Page 313 of The Spider Queen

I fell and curled into a ball. The ground shuddered beneath me. I closed my eyes, willing them away, wondering how I was going to get to the Smith, escape the harpies, and still ensure Lucifer didn’t find me.

The harpy sniffed, raising a beak-like nose to the air. She closed her eyes and inhaled. Her hair was matted, her skin was gray with dirt, and her clothes were ratty and full of holes. Bones that must’ve belonged to some animal from Hell circled her neck like ancient tribal jewelry. Dead, rotting birds hung from the belt at her waist, and when the wind of Hell changed, I smelled the putrid scent of decay.

“Get up!” the brown-haired one hissed. A long serpentine tongue slithered from her thin lips.

I slowly rose, regally, like a queen.

“You are high and mighty, aren’t you? The woman who shares his bed.” She stepped forward and pressed a gnarled finger to my chest.

Oddly enough, her touch didn’t cause me pain. “What do you want?” I asked quietly.

Her brown eyes were glassy, and she looked over my shoulder into a far-off place I couldn’t follow.

“Ease them,” she demanded.

“Ease your burdens?” I guessed.

She shook her head. “Not mine.” She gestured with her hand around the circle of harpies. “Theirs.”

I stared at them. They all looked the same, yet not. Tangled hair of browns, yellows, reds. Dazed eyes. Pinched mouths.

“I don’t think I can,” I stated.

She spat, gooey saliva hitting the ground and painting it red. “Lies.”

“No, it’s true. I couldn’t feel his pain.” I gestured to the remains of Jax. I would mourn him later, but at the moment my survival was more important than my grief.

Jax had been right. I was selfish and put myself first.

“You cannot ease a gargoyle’s burden, for they are mostly stone which does not live,” she stated. “Try and feel us.”

I gently opened the syphon in my mind and gasped as emotions and agony assaulted me. I quickly closed the faucet, shutting it all down.

“It’s too much!” I cried.

The harpy grinned, showing needle sharp teeth. A shark in a form I recognized.

“Ease our burdens and we will escort you to the Smith. We will make sure the Prince doesn’t get to you first.”

I blinked. Could I trust the harpies? Did I have a choice?

“Fine,” I said, my tone mulish. “One by one. Come to me.”

She inclined her head. “Wise choice.”

I lowered myself to sit on the ground, knowing after I dealt with the throng of immortal beasts I would pass out. It took days for human emotions to exhaust me. They were easier to contend with, but the power coming from the pack of harpies was something I wasn’t sure I was equipped to handle.

Opening my mind again, I waited.

I didn’t have to wait long. Their emotions pillaged me, assaulted me like Jax and the Greeks had assaulted the walls of Troy.

And like Troy, I fell.

I toppled over, not even able to curl myself into a position of protection. And still their emotions came at me.

Blinking catatonic eyes, I waited for the pain to leave my body, the torture and heartache to lessen. But it grew and grew like an emotional crescendo. Just when I thought they were finished, the Queen of the Harpies added her burdens and then I passed out.

Chapter 18