Page 50 of Princess of Bael

“I’m not going to use you, Kayla.”

I rolled my eyes and returned to my list. His lie didn’t warrant a reply. I knew my role in his world. I was a pawn to be played.

This game would be so much easier if he just told me the truth. Of course, then he’d probably grow bored. What fun would it be to give the toy insight into the game before it began?

With a sigh, I reviewed the last name on my list.

Valentino, the Demonic Lord of South America.

Hmm, he’d definitely grown in—

Ezra caught my chin between his thumb and forefinger, forcing my focus to return to him.

I blinked, startled by his unexpected proximity. I hadn’t even sensed him move, his wings powering through the space between us without so much as a whisper of sound.

His arrival earlier had been just as silent, only I’d felt his approaching presence like a tidal wave of warmth. But he was already in the room now, his nearness a brand on my aura that made him everywhere at once and impossible to track.

He knelt, his head lowering to bring us eye to eye with one another.

I swallowed, his woodsy scent reminding me of sunshine heating the autumn leaves. It made me think of my old life, my time as a human where I’d experienced wonders like foliage and other seasonal activities.

Hell shifted climates, too. But very differently from the human realm.

“Kayla,” he murmured, his grip tightening on my chin. “You need to eat to keep up your strength.”

“Because you need to suck it out of me like some kind of leech,” I returned. “If you admit it, I’ll consider eating.” I meant it. The truth would go a long way right now.

But the hardening of his jaw told me he had no interest in making this easy on either of us.

Why were all the men in my life obsessed with using me?

Ezra. Bael. Ashmedai. Even Alastor had proved his intentions when he’d taken Lucía and left me without a blade.

“Just tell me what you need, Ezra,” I continued, my tone more defeated than it had ever been. But after the last two days, could anyone blame me? I’d thought I’d taken charge of my fate and was finally going to achieve a millennia-old revenge.

Alas, no.

Instead, I had put the future of our world at risk, found out the mate I wanted to kill was suffering more than I had realized, and learned that my father had been tricking me into staying in Hell for the sole purpose of torturing a nemesis.

Yep. Great day.

“I need you to eat.”

“Why?” I asked, exhausted with all the puzzles. “What difference does it make? Can you not siphon energy off me if I’m starved?”

His golden irises flared with intensity as his gaze dropped to my mouth. “The bond doesn’t work that way, Kayla. It’s not about absorbing strength from you. It’s about our souls.”

He released my chin to cup my cheek, his wings spanning out around us to create a cocoon of feathers that left me feeling shielded from the world. Protected.Cherished.

My throat worked, my heart hammering in my chest. “What are you doing?” I whispered, uncertain of how I felt about this change.

I… I hated him.

And yet, I felt oddly soothed by his presence. Intoxicated by his essence. Enthralled by the hint of his breath on my lips as his gaze met and held mine once more.

“I’m showing you how it works,” he murmured, his pupils twin pools of hypnotic black. “Our bond is in our blood. It’s a mating between spirits.”

“I know,” I said, familiar with how these connections worked.