Princess of Lust (For the Love of Evil) (21 page)
Read Princess of Lust (For the Love of Evil) Online
Authors: Ann Mayburn
Tags: #For the Love of Evil - Book 2
She scanned the room and moaned as more of Mr. Trezent’s men came into the laboratory, effectively blocking all the exits. For a moment, she considered slitting her throat but she feared if she did go to Hell she would end up in Belal’s possession somehow as a damned soul. She struggled to think but all the drugs in her system made her thoughts slow and disjointed.
Mr. Trezent smirked at her, and she could read her death in his gaze.
They were going to take her, that was certain, but maybe she could buy herself some safety. “Make them swear on God’s name they won’t hurt me, them or any agent of Belal. That while I’m in their care no harm will come to me. If they swear it, I won’t fight anymore.”
Christopher gave a weary sigh and looked over his shoulder at Mr. Trezent, who gave him a small smile. “I hate to ask this of you, but could you please humor her and swear it.”
Mr. Trezent shook his head. “You know I’m a religious man. I won’t say such blasphemy.”
She dug the glass deeper into her neck. “Swear it! I’m sure your master would be quite upset if you ruined his chance to hold Asmodeus’s daughter, to bring her back to Hell alive. You know how rare female demons are. Imagine what he would do to you if he found out your stupidity had me killed!”
Christopher stared at her like he’d never seen her before but she only had eyes for Mr. Trezent. The hate she saw in those dark brown depths, so like Gregor’s, tore at her self-control but she managed to hold his gaze. He finally nodded. “I swear on God’s name you will not be harmed by me or any agent of Belal as long as you are in our care.”
She dropped the shard of glass, now wet and red with her blood, and curled into a ball on the floor. A moment later, a needle pricked her arm and her whole body relaxed. The sound of Christopher and Mr. Trezent arguing faded into the distance and she wept, knowing she had failed them, failed them all.
***
Raum tried to clean himself as best he could with the damp towel provided by a maid as he waited for Asmodeus in his personal library. An urgent summons had called him back from the field, where he’d had to leave his men in the middle of a battle. The door behind him opened and he knew before they even entered that Gregor, Kirin, and Eline were joining them. Fear coursed through his veins as he realized everyone in Natalia’s inner circle was in this room.
Gregor’s eyes widened as he took in Raum’s disheveled state, his gaze lingering on the blood soaking one side of his head and turning his moonlight hair crimson. Kirin didn’t say anything, just came to him and wrapped his arms around the general, taking deep breaths. Raum allowed himself a few precious moments to return Kirin’s embrace before turning to Gregor. “Do you know why we’re here?”
Gregor shook his head, running his hand through his dark red hair. “No. I—think that…well something is different about my bond with Natalia. I had a terrible nightmare in which I was somewhere dark, tied up and in great pain. My whole body ached and I was cold.” He shook his head, the frustration pouring off him in waves. “I’ve been trying to reach her, but it’s like something is between us, like cotton is stuffed in my ears and I can barely hear her soul anymore.”
Kirin made a small sound and Raum realized he was crushing him. With an apologetic glance, he dropped his arms and took a step away, needing the space to think. “Eline, can you still feel her?”
The captain of Natalia’s personal guard nodded. “Yes. I believe she is in Hell somewhere but there are extremely strong wards between us.” The faint lines around his eyes deepened as he fingered the pommel of the sword strapped to his belt. “I, too, get the sense she is alive, but something is wrong.”
Asmodeus’s voice rolled through the room with terrible thunder, cold and deadly. “She is in Hell.”
All three men spun around to find the high prince standing to the side. Raum fought to keep his emotions under control. After over a thousand years of serving Asmodeus, he knew the high prince—and Fallen Angel—was one step away from exploding. Fury poured off him and Raum grit his teeth, fighting to stay standing in the face of such anger. “My liege, where is she?”
Asmodeus reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, ornate wooden box. He stalked forward and the men drew back, the air turning to ice around the high prince. He set the box on a small table holding a vase of golden flowers that instantly turned to ice, then shattered like glass. Without turning around, he opened the lid and a large drop of blood floated into the opening, suspended in the air and sparkling in the sunlight pouring through the wide windows at the back of the library. Raum’s heart broke as the familiar smell of Natalia’s essence coming from that drop of blood filled the room.
Asmodeus stared at the blood and the very air around him wavered with his power. “Belal has her.”
Dear Beloved Reader,
I hope I caught you before you sent out that e-mail you’re composing in your head right now, asking me what the hell is going on. I realize that I’ve left Natalia in a very precarious position and I beg your forgiveness. The
For the Love of Evil
series is a trilogy and I promise you that in the last book,
Servant of Lust
, there will be a Happily Ever After...just maybe not the way you think. If you are reading this book in the future, after the trilogy is complete, lucky you! You don’t have to wait for the book to come out. For everyone else, I ask that you put away your Ann Mayburn voodoo dolls and rest assured that I’m hard at work on
Servant of Lust
. As always, thank you for giving me the chance to take you to another world, where going to Hell isn’t as bad as it sounds. ;)
Queen Ann
~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~
Ann is Queen of the Castle to her wonderful husband and three sons in the mountains of West Virginia. In her past lives she's been an Import Broker, a Communications Specialist, a US Navy Civilian Contractor, a Bartender/Waitress, and an actor at the Michigan Renaissance Festival. She also spent a summer touring with the Grateful Dead-though she will deny to her children that it ever happened.
From a young age she's been fascinated by myths and fairytales, and the romance that often was the center of the story. As Ann grew older and her hormones kicked in, she discovered trashy romance novels. Great at first, but she soon grew tired of the endless stories with a big wonderful emotional buildup to really short and crappy sex. Never a big fan of purple prose, throbbing spears of fleshy pleasure and wet honey pots make her giggle, she sought out books that gave the sex scenes in the story just as much detail and plot as everything else-without using cringe worthy euphemisms. This led her to the wonderful world of Erotic Romance, and she's never looked back.
Now Ann spends her days trying to tune out cartoons playing in the background to get into her 'sexy space' and has learned to type one handed while soothing a cranky baby.
You can visit Ann at:
Belal, High Prince of Hell and Keeper of the Deadly Sin Sloth, is expanding his power by trafficking opium. He revels in the results, and as sloth begins to overtake the mortal realm, all of Hell suffers. The balance of power in Hell, as well as the fate of the Universe, will be decided by a half-demon peasant girl.
Natalia Shura, the daughter of Asmodeus, High Prince of Hell and Keeper of the Deadly Sin Lust, is unaware of the nature of her birth. When her demonic side begins to awaken, her world becomes dominated by dark passions and deadly cravings. Natalia fears she is losing her mind. But her love has been foretold as the only thing that can stop Belal and his allies, and they will do anything to prevent her ascension.
Facing assassins, avenging angels, Hell's deadly politics—and her real father—Natalia must accept the love of more than one man and embrace her demonic heritage as a Princess of Lust. If she doesn't, all that she cares about will be destroyed, and Heaven and Hell will plunge into Chaos.
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