Page 53 of Queen of Carrion

Belial would be here soon to save me, I knew that—he’d promised me—but I didn’t know how long I’d have to suffer before he got here.

How long could a human body survive without water?Much longer than I’d been stuck in this cage, but there was no way infuck I’d last more than a day or two, not after all the running I’d done since the ball. My lips were already cracked, my mouth feeling like it was full of cotton. The more I thought about it, the drier it got.

Leviathan chuckled as I attempted to lick my lips, but somehow, they remained just as parched. I was so damn—

“Thirsty, are we?” he teased, cockiness evident in his tone.

I stared at him, my throat beginning to ache. I was thirsty when I woke, but as the seconds flicked by, I grew way more parched. Suddenly, my throat was drier than a desert, like something was draining every drop of water in my body.

“What are you doing to me…” My words came out scratchy, cracking mid-sentence.

The demon's wicked smile gave me my answer. Whatever magic he possessed was dehydrating me.

His eyes turned dark, a smile twisting his mouth. “I told you I can be rather persuasive. Now dance, pet.”

“I fucking hate you,” I hissed out, an ache working its way through me. My whole body was affected, from my dry eyes down to my veins.

“Is hate really all that different from love?” he mused, stroking a scaly finger along one of the copper bars of my prison. “A feeling so intense, it shapes how you see a person. Both can make you believe untruths and trust blatant lies. Whether you hate or love someone, they live in your mind, even when you don’t want them to.”

Yeah, I fucking hated him.

And I hated that he was making the tiniest bit of sense.

“Now, dance.” His order came out sharper this time, and I could see the beast lurking behind his eyes. “Or this will get a whole lot worse before it gets better.”

I wanted to refuse. I was fucking sick of having men—asshole demon lords in particular—tell me what to do. The only lordI wanted to obey was Belial, but if I didn’t get up and dance, Leviathan would probably leave me as a pile of dust for him to find.

I couldn’t stomach the thought.

“The clock is ticking,” he sing-songed. “I’d hurry if I were you.”

Reluctantly, I stood, mind whirling as I tried to come up with a plan to get out of this. Unfortunately, I was faced with the very real possibility of turning into a shriveled fleshy raisin. There was no time to think.

He had me in his claws, and he knew it.

With a grimace, I swayed my hips back and forth like I would to some basic pop music in a bar, my arms crossed over my chest to shield my breasts from his gaze. My movements came out stiff, discomfort making my skin crawl.

“Happy now?” I asked through gritted teeth.

“You can do better than that.” He shook his head slowly. “The Lord of Bones wouldn’t be pining for your scarred flesh if that was all. Show me what you do to him.”

I hated how he commented on my scars, his cadence making me feel as though they were something to be ashamed of. Belial worshipped them.

My skin felt tighter and dryer by the second, constricting around me and making it more difficult to move.

Fuck.

It’s just a dance, that’s all,I said to myself in an attempt to ground my nerves. I wasn’t much of a dancer, but if it meant Leviathan would stop whatever the fuck he was doing to my bodily fluids…

“Then you’ll give me something to drink?” I wasn’t sure why I asked. He probably wouldn’t tell me the truth anyway.

Still, a yes would make me feel better about the fucked up situation. At least he wasn’t asking me to suck his dick or offer him my asshole as payment.

Just a dance.

“I’m a man of my word.”

I scoffed, anger bubbling through me. Of course he wasn’t. He was a fucking snake.