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And the other resemblances were…

“My name is Asmodeus,” the male began. “I am the archangel of the goddess, and my son here has taken his sweet time in delivering you to us.”

Wolf’s arms crossed behind his back as he turned to face me.

Still, he did not meet my eyes.

Wolf was the son of an archangel.

“It’s been twenty-four years. I can say I’ve been waiting for this moment for a very long time.”

He stood, and I immediately straightened as he took a step in my direction.

“Waiting for me?” I tried to keep my voice from shaking, but it was no use.

He smiled. It was perfect and evil and rancid all at once. “Yes. Do you know why I’ve been waiting for you?”

I clenched my jaw.

“No? Well, it’s quite a story, really. You see, your mother was a powerful woman. She owed me something, and she has yet to fill her debt. I’m hoping you can help me with that.”

“How could I possibly help you fill a debt?”

He stood a foot away from me now, scanning my features like he had never seen a creature like me.

“You are the heir to the vampyre throne, the new Queen of Scarlata Empire.”

Iwasn’t sure why such a powerful creature would need to lock me up, and I certainly wasn’t sure what I did to deserve a stone cell in the underground dungeon.

This was not at all what I had imagined of The Golden City.

But that had turned out to be the least of my damn problems.

An heir?

No, they had it all wrong. In order to be an heir to the vampyre throne, I would have to be a vampyre. My parents would have been vampyres.

Neither of those things were true.

I sat on the stone ground for hours, contemplating everything that had just happened.

The archangel didn’t explain much, and I quickly learned that he had no intentions of making my stay here comfortable. He hated me.

The archangel hated me.

Yet he believed I needed to fill a debt for him, one my mother owed him.

No, this was all wrong.

Had Lord known about this? Was that the whole reason he sent me here?

I shook my head, rubbing my now-filthy hands across my temples. Lord would have never sent me here if he thought these people would capture me.

If he thought Wolf would betray me.

Fuck.I had been trying to think of anything but Wolf for the past few hours, but I failed miserably. I couldn’t keep histouch from my memory. Hells, it had only been last night that we were laying in each other’s arms, confessing our love and surrendering to each other in ways I never would have imagined.

And each time that perfect, torturous face appeared in my mind, I wanted to retch.