23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Celeste

" I don't need your help," Beleth said before I could make a sound.

I smiled, crossing my arms. "You sure? Or are you just too proud to admit it?"

His eye twitched in annoyance, and it was at that moment I realized two things. One, it was probably not a smart idea to antagonize him when I needed his cooperation; and two, Beleth was more affected by my words than he'd ever admit. Even now, he was bristling when I'd barely said anything.

"I see you haven't learned your lesson," he grumbled in a voice reverberating with warning. My body responded with another shudder that I hoped I managed to mask.

"It's one of my better qualities." His eye did another of those little ticks, but he said nothing. "I'm not scared of you." I lied, putting all of my experience in pretending in that one silly sentence. If he thought he had me scared and trembling, this would all be over. I might have been wrong for many things in my life, but there was one lesson I learned well: people who longed for power despised weakness. And fear… fear was weakness.

At least, until now, he had been treating me like an adversary. I'd be damned if I let this wretched bastard look down on me.

"You should be," he murmured. I forced myself to hold his gaze, refusing to blink until he did. "You should be fucking terrified because you haven't seen a fracture of what I could do to you, Red."

"Red. Why do you keep calling me that?" I changed the subject, and he blinked, confusion passing through his face. I barely held back a smile when that one simple question threw him off. My confidence rose a few notches. "You've been calling me that from the start. Why?"

His eyes narrowed and for a moment I thought he wouldn't answer, but then he just shrugged. "Because your hair is fucking red and your name is stupid."

I felt the urge to snap and laugh at the same time, but I bit my tongue, muttering only, "I didn't realize I was so special to you to give me a nickname."

Shadows exploded from his back, and one of them shot toward my face. I swallowed my surprised scream, summoning my magic to block him just enough to shout, "Cyrus!"

The shadows tightened around my face, leaving only my eyes and nose free, and I watched with growing panic as Beleth straightened, his eyes closing while he cracked his neck. He winced, but when he looked at me again, it was still him who was in control. I gritted my teeth, lifting my head higher. I hated the fact that I had to evoke Cyrus' name so soon, but at least I got confirmation of what I suspected.

He was rattled, more than usual. I wasn't sure what had caused the change, but he was no longer the calm, collected guy who ignored me while I lay half-naked, bound, and gagged. My words, my attitude, even my very presence, unbalanced him. He didn't have all the power here.

With exaggerated slowness, Beleth crossed his arms and leaned on the table behind him. The shadows fell around my neck, not tight enough to stop my airflow, but I could still feel them slithering against my skin. It made me shudder at the phantom touch, invoking sensations that reminded me too much of how they felt when they held me down.

I had no idea what had just happened between those two, but judging by Beleth's expression, he was seriously pissed off. He wasn't glaring at me, though, so I could only assume Cyrus was taking the brunt of his sharp, forked tongue.

"Cyrus has a point," I said, trying to ignore the shadows dancing on my skin.

"Cyrus is an idiot," Beleth spat .

"Whatever he is, he seems to be smarter than you," I snarled in frustration. His eye twitched again, the left side of his mouth pulling up to reveal his teeth. I quickly added, "Smarter than both of us."

Beleth said nothing, but his power didn't silence me, so I took that as a sign to continue.

"My magic might not work against you, but it works perfectly fine against some of the creatures out there." My eyes darted to the door, and my heartbeat quickened at the memory of the bloody, horrid plane outside. I had seen and fought all kinds of monsters, but there was something odd and unsettling about those hellish beings that just went straight to the tiny little corner where I kept my horror. "I can control the ones that have been alive once and the rest…" I looked back at Beleth, making sure my smile had no cracks when I shrugged one shoulder. "I take it they stay down if they are burned to ashes or smashed into a bloody pulp?"

I took a few steps toward him, dragging the sheet with me while the chain rubbed around my ankle. His shadows followed, not letting go but not stopping me, either. My entire being screamed to get ready to fight when his eyes bore into mine, but I ignored the call. He was calm, he was listening, he wasn't going to attack… probably.

Beleth's face relaxed as he rubbed his lower lip. His eyes slid from my face to the linen, then down to my chained foot. I tried to tell myself that I was imagining the fact that his attention lingered on my exposed thigh, but the ice that flooded my veins didn't care either way.

"If I agree to this, there will be rules," he said suddenly, and I gaped. I had thought it would be much harder to convince him. Bless Cyrus' sweet heart, he was probably still talking his ear—brain?—off. Judging by the way Beleth's eyes turned glazed every few seconds, the demon had some words to say too. "You will listen to everything I say and you will obey every command I give you."

"Fine," I whispered, and his gaze narrowed at me. Clearing my throat, I repeated, firmer this time. "Fine by me."

"Make no mistake, the safety you get in this room vanishes the moment you set foot outside. What you faced yesterday…" He paused, studying my face for a reaction, but I gave him nothing. "... consider it a warm welcome. And if you put my life or yours in danger just to provoke me, I will destroy your mind, or what's left of it. Do you understand, Red? "

Trying to rein in my excitement, I smiled tightly, saluting him with my free hand.

"Whatever you say, boss. Out there, I will be your perfect little soldier."

"In here, too," Beleth snarled through gritted teeth. "I don't want to deal with your attitude in the only safe place I have."

"Then just let Cyrus out and go to your room, or wherever you go when you switch. He's more pleasant to be around, anyway." I shrugged.

Beleth moved faster than I expected, stepping toward me with a look that made all kinds of alarms go off in my head. The shadows tightened just short of choking me, and when he pointed a finger at my face, I sucked in a breath and held it.

"You will not be talking to him again." He grabbed my chin, tipping my head up, and it took everything in me not to jerk out of his grip. "And if you try to get him out by force, our deal is off."

I grabbed his wrist, the need to put a distance between us, making my skin crawl like ants were marching over it. He didn't budge.

"Then don't give me a reason!" I snarled, sinking my nails into his flesh. The skin broke, but if it pained him, he didn't show it. He did let me go, though, and a moment later, his shadows retreated into his body.

"Do you agree on the terms or not? I'm done negotiating with you," he snapped.

I licked my lips, studying his dark eyes, only to find unshakable resolve there. While I hated the idea of agreeing without the right to set my own terms, his weren't exactly unfair.

"Fine." I shrugged, trying to sound bored. "I have one condition, too."

"I don't ca…" Beleth started when I raised my chained leg, stomping it on the edge of the bed. The metal rattled loud enough to make him trail off and look at my ankle.

"Get rid of it," I demanded. "Unless you are scared of me, of course."

With a growl, he bent over and grabbed my foot, unclasping the shackle with laughable ease. I clenched my jaw to stop a yelp from coming out and it took all my willpower not to kick him in the head. Luckily, he stepped back before my composure cracked.

The wardrobe in the corner opened with a loud creak and something flew out of it, slamming into my face and almost sending me toppling to the floor. I raised the cloth, staring at the pair of pants and a T-shirt with an incredulous expression .

"Put those on and sit down. I'll get you can move easily in later," Beleth said as he loudly pulled one of the chairs. "That was an order in case you were confused." When I didn't move right away, he cocked his head, his eyebrow rising in challenge.

Sighing loudly, I slipped the oversized T-shirt and sweatpants on and strode toward the table. By the time I slumped into the seat, he was taking the other chair.

"Listen carefully, because I won't be repeating myself," he said, leaning his elbows on the table and giving me a grave look. "This is what you need to know about the trials and the Princes of Hell…"