Page 11 of Queen of Carrion

As realization set in, the guests all bowed to their host and master.

“This is why the Lord of Bones won’t kill Belial. I am one and the same.” He held his huge, claw-tipped hands out to his sides. “Do you understand now?”

My heartbeat roared in my ears, drowning out the music, the murmurs of the crowd, the Lord of Bones calling my name.

The Lord of Bones…Belial.

This whole time, they were the same fucking person.

I should have known it was nothing but a twisted joke. Of course, this magical ferryman didn’t just happen across me in the maze, looking to help out a poor random soul in exchange for a fuck.

What actual servant would disobey his lord and king?

It was the Lord of Bones, using himself as a decoy, a distraction to throw me off the trail so I wouldn’t find the exit, literally fucking the hours away until I became his.

And I’d fallen for it.

He made me think he’d fallen in love with me. He’d tricked me into giving him my soul, and for what? At the end of the three days, I would have been his anyway. That was the deal.

He probably thought it was funny, getting me to willingly give him pieces of myself.

My soul, my body…my heart.

“You manipulated me.” I hated how heartbroken I sounded, surrounded by these elegantly dressed demons and departed souls, all of whom had stopped their dancing to watch.

Even the music had paused.

The Lord of Bones’ eye sockets flickered with twin blue flames. He was so close, I should have felt their warmth, but they were cool. It was his hot and heavy breath that flushed my skin. “I did what I had to.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

Murmurs broke over our audience. They were probably wondering who the hell I thought I was, speaking to the Lord like this.

I was the bitter bitch who wasn’t going to get screwed over into spending eternity with a monster who got off on my suffering.

“You didn’t have to do any of this!” My voice cracked, but I didn’t care. The initial shock had worn off, and rage was setting in. “This is all just one sick fucking game to you, isn’t it? Everything was a lie.”

“Not everything,” he corrected, grabbing me by the arm again.

“I don’t believe a single thing that comes out of that maw of yours. You’re a snake. A sadistic, perverted-as-fucksnake. You made me do things, you made me give you parts of myself, all foryour help through a maze I was never going to find my way out of in the first place.”

The Lord of Bones straightened to his full height, teeth gnashing with his growl. Everyone in the room watched us like we were putting on a goddamn play. He didn’t seem to care who watched.

His attention was manacled to me alone.

“Everything you gave me, you did so willingly, little human.”

“I…” I could barely squeeze any sound past the fist in my throat. “You made me believe this—this thing I’ve felt between us—was real. But it was just a game to you.”

“It’s not a game. I did this to make you mine in every way I can. I won’t apologize for that.”

I tried to yank my arm from his bruising grip, but it was hopeless. In this form, his hand swallowed my whole arm. “I don’t want to be yours.”

“You’re lying. Even if you weren’t, it wouldn’t matter. You don’t have a choice.”

“Just like Catherine didn’t have a choice?” My every syllable oozed venom.

“Catherine was different,” he snarled, flames flickering in his sockets. “Catherine was a fleeting obsession. You… I want to possess you for all eternity.”