Page 77 of Lord of Bones

Then again, knowing Belial, he’d be too possessive to throw me in with the other souls. Especially since he knew what had gone down in the oubliette.

It was more likely that he’d chain me up again and do dark things to me that would have me screaming…

“I know what you’re thinking,” his breath came out in an electrified whisper that slithered across my skin.

The hairs on my name stood up. “And what’s that?”

“You’re wanting to disobey me. Turn around and you’re in for a world of hurt, little human. Not the kind that will have you screaming in pleasure.”

His voice was full of warning, which was a stark contrast to his sweet touch.

One arm slid around me, pulling me hard against him and tearing a ragged breath from my lungs. His lips brushed the shell of my ear, and he tenderly sucked on my earlobe.

I whimpered, and he groaned at the sound.

“You’re radiant sin, Rayven. You’ll be my complete undoing.”

My name on his mouth was like a prayer on the lips of a damned man, begging for salvation. It had every nerve-ending in my body flaring to life.

“I shouldn’t want you this badly,” he admitted, his tone more vulnerable than I’d ever heard it before.

I knew what he meant, because I felt it too. He was a demon ferryman in the land of the dead, and I’d made a deal with his lord. He was a cocky asshole with a tendency to inflict pain, and he’d nearly let me die.

A couple of times.

I shouldn’t want him.

But that didn’t mean I couldn’t.

When his lips left my skin, I whined, not ready for the moment to end.

“Get dressed now,” he said shortly. “Holga will be here soon with your dinner.”

By the time I stood and looked back at him, Belial had replaced his mask, but I couldn’t scrub the feel of his lips from my mind.

I ran the towel over my dripping hair before pulling on the white dress, all the while his words playing on loop in my head.

“You’ll be my complete undoing.”

I couldn’t shake the foreboding sensation that he was right, and that he would be mine too.

Chapter29

RAYVEN

I shiveredin delight as I pulled on the new nightgown, its fabric dancing over my nipples.

I was desperate for more of Belial’s touch. My body ached for more, and even the faintest whisper of sensation had my entire body throbbing.

Belial watched me quietly as I gave a twirl, the garment swaying around my ankles. I felt like one of those damsels in an old romance movie. If only it was black.

A knock at the door made me jump. I looked over to see Holga slipping through the doorway with a silver platter clutched in her hands. Today the skeleton witch’s hair was braided over one shoulder, and when her sockets landed on me, she stopped short.

I looked nervously between her and Belial, my heart racing.

Did she know where I’d been for the last two days, fighting my way through the labyrinth of hedges outside? Would she rat Belial out to the Lord of Bones for having me in his bed when I should have been trying to escape, or was she in on the plan?

A million questions, not enough answers, but my stomach growled at the thought of food.