My mother’s voice no longer whispered in my head, her presence seeming to have disappeared into the depths of the sea.
Using my mother as a way to guide me had been Lucifer’s primary downfall. She would never care enough to help me survive. All she’d ever done was watch my father torture me. A few times she’d told him to give me a little assistance, but it was nothing ever truly helpful. Just a way to pretend to be a parent. To pretend to care.
I’d learned long ago that I only had myself to rely on.
Hell Fae Rule #4: Don’t Trust Anyone.
It paired nicely withHell Fae Rule #6: Only Look Out for Yourself—No One Else.
Pulling myself up onto the rocks, I shook out my hair and shuddered at the intense breeze touching my damp skin.
Whatever bubble had been protecting me from the elements was long gone.
Yet I’d won. I could feel it in my soul that I’d burst free from whatever hold Lucifer had cast over me. Now I just needed to wake up.
“I’m done with this shit,” I informed Lucifer as I picked up one of the stones and crushed it between my fingers. “Now let me wake up.”
No response.
I stood and crushed more of the rocks beneath my feet, the gravel feeling more like sand than rocks. Yet it was sturdy enough to allow me to climb up to where his head used to be.
When I reached it, I stared down at the indecipherable mass.
He’d put me in this mental prison as some sort of punishment or lesson. Now I intended to break free.
And I would start by destroying what was left of his face.
I slammed my palm into the stone, causing it to dissolve just like everything else.
“Let me out,” I demanded.
The irony of the word choice wasn’t lost on me. Just hours ago in the Marsh Lands, I’d been demanding helet me in. Now I wanted out. Away from him. Away from this place.
His power warmed my skin, responding to my call. But rather than free me, it surrounded me, filling me with heat and energy and vitality.
Embrace me,it seemed to be saying.Embrace me and we’ll set you free.
I growled, irritated by all these mind games. Frustrated by Lucifer’s incessant need to test me. Or punish me. Or whatever the fuck he called this.
“Yeah, I touched your source,” I told him. “Tohelpyou when you needed it. You’re fucking welcome.”
Probably not the wisest thing to say to the Hell Fae King, but I was over this bullshit. Over him. Over his deals. Over his torture. Over hiseverything.
If he wanted to castigate me for doing something good, then he could face me himself. Not leave me stranded in this dangerous trial-like world and taunt me with crashing waves.
I slapped the stones again, a growl working its way up my chest and into my throat.
“I’m done with this shit,” I snapped, my eyes closing. “Let me out!”
Ajax’s minty aftershave washed over me in the next second, his pine-scented power tugging at my spirit. I could hear him whispering my name, guiding me toward him.
My brow crinkled.
Then my eyelashes fluttered.
And when the world settled around me, I found myself looking up into a pair of blue-black eyes.
Ajax.
