25. Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Five

Rayven

My throat tightened as Belphegor eyed me through the steam collecting in the bathroom, and I wondered what he meant. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.

But it has to be better than being eaten… I kept telling myself that as he started for me, an evil glint in his death-black eyes. For every slow step he took toward me, I took two back.

He giggled as if he found my fear amusing. “Come on, you asked what I had planned for you. Don’t you want a taste?”

No, I didn’t want a taste. If it involved any of his body parts, they would promptly get bitten off. Maybe he hadn’t heard what I’d done to Asmodeus yet…

Though maybe it was better if he hadn’t.

“Fuck you,” I spat at him, and he laughed, the unsettling sound reverberating off the bathing chamber’s stone walls.

“Don’t you know that’s basically demon for yes?”

There was something about the way he regarded my naked body that had a little voice in my head screaming for me to run. Despite barely knowing the demon, I couldn’t shake the foreboding sense that this lord was worse than every one of his brothers I’d met so far.

Except for maybe Belial. No one was more intimidating than the Lord of Bones.

Belphegor chewed his lip in deep thought as he seemed to consider what happened next. He was hard to read in this form, but it was obvious what had him torn.

Obey Mammon and prepare me for the cauldron in the main chamber, or rebel and act out whatever twisted plans he had in mind for me instead.

It was a testament to how fucked my situation was that I hoped for the second option.

After what felt like an eternity, it appeared he thought better of defying Mammon. He turned around and took a seat on the stool at the foot of the bath.

I watched him carefully, a fist-sized lump in my throat as he swirled the bath water with a claw waiting for the basin to fill.

Paired with the sticky hot air in the bathroom and the unsettling silence, I was practically stewing alive in the tension.

There was a noise outside the door—the shuffle of small feet and hyena-like snickering. Belphegor’s glare whipped toward the intruders and, with an irritated sigh, ushered them in.

Two goblins scuttled inside, bowing clumsily to Belphegor at least half a dozen times while their little heads craned in my direction, ogling me with their large, yellowed eyes. The first goblin carried a woven basket filled with various scrub brushes and hand towels. The second held a tray of what I assumed to be bath salts and soaps. The scent of rosemary had my stomach grumbling.

My stomach flipped when, on closer inspection, I made out an array of items you’d use to prepare a hunk of meat for a meal: oils, salts—not the bath variety—and various herbs and spices.

“We’re here to assist with the preparation of the meat, Lord Belphegor.”

Assist? As in, bathe me? Oh hell no. If Belphegor bathed me, I could at least try to pretend it was Holga instead.

The goblins were shriveled, warty little creatures with curling yellowed fingernails and rancid breath. They leered at my naked body, their ratty little loincloths tenting with their erections.

The thought of them touching me had me edging away until my back hit the bathing chamber’s cold stone wall.

The only way out was the single doorway the goblins blocked off. Even if I made it out of the bathroom, where would I go? This entire place was a prison.

Belphegor snickered at my reaction, clearly finding my disgust amusing, but to my relief, he took the basket of brushes and loofahs and waved the goblins away. “Get out. No one touches the Lord of Greed’s royal meat but me.”

Bile burned in my throat at being referred to as the “royal meat.”

He placed the basket on the ground beside his seat and dipped a pinky into the water, testing the temperature.

“It’s too hot. Unless you’re trying to boil me before you dump me into that cauldron,” I muttered, trying to keep the fear from my voice. It was pointless, though, considering how my body wouldn’t stop shaking no matter how hard I willed it to stay still.

“You’re terrified, aren’t you?” Belphegor's small smile sent a violent chill through my core.

“Your heart is beating like a little rabbit’s caught in a snare. I feel so sorry for you, poor thing .” Belphegor's smile indicated that he didn’t feel sorry for me in the slightest.

I bared my teeth, and he laughed again. “Well, you still have more spunk than any human I’ve met. I suppose you’d have to have something special about you to wiggle your way inside Belial’s icy heart.”

Was that jealousy I caught in his tone?

“Maybe you’re just putting on a brave face because your soul is still in the hands of your precious master, which is really too bad.” Belphegor poked his bottom lip out in a fake pout. “That means once Mammon sucks the last bit of marrow from your boiled bones, there won’t be anything left to torture.”

“Belial isn’t going to let you do shit with my body.”

“Oh, honey.” Belphegor's snowy brows furrowed, as if he almost did feel sorry for me now. “You’re not stupid enough to think he’s going to reach you in time, are you?”

He snorted at my expression. “This realm is a fortress. I’m sure he’ll try his best, considering how hard up he seems to be for your scrawny little body. That was quite the show he put on at the masquerade. Chaining you to his throne? The way he looked at you… Either he had his ferryman’s oar stuffed down his pants, or he was thinking about bending you over his throne, right there in front of everyone.”

A moan crawled up his throat, and his white lashes fluttered. “Mmm, now that would have been a show.”

With the claw-foot basin full, he cut the water, and his gaze slithered back to me. His plump lips pursed as he considered me. “You must be quite the little fuck to keep a monster cock like Belial’s standing at attention.”

I cringed, and he threw his head back, his mocking laughter making the little hairs on my nape rise.

“Oh, don’t give me that pathetic look. Unlike my brothers, I’m not interested in that little mound between your thighs.”

Something akin to relief flooded my system, releasing some of the tension in my chest. If he wasn’t bullshitting me, then whatever his plan was, it didn’t entail eating me, boiling me, or raping me.

As much as this demon made alarms go off in my head, he was the lesser evil as far as his plans with me went. I just had to convince him to defy Mammon and get me the hell out of here.

“You said earlier you had a better idea on how to make use of me. So why are you going along with the feast?”

Belphegor’s brows furrowed as his hand hovered over the tray of herbs. He opted for a mixture of salt and rosemary and tossed it into the steaming bath. “Mammon always gets what he wants.”

“But aren’t you a demon lord too?” I asked, my eyes bouncing between him and the tub. “Why should Mammon get his way and not you? Is he better than you, or is that just what he likes to think?”

The white-haired demon’s lip curled and his nostrils flared. “I know what you’re doing. You’re not going to drive a wedge between me and my Mon-Mon.”

Mon-Mon? Oh, barf.

The demon lord gave an irritated flip of his snow-white hair while drumming his manicured claws against the edge of the now-full tub. “This is boring me. Get in so we can get this over with.”

He stirred the water with a slender index finger, musing through a devious smirk, “Maybe your meat will taste good enough to make this worth it.”

Fuck.

I should have figured it wouldn’t be easy convincing Belphegor to go against the Lord of Greed. Luckily, I had an ace up my sleeve.

My mind went back to my last bath, the one I’d shared with Belial just two days ago, but I tried not to linger on the memory too much. This wasn’t the time or place to daydream about how Belial had joined me in the water. It definitely wasn’t the place to dwell on how he’d helped me discover my latest concerning kink after nearly drowning me and forcing me to come before he let me breathe.

Instead, I turned my thoughts to what he’d told me about his brothers and how Belphegor and Asmodeus used to fuck. It was a risky move—one that could easily backfire—to bring it up, but I had to try. I needed to know just how devoted Belphegor was to the Lord of Greed if I had any hope of changing his mind.

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to drive a wedge between true love,” I said, forcing innocence into my voice.

Belphegor’s scowl deepened. “I didn’t say shit about true love. Mammon’s too much of a selfish prick to keep my interest for long.”

I swallowed down my flicker of hope and kept up my innocent act. “Don’t you think you deserve better?”

“What could a human girl ever know about love between demons?”

“I know that, just like with humans, love doesn’t always last, does it?” I steeled my nerves before I pressed on. “Just like with Asmodeus. It ended with him, so naturally, it will end with Mammon too. Why not end it now and keep me all for yourself?”

Belphegor flew to his feet, and even in the steam, I could see his shape flicker. Just for a moment—if I’d blinked, I would have missed it—he morphed back to his true form. He was a handsome, lithe male, with a sharp bone structure and that same silky hair that moved like water reaching past his waist.

Ugh. Why were most of these assholes so damn beautiful?

“How dare you invoke the name of the Lord of Lust, you little rat?” His tone dropped to a deadly hiss, and violence radiated from him that was just as visceral as the steam spiraling off the bath water. “Especially after what you did to him.”

Oh. Shit. He knew.

Belphegor knew I’d bitten off Asmodeus’ dick.

I wondered if he knew Belial had killed him yet.

“I said. Get. In. The. Bath,” Belphegor gritted out, punctuating each of his words with a growl.

Whatever thin veil Belphegor had drawn to maintain that he was the sane one of his brothers was gone now. I saw the rage in his face, and I knew he was just as psychotic as the rest, maybe even more so.

“Go on,” he purred through a smile I didn’t trust. “Force my hand. I can make you get in the bathtub.” His voice came out alarmingly soft and almost seductive, a threat wrapped up in velvet. “I can make you do whatever I want…”

I was still shaking, but now, it was in fury, not fear. “I’m sick of you demonic fucks. What the hell did I ever do? Last week, I was just minding my own goddamn business, trying to pay my damn rent. Now, here I was, dragged to the underworld against my will. I’ve been nearly eaten by carnivorous trees, half drowned in mud, chained and caged like a fucking animal, and almost raped. So you know what? You all can get fucked.”

Of course, Belphegor was going to take that as a challenge when in reality, I was just tired of being treated like a piece of meat being fought over by a pack of wolves.

I was definitely tired of feeling so damn helpless.

“Alright,” Belphegor purred. The steam in the enclosed room was so thick now, I could barely see him through the haze. All I could discern was a swelling shape getting bigger and bigger.

The shifter was taking on a new form.

When he stepped closer to me, the steam rolled around him in tendrils, heightening the dramatics of the reveal.

I slapped my hand over my mouth to keep myself from screaming when three heads emerged. It was eerie seeing Asmodeus again. It was a perfect likeness, as if he was back from the dead.

“How about I give you a bath like this?”