The statue suddenly buckled as a shock wave rocked the ground, shattering the stones as I scrambled backward on my hands, the chains digging into me as I moved.
“Fuck,” I hissed, the outfit strangling my thighs and lower body.
Either this is really happening, or I hit my head and this hideous lingerie followed me into a nightmare.
Fuck this outfit.
Fuck Lucifer.
Fuck all of this bullshit.
I was about to roll to my hands and knees, to see if I could find a way to stand, when strong arms wrapped around my middle and tugged me backward into a hard chest. “Shh, it’s me,” a deep voice said against my ear.
Ajax.
I opened my mouth to tell him off, when a flash made me blink.
More followed, flickering all around us as a low hum tickled my senses. I couldn’t quite place the cause of the sound until I caught a glimpse of a sparkling flutter touching the dull daylight.
Wings. Lots of wings.
Unseelie,I marveled.Real ones.
They probably didn’t like us here in such a sacred place.
But why is the ground still shaking?I wondered.
Another statue crashed in the distance, sending the mirrorlike stone tumbling across the ground. Bent trees snapped and petals floated in the air, giving the atmosphere an eerie tone as destruction rumbled in the distance.
“Hold the wall!” a male voice shouted when a scream accompanied another explosion.
I strained to see where it had come from. Glimpses ofsomethingblurred through the air.
“We need to get out of here,” Ajax said as his shadows began to unfurl.
But I shook him off. “No. We can’t leave.” The words tumbled from my mouth unbidden, my instincts rioting at the very thought of fleeing.
Something had pulled me here.
Something that had felt a lot like Lucifer’s magic.
Okay, but hold on. I would really rather watch him rot in literal Hell,I thought darkly.Especially after what he’s done to me.
So maybe leaving would be—
Another scream rent the air, sending a chill down my spine.
That sounded feminine, not masculine.
Because the brides are in this kingdom for their trial,I realized.Shit.
We couldn’t abandon them. Not with that… thatthingI’d seen in the feeds. “Was that a portal?” I asked, referring to what I’d witnessed on the screen. “That vortex thing? Was it a portal in the middle of the trial?”
“Yes, which is why we need to get the fuck out of here. It’s sucking everything into it,” Ajax told me as another statue crumbled a few feet away.
He engaged his magic again, his shadows forming around us.
“No,” I snapped at him.
