14. Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

Rayven

My lungs burned as the current rushed me along, but I couldn’t move or swim to the surface. I was trapped, my limbs pinned to my sides as I slowly suffocated.

I couldn’t die like this.

I hadn’t survived Asmodeus’ sexual torture just to accidentally drown.

When there was no air left in my lungs and unconsciousness began to leach from the corners of my mind, something grabbed me by the arm and wrenched me upward.

Before I concerned myself with who or what had hold of me, I gasped and swallowed as much air as I could get into my lungs the second I breached the river’s surface.

I sputtered and coughed, wiping the blood from my face with equally blood-soaked hands.

I was drenched and dripping with death, half-starved and out of my mind, but I was alive.

A few blinks cleared my vision, and I stared up at my savior, who was perched on the river’s bank, looming over me with a curious gleam in his eyes.

Without his masquerade mask, Leviathan's face looked much more serpentine. Pronounced cheekbones curved down to his pointed chin, and his slitted eyes locked on me with unbridled curiosity. His skin was green and snake-like, his scales glimmering like wet stones in the dim lighting.

I immediately snatched my arm from his grip.

“I’m surprised you got away from my brother in one piece,” Leviathan chuckled, reaching down to offer me a hand. “Asmodeus must be losing his touch.”

I shrank away, crossing to the other side of the river. “He definitely lost more than his touch,” I snapped, voice dripping with poison.

My eyes darted past the serpentine demon to observe this new area.

It was another cavern, built straight into some cliff face or another, but this cave had a totally different feel from Asmodeus’. Streams of water dripped down the dark walls like an oil spill, and the steady crash of water in the distance hit my ears. It was exactly the kind of place a snake like Leviathan would call home, but at least it wasn’t covered in blood and littered with body parts. Not to mention, the temperature here was normal, and it smelled vaguely of salt, seaweed, and something entirely unique to this realm, exotic and smokey.

My attention slipped further down the Styx, noting how it stretched into the distance and dissolved into darkness. I couldn’t make out anything that far into the cavern, but I was tempted to keep following the bloody river. Granted, it was taking me farther away from Belial, but the thought of lingering in any of these other realms was enough motivation to keep running.

“You won’t find what you’re looking for down there,” he said, jerking his head in the direction I’d been staring. His snakelike tongue uncurled from his mouth, licking his thin lips before darting back in again. “Come. I can help you.”

“And why the fuck would I believe you, asshole?” I stared at his hand like it might grow fangs and bite me. “How do I know you won’t try to rape or kill me?”

A thin smile split across his face, making him look even more serpent-like. “You don’t. But as the Lord of Lust, it’s kind of Asmodeus’ thing to rape and pillage. The rest of us aren’t such…” He clicked his tongue as he seemed to search for the word. “Brutes.”

I barked a hollow laugh. “Brute? Fuck off. The guy is the straight up devil.”

“We all are,” Leviathan mused. “The Demon Lords of Hell all have their unique ways of showing it. Asmodeus’ is just the least creative.”

My head was spinning as I scrambled to come up with a plan. At first, I thought it was because I was overwhelmed, but then, the cavern began to spin too. I stumbled, my eyes fluttering. After everything I’d done to get here, I was going to pass out and drown in the damn Styx. Leviathan only cocked his head, bemused.

“I…” No words would form. It was too late. I was going down.

I slumped, trying and failing to catch myself on the slick stone wall behind me.

Then, just as Leviathan stepped into the Styx with darkened eyes, everything went black.

I was swaying, rocking slowly back and forth, clutched tightly in the strange safety of Belial’s embrace. He’d removed his mask, his handsome features and scars on full display as he carried me across his bedroom.

“Belial,” I tried to say, but my voice didn’t come.

He laid me on his bed, the familiar ceiling stretched overhead, and smiled down at me. One of his hands danced over my arm, teasing my breasts, dipping lower. I gasped, surprised by the coldness of his touch.

The image dissolved, and I blinked my eyes open, expecting to find myself nestled in Belial’s bed. Instead, I found myself staring up at more than a dozen curved copper bars that met at a point above me.

Everything came rushing back like a maelstrom. I wasn’t in Belial’s castle anymore.

No, I was in the care of his brother Leviathan, the scaley motherfucker who’d been the most aloof of the demon brothers who’d attended the masquerade.

I rose up on my knees, feeling too light-headed to stand. I was in a giant cage, one that didn’t appear to have a door of any kind—likely sealed with magic.

But the lack of a door was the least of my problems.

I was completely fucking naked.

My arms flew up to wrap around my exposed body. I frantically searched the cage for my dress, but I knew it was gone. He’d taken it and my boots.

My boots. Fuck!

I’d already lost them once, but something told me they were gone for good this time. I definitely wasn’t doing any sexual favors to get them back like I had in Belial’s hedge maze.

Panic clawed up my throat, and my heart pounded so hard in my chest, I thought it might explode.

There was only one thing I trusted about Leviathan, and that was for him to be no worse than Asmodeus. Maybe that was giving him too much credit.

Frantically, I grabbed two bars and tried to pry them apart, but they wouldn’t budge.

“Don’t hurt yourself, pet,” a voice said, making me jump. I turned to see Leviathan sprawled out on a bed next to the cage, his scaly head propped up on one hand. He was smoking a hookah, smoke ringlets puffing out of his slitted nostrils periodically as he ogled me like I was his most prized possession.

“I’m not your fucking pet.” I did my best to cover my chest, though it didn’t matter. He’d already seen all of me if he got me out of my dress. Still, I felt gross with his eyes on me.

He hissed a laugh, the noise snaking through the cavern. “I’ve got you trapped in a cage. I’d say that makes you my pet, don’t you?”

I scowled, hot anger flashing through me. “Where’s my dress?”

“I burned it.” He took another drag from the hookah’s mouthpiece before exhaling a cloud of winding smoke. “I’m surprised Belial kept you clothed at all. Pets don’t wear clothes, especially considering what he used you for.”

A chill worked through me at the way the snake demon eyed me. “I’m surprised he didn’t keep a prize like you naked and chained to his bed around the clock. But then again, he’s always been reckless with the things he didn’t deserve.”

Understanding suddenly clicked into place. “You’re the Lord of Envy, aren’t you?”

If he was surprised by my guess, he didn’t show it. “Clever girl. I suppose I’m not surprised the Lord of Bones likes showing you off.”

With another puff on his hookah, he blew an enormous cloud of smoke. It morphed into the shape of a snake, twisting and coiling through my cage bars. After a few seconds, it dissipated, and he sent me a sly smile. “Entertain whatever delusions you have in that pretty head of yours, but you’ve only just met Belial. I’ve known him for centuries…”

“So?” I hissed, my hands gripping the bars of the cage.

“ So, he tires of his toys and moves on quickly.” He chuckled dryly, shaking his head. “Once he resumes his duties, I’m sure he’ll forget all about you.”

I knew he was lying—there was no way Belial wasn’t coming for me after what he’d seen in the mirror—but the words still stung. It was true; I’d only known the Lord of Limbo for a short amount of time, but he owned my soul. He loved me.

Wherever he was right now, I knew he was looking for me. The feeling sank all the way to my bones, making them ache.

He would come for me, and he’d punish every one of the demon lords who had anything to do with kidnapping me. He’d turn the nine realms inside out—anything to get me back.

I had trust issues with the King of Limbo, but if I trusted him to do anything, it was that.

“You think you know Belial,” I countered, turning my back to him. The cavern Leviathan used for a bedroom opened to reveal a cloudy sky over a jet-black ocean. White crests rolled onto a beach, and in the lulls of conversation, I could hear the water crashing. “How long has it been since any of you gave a fuck about him? People change, even demons.”

Another smoke snake slithered in through the bars of the cage, wrapping around me. Its mouth nipped at my exposed nipples before I swatted a hand through it, diffusing the smoke.

“You’ve seen so much for a human yet know so little.”

Leviathan slithered off the bed, his bare feet padding over to the side of my cage, where he squatted to be eye level with me.

The cage was so small, there wasn’t much room to put distance between us—it was only a few feet wide in length. I didn’t like how close we were—enough to feel his breath through the bars, dancing over my naked skin.

His slitted eyes roamed over my body with unguarded desire as a fork-tipped tongue flicked out to lick his thin lips. Ugh. He was a total creep.

“How will you feel when he doesn’t come for you? When he leaves you here to rot in my realm?” He stuck his hand through the bars, which were barely wide enough to accommodate his arm, and trailed his fingers along my cheek.

I jerked back from his touch and forced a disturbed smile across my lips. “Careful—I bite. Just ask Asmodeus.”

“Yes…” the demon mused, a thoughtful look pulling at his scaly features. “What did you do to the Lord of Lust?”

“Let’s just say he’s going to need a new title. What, with not having a dick anymore.”

Surprise lifted Leviathan's hairless brows. “Really?”

“Really,” I snapped, my fiery gaze locked on his. “So keep your hands to yourself, or I’ll chop your dick off too.”

Leviathan tsked his tongue. “That’s no way for a delicious pet to behave, especially if she wants to be fed.”

My ears perked up at the mention of food.

He produced a half-shell oyster out of thin air, holding it up between his fingers for me to see. I scrunched my nose at it; I’d never been a big seafood fan, but oysters were probably the bottom of the barrel as far as my least favorite foods went. Despite that, my stomach rumbled loudly as he shoved the shell through the bars.

“I’m not eating that.”

“You can always starve.” Leviathan shrugged a shoulder and started to withdraw his hand. “It makes no difference to me.”

The hunger pains cramping my stomach had me rethinking my decision. “Wait.”

He froze while I struggled to cling to the last shred of willpower I possessed. I was starving. How long had it been since I’d eaten anything? Twenty-four hours, at least? I couldn’t afford to be picky.

“What did you do to it?” I asked, eyeing the nasty, booger-colored blob nestled in the Lord of Envy’s palm.

The last time I took food from a stranger, I had magical pervy dreams. Not that I regretted my sex dream with the Lord of Bones, but I had a feeling Leviathan’s oyster wouldn’t be anything like Belial’s plum.

“If I wanted to kill you, I’ve had ample opportunities so far,” he said without moving. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

I scoffed, rolling my eyes. “Oh, so you only want to hurt me in front of your brothers? Now you want to, what? Keep me safe? I’m not buying it.”

This close, I could make out his sharp, serrated teeth when he grinned, and they made my stomach drop. Leviathan might have seemed docile compared to his brothers, but there was something dark lurking beneath his charming facade. He might be playing nice for now—aside from the whole stripping me naked and shoving me in a cage thing—but I knew he could be vicious, deadly if I pushed his buttons.

“Keep you, yes. Safe? I suppose that depends on how good of a pet you are,” he said, wiggling the oyster in front of my face. My stomach churned at the way it jiggled in its shell. “You’ll find I can be rather…persuasive when it comes to getting what I want.”

I wasn’t sure what exactly he wanted, but it had to be more sinister than me eating an oyster.

We sat there, eyes locked in a stalemate, before my hunger won out over my willpower. I reached for the shell in his hand, licking my lips at the thought of sustenance, but he snatched it back out of my reach.

“Open,” he urged, shoving the shell in my face.

Gross—he wanted to feed me.

“Get fucked, asshole,” I growled, clamping my lips shut. I was already trapped in a cage; I didn’t want to eat out of his hand like a goddamn animal. I was also tired of men shoving things in my mouth without my permission.

“Come now, pet,” he urged, wiggling the oyster back and forth. “Be good and eat for me. You have to be hungry after your ordeal.”

My stomach growled painfully again, and my resolve crumbled. As I opened my mouth and allowed him to tip the oyster against my lips, I decided I hated Leviathan just as much as the rest of Belial’s brothers. I hated them all, but if it meant I’d get to eat, I’d behave—for now.

What the fuck else could I do?

As soon as I got the chance, I wouldn’t hesitate to chop off one of his body parts. I hoped I got the opportunity.

I nearly gagged as the oyster slid down my throat, swallowing extra hard to choke it down. It was just as awful as I’d expected, but at least it was nourishment.

Leviathan stood and tossed the shell aside, sending it skittering across the damp floor.

“You’re quite pretty when you do as you’re told,” he admired, but his voice wasn’t full of lust the way Belial’s was when he said it. He almost sounded impressed, like I was an oddity he wanted to observe and study. Something he wanted to admire until he got bored and eventually destroyed me.

As uncomfortable as I was, I could still safely say I’d rather be here than fucked to death by Asmodeus. It was the tiniest of silver linings.

“You said you’d give me more food,” I said, expecting him to produce some bread or fruit—or hell, even another oyster—but he didn’t.

“Yes, but I didn’t say now .”

The serpentine demon lounged back onto the bed, snatching up the hookah and taking a long drag. We sat like that, staring at one another through his constant cloud of slithering smoke, for what felt like hours.

“You’re probably tired,” he said, finally breaking the silence. His eyes roamed over me, that gleam of curiosity never leaving his gaze no matter how long he stared. “You should rest while I watch over you. Let me hear all the delicious noises you make while you dream.”

“You want to watch me sleep?”

“I want to watch you breathe, sleep, be .” He blew a fat smoke ring into the air above him. “Living creatures don’t exist in the land of the dead. You’re the most exciting thing to happen in this realm in the last five hundred years. Why wouldn’t I be fascinated?”

“You’re a fucking creep.” I rolled my eyes and laid down on the bottom of the cage, facing him and curling in on myself so he couldn’t jack off to the site of my tits while I slept.

It’s not like I could do anything else in my prison, and I did need to rest. My body was weak with exhaustion, and my eyelids were heavy. If I got the chance to escape, I needed my energy.

I had a feeling I’d be fighting off more demon lords before everything was over.