Page 5 of Bellamy

“You don’t?” Daman pulled off his sweat-drenched tunic and tossed it aside before stepping into the water waist-deep. Despite the sun being so low in the sky, the air remained warm. The weather hadn’t changed much in my time there. It was warm and beautiful nearly every day. Never cold.

I thought back to the night Lazarus came for me. Beneath his cold exterior, I had sensed kindness, albeit small. “He saved me.”

Daman looked at me then, a frown marring his brow. “Saved you from what?”

The hungry look in those men’s eyes tugged at my memory. The hard calluses of their hands as they grabbed me, their breath hot on my face. I remembered the hatred in my mother’s gaze.

“It matters not,” I answered, and then I splashed him.

Shocked, Daman blinked at me before splashing me back. A battle cry filled the air as Raiden jumped into the water, arms around his knees. It caused a massive splash. Gradyn stepped in after him before shrieking as Galen threw him farther out into the water. Castor and Kallias jumped in next, while Alastair stood on the bank with his arms crossed.

Galen leapt out of the water, grabbed Alastair’s arm, and dragged him in too.

We might’ve been training to be warriors. But for now? We wrestled. We laughed.

And for the first time in my life, that hollowness inside my chest faded away.

Chapter One

Phoenix

Present Day

The king of the underworld sat on a throne of bones, the heel of his boot resting on the head of the demon kneeling in front of him.

“I beg your forgiveness, my king,” the demon sputtered out, his voice hitching upward. He’d just returned from his mission empty-handed and with fifteen dead soldiers to show for it.

Our king was silent. Never a good sign. And then, in a cold voice, he finally said, “I want my sword.”

“Yes, my king. I shall retrieve it!”

“Then why haven’t you?” Asa dug his boot more into the back of the groveling demon’s skull.

“The Nephilim, Your Unholiness! We know the sword resides with them, yet their warding is strong. We’re having trouble locating them. The coordinates from the last breach of their mansion no longer exist.”

“Of course they don’t. The cursed sons strengthened the warding of the barrier after the last attack. Or did you expect it to be easy?”

“N-No, my king. But the Nephilim… they’re powerful. While searching for the barrier, they confronted us in Echo Bay, and many died—”

“I don’t care if all of you die, if that’s what it takes!” Asa grabbed the demon by his horn and yanked his head up. “Find. My. Sword.”

“Y-Yes, my king!”

“Get out of my sight.” Asa flung the demon away from him and settled back on his throne.

Only when the minions left and we were alone in the throne room did he let his discomfort show. He touched his side where Sloth had driven a celestial sword into his ribs nearly three months prior, an injury that had nearly killed him. Though it had mostly healed, some tenderness remained. Probably always would.

“My king?” I stepped toward him.

“Relax, Phoenix. I’m not keeling over yet.”

“Nor did I expect for you to. I only wished to help should you need it.”

Asa tossed me a smirk. “Showing compassion, are we? And here I thought you only bowed down to me to save your own skin.” He winced a little as he stood, but his expression quickly smoothed. He couldn’t afford to show weakness, not when he was trying to prove that he deserved to rule not only the underworld but all realms.

Long black hair fell down his chest, which he combed aside with his fingers as he stepped down from the dais.

I had never met Lucifer. He’d reigned before my time. However, everyone compared Asa to him, saying he favored Lucifer so much they could be twins. All except for the eyes, they said. Lucifer’s had been blue like the sky. Asa’s glowed crimson, like rubies with the fires of hell flickering from within.