My head felt like it was being held to my neck with glue and string. I strained to lift it up, and met the burning, enraged eyes swallowing me whole.
Slowly, my senses came back to me—picking up the hardness pressing into my back that was the coffee table, and the pain in my head and neck that was why I was slumped on the cold, hard ground. But what was the weight on my lap?
Drifting down, I landed on a still and sleeping Sabrina.
“Hey! Pay fucking attention.” Ravenscar grabbed my chin and snatched my head up. “Look at me,” he growled, and then swung my head around so I couldn’t look at him at all. “Did you do this?”
My brows popped, and then my eyes filled to see that all the faemen were killed, and all of their wings taken—even the poor man I failed to save.
“N-no,” I rasped. “I didn’t do this.”
Iarla rocked back on his heels, expelling a long, hard breath. “No,” he echoed, shocking me. “I didn’t think you did. These five were the strongest of my guard. There’s no way they would’ve been felled by a puny little shit like you. And even if they were, there’s no good reason for you to plop down and take a nap beside their bodies.
“So what happened?” His eyes sharpened. “Did Lucifer kill them and then left you here to deal with the fallout?”
I stilled. “Excuse me? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t you?” There was no trace of grin, smirk, or humor on Ravenscar’s face. “I’m having a little trouble believing that because yesterday, you jumped off that tower with no hesitation or fear. I thought that was strange for an entire five seconds before Lucifer, the lord of hell, possessed that wretched imp and saved you.
“You weren’t afraid, because you knew you weren’t going to die,” he said. For the first time, Ravenscar sounded like a smart, quick-witted prince, and not like a potty-mouthed jackass. “And the only reason you’d have been sure Lucifer was coming, was if the two of you are working together.”
“Hmm.” I pushed up my lips, turning my gaze to the sky. “Actually, no. To all of that. I jumped off because I accepted I had no other options. I wasn’t going to let you kill that harmless creature, or go after Tristan next.
“That the imp was able to save me in time isn’t that much of a surprise. He is a surprisingly powerful and tricky little guy.” I flashed him a mirthless smile. “He did get the better of you after all.”
The smile Ravenscar gave me didn’t reach his eyes either. “You know, it was funny listening to that fur-faced old drunk speaking about fae magic like he’s got a fucking clue. The only reason you demons believe the only source of magic we haveis our wings”—his rose above our heads, blocking out the scant light—“is because that’s what we allow you to think,” he hissed.
“I knew I was in the presence of Lucifer, the hell lord of pride, the second he inhabited that beast... which is very bad news for you.”
“Me? What do I have to do with anything?” I bluffed. Sabrina was out cold on my lap. She couldn’t advise me on the right thing to say here, so I was choosing the only smart option—and denying everything. “If I was rescued by Lucifer, that’s news to me. All I saw was my imp friend—”
His hand flashed and seized my throat. “Stop making up fucking words!” he roared, dropping the calm and collected act fact. “You’re not getting out of this with demon double-speak, bitch, so for once in what will be a short life—shut up and listen!”
I gagged, terror rising when he yanked me forward and smashed his skull against mine.
“When I was taken from my royal home, my father begged—begged—Lucifer to make a deal with him. He told him he’d give him anything he wanted if Lucifer would only rescue me and bring me home. And do you know what that shat-out-of-heaven cunt-stain told my father in return?”
I didn’t know, but I could guess it wasn’t good.
“For years, he refused him because my father wasn’tdesperate enough yet,” he said. “Well, ninety fucking years later, my father was plenty desperate, and he gave in to every single one of Lucifer’s disgusting, degrading, treasonous demands.”
“I’m sorry,” I said softly. “You and your father deserved better.”
“Cut the shit!” The faeman wrung my neck like a dishcloth. “I know you’re not sorry! But you, and the master holding your leash, will be.”
Again he yanked my head around, ripping a cry from my lips. If I wasn’t very concussed and very human under the glamour,I might have been able to fight back. But as it was, even the thought of moving made me dizzy.
“I don’t know what you two are getting out of killing my people and making it look like a witch did it, but whatever your plan is, it’s over,” he dropped. “I’m telling everyone thatyouare the witch in disguise, and the one that made a deal to let our most dangerous enemy run loose in Abaddon—killing indiscriminately—is Lucifer, a lord of hell.
“When that gets out, it won’t matter how many deals he’s made or with who,” Iarla growled. “Hell itself will rise up and rip him from his throne of skulls.”
“Ravenscar,youlisten! You’ve got it all wrong! I have nothing to do with any of this,” I cried. “I was lured here by the real killer, and if you go off spouting a bunch of lies, the wrong person will be blamed while the actual killer skips off free! Please,” I begged. “Just calm down and hear me.
“If you want revenge, get it for the five innocent faemen who were murdered by a psychopath. They gave everything to serve and protect you.”
Something flickered in Ravenscar’s eyes too fast for me to name.
“Don’t make their sacrifice worthless by putting your vengeance ahead of getting them justice.”
