled the rest.

The same impulsivity that had gotten her wings sliced off had gotten her an eternity of hell, and her only hope was that evil would take her so completely that she didn’t care anymore. Because right now, she did care.

She was a fallen angel. She should be thrilled to hear of Bael’s plans for Satan, Heaven, and her enemies. But this was too much.

This was way too much.

This was the kind of shit Flail should be excited about, and if she wanted to—

Flail.

Bael said she’d been heading to see Cipher. Screw that. Cipher was hers.

Heart thundering in her chest, Lyre sprinted toward the castle’s main exit.

Hold on, Cipher. I’m coming.

* * * *

Of all the beatings Cipher had endured during his time in Sheoul, the ones he’d gotten over the last few hours had been the worst.

Oh, he’d dealt with far more painful, off-the-scale torture, but in his mind, that was different than a beating. A beating involved fists and feet, maybe a blunt object, and a whole lot of taunting.

It was fucking annoying. At least when he was in agony, the pain shut down his brain. But today he’d been hung like a punching bag to endure the chatter of demons who’d used him as practice before they were ushered into the arena for their fights to the death. He was the warm-up.

And he wondered if, at some point, he was going to be tossed in the arena too.

Even as the thought filtered through his battered brain, Flail showed up.

No. Fucking. Way.

Today was not his lucky day.

“Looks like you got yourself into hot water,” she said, sounding far too happy about it.

“You know me,” he drawled. “Always out of the fire and into the pot.”

“Mmm.” She flicked the door to the training room closed with her mind. “Is that why you got kicked out of Heaven?”

He wasn’t going to tell her jack shit about why he lost his wings.

Weird