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Chapter Fifteen
The party wrapped up rather quickly after the competition. Then again, it had been going on for hours before Persephone had come to get me. The main event was the battle, and once that was over, people were ready to retire.
They rarely left alone. It seemed get-togethers in hell had more sex than teenage house parties.
Lucifer had said he would send someone to retrieve me in a few hours, but that in the meantime, food would be delivered to my room and I should rest, clean up, stop my stomach from making noises and get morecomfortable.
Anytime a man told a woman to get more comfortable, they inevitably meant less clothing.
I was tempted to wear the dress again, but I didn’t want to send the wrong message. Amazingly, when I looked inside the closet, the dresses had changed. There were the same general number of them, but now they resembled what I’d worn already, as if someone had waited to see what I liked then curated a more specific closet.
The bathroom had a huge clawfoot tub but no shower. I filled the water, amazed to see it run clear from the faucet.
There was no way I would have bathed in whatever red stuff they normally had…
Undressing in hell seemed stupid, but I hadn’t gotten a proper wash since I’d arrived, and I shuddered to think of what exactly coated my skin.
Sinking into the water was like a baptism—though, given it was in hell, that probably wasn’t the best analogy.
A moan left my lips at the warmth of the water when I lowered myself into the large tub.
My eyes slid closed, savoring it, letting myself pretend I was back in my safe tub at home.
“Don’t you look cozy?”
I opened one eye at Hunter’s voice, and I couldn’t even find it in me to be surprised at his appearance. “I thought you’d be enjoying your special suite.”
He crouched beside the tub and rested an arm on the edge. “I’ve been there before. It’s nothing new.”
“Well, you better enjoy it, because I’m going to pay a pretty penny for it, I suspect.”
He tilted his head. “I wondered why Lucifer declared us the winners. I mean, we did well, but he never does something without reason. What did he want from you?” The last words held an edge that reminded me of how he’d moved across that field, of what Jerrod had said.
I swallowed away the thoughts, trying to stay on task. “He wanted to see me tonight, for me tohonestlyanswer any four questions he asked.”
“Four?”
“One for each of you,” I explained.
He huffed before resting his chin on his arm, reminding me a bit of a puppy, especially with those brown eyes of his.
A puppy that turns into a dragon smoke creature and has killed mortals to eat.
“You need to be careful around him,” Hunter said. “Lucifer is a master at manipulating people and making them think they’re in the lead when they’re just playing right to his tune. He doesn’t lie, but don’t take anything he says at face value, either.” He reached for my arm.
I jerked backward. It was another thing I didn’t think about, just a reaction I couldn’t control.
He stilled, as he had the last time, then pulled his hand back. “I’m going to guess that before Lucifer finished off Jerrod, he had stories to tell.”
I swallowed hard, tucking my arm under the water as if that would wash away the tense moment. “Yeah, he did.”
“And now you’re afraid of me?”
“Can you blame me?”
Hunter shrugged, reminding me that he was back in just the pants, no shirt, and the tattoos moved on his body. They did that more here in hell, I’d noticed, as if they were more alive here.
“I don’t blame you, but weallhave a past.”
