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This woman has spent years torturing your soulbound, and she designs to steal him from you.

My heart pounds even as a certain calm washes over me.

Iwilla trickle of my magic to make me look a little less bedraggled. Shine to my hair, a glow to my verdelume, length to my fangs, polish to my horns, and–

Oh, fuck, I’m naked.

Oh, well. I have big breasts, a thick ass, and my body is covered in little lovemarks from Gideon.

With a pinch to stiffen nipples and add that teensy bit of extraoomph,a grin splits my face as I hold the vision ofwhats-her-crazed-cunt’sbathroom in my mind’s eye andfolddirectly behind her.

WINNOW

Seraphine lets out a shrill scream as I appear behind her, and the pot of face mask clatters into the sink. She jolts around, eyes wide with terror as she takes in the sight of me.

“Hello.”

In my peripheral vision, I can see my reflection in the mirror and I’m not too modest to admit—after seeing nothing but humans, and being glamoured for the last couple weeks—I look pretty fucking daemonic and I’ve never been prouder for it.

If only I still had my wings.

Seraphine whimpers, squeezing her eyes shut before opening them again, and I hear her whisper something about,“... too many fucking mushrooms.”

Narrowing my eyes, I purse my lips, studying her in her frightened state. She doesn’t look nearly as intimidating up close. She looks so very vulnerable.

“I can assure you, you’re not hallucinating.”

The way she proceeds to rapidly blink her eyes as though trying to clear her vision tells me she doesn’t believe me.

I close the distance between us and my tail traces the side of her thigh, making her screech in horror as her trembling handreaches blindly for a pair of tiny grooming scissors.“Oh, my fuck, fuck, fuck! What are you? A demon?”

My head tips back with a gleeful cackle just as I hear a dull voice call back with a bored,“What?”

“Why yes, actually. How very kind of you to ask.”

Seraphine’s face crumples as fat tears spill down her cheeks. “I’m sorry, whatever it is I’ve done, I’m sorry, and I’ll never do it again.”

Liar.

In the next moment, her hand closes around the grooming scissors, and she lashes out with them in a rather sloppy downward arch. My hand latches around the offending wrist, and I twist from the base of her palm. With another unholy screech, the scissors go skittering across the marble floor.

Never in my life have I struck another person.

Until now.

My open right hand comes down on her left cheek with a loudcrack.

“That’s for Gideon.”

Clutching her cheek, blood trickles from a corner of her lip as her eyes widen in recognition—even further as I hold up the pink envelope.

“Are you familiar with the concept of Hell, Seraphine?”

Her brows pinch, and her pretty eyes glitter with fearful tears.“Vaguely.”

“I think you and I both know that it isn’t limited to the afterlife, is it?”

She gulps.