“You have my word.” He placed a hand over where his heart would be, if he were human.
It was still a gamble. Judgment could mean either a peaceful, final death or an eternity of more suffering. But it was better than not knowing, better than these mind games with Kimaris slowly wearing me down over centuries.
But that succubus. What were her crimes?
Not many hellions deserved the treatment that Kimaris doled out, let alone one of the First Daughters. Whatever she did, she had good reason to hide from him, assuming those images he showed me were real and not sick fantasies.
Angels lived to protect, to guard those in need. To swap my place with hers went against my very nature. But what was one immortal succubus to all of humanity, who were on the brink of extinction?
She may very well be innocent—a victim of Kimaris' exploits, but she could withstand it. This had already been her home for millenia. For all I knew, she loved and embraced the hellish flames, the suffering, and the desecration. Did she even remember her origins? Or did she come to accept the human narratives of succubi, as so many others down here had?
But if she loves Hell, why would she hide?
“What do you say, angel?” Kimaris' claw pressed into my sternum, a warning of what would happen if I chose the wrong option. “Do we have a deal?”
“We do.” I’m sorry, Devya. I’m sure you deserve better, but I must be more corrupt than I thought. “I’ll find the succubus and return her to you.”
“Excellent.”
Without the big demon lifting a finger, the chains moved and loosened their hold on me, as if they were alive.
“Ow!” My head hit the floor with a thunk, the rest of my body crumpling over my head and neck.
The world spun when I rolled to my hands and knees—I must have been upside down longer than I thought. Kimaris gave me no time to orient myself before he grabbed my ankle and proceeded to drag me across the ground.
“Wait, wait!” I hissed in pain as the rocky cavern floor scraped over my back and my wing that was still awkwardly folded underneath me. “I’m not fully healed.”
“I know.” He dragged me to the edge of a cliff, the ground dropping off to nothing but putrid red smoke down below. “And you’ll heal much slower down there. Laws of physics and all that.”
“I—I can’t find her if I’m crippled!”
“Oh no?” He wrapped an inhuman hand around my throat, turning me around so my head hung over the edge. “You’re an angel about to go to a world that’s lost hope. I think you’ll manage.”
“If I can’t fly, I’ll fucking splatter on impact.” Fear flooded me like a dam that had been broken. I needed just a little more time. “And then I’ll be completely useless to you.”
“But you’re immortal, so you’ll live.” The demon’s cruel smile disappeared with a cock of his head. “Yes, my king, in here! How can I be of service?”
He had barely gotten the last word out before he shoved me over the edge.
9
Sacrifice and Worship
Stavros
My heel jiggled as I waited against the wall outside the shower, listening to Deyva’s soft humming and the rush of water on the tiles. There were other voices too, some families using the reading room for lessons with the community children and the sound of Kais going over plans to repair one of the nearby windmills we used to help power the town. It wasn’t safe, I wasn’t alone... and yet all I could think about was pushing my way into that shower and lifting Deyva up against the wall with me between her wet, slippery thighs.
She probably wasn’t even hungry. What had it been, five hours since I snuck back out of the church before dawn?
I was a little heavy and tired today, but that might’ve had more to do with the three rounds of fantastic fucking in the middle of the night than the little drags Deyva was taking off me for the past few days.
The water stopped in the shower and I straightened, nodding at Derrick as he left Kais’ office. I had clothes draped over my arm—a pair of women’s leggings and one of my own flannel shirts—and he frowned at me briefly before leaving the hall. It was probably a good thing I’d tucked the bra Kais found for Deyva inside the bundle.
The door cracked and I turned, lips already twitching with