Hell to Pay
RAZING HELL BOOK 2
Cate Corvin
Hell to Pay
CATE CORVIN
All Rights Reserved © 2020 Cate Corvin. First Printing: 2020
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means with the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Author's Note: All characters in this story are 18 years of age and older, and all sexual acts are consensual. This book is a work of fiction and liberties may be taken with people, places, and historical events.
Cover by Luminescence Cover Design
Contents
1. Melisande
2. Melisande
3. Melisande
4. Melisande
5. Melisande
6. Melisande
7. Melisande
8. Melisande
9. Melisande
10. Melisande
11. Melisande
12. Azazel
13. Melisande
14. Melisande
15. Melisande
16. Melisande
17. Melisande
18. Tascius
19. Melisande
20. Melisande
21. Melisande
22. Melisande
23. Melisande
24. Lucifer
25. Melisande
26. Melisande
27. Belial
28. Melisande
29. Melisande
30. Melisande
About the Author
1
Melisande
“Are you happy, Lady Wrath?”
His hiss carried just far enough to reach my ears. I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could get out a single word, Belial strode down the bone steps of his dais and held out a hand, like a gentleman offering to escort me.
His smile was so hard, with all the brittleness of a diamond. “Your freedom. It’s yours. Here, let me show you out. I wouldn’t want you to waste another moment of your life in my presence.”
The backs of my eyes burned with unshed tears. “Belial…”
“Come now,” he said, crooking his fingers. “You wanted it so badly, let’s see what you make of it.”
I felt like I was floating outside my body as I rose to my feet, sending several dark feathers spiraling into the stands below. Like a dream, I descended the steps and took his hand, instinctively memorizing the warmth of his skin and the rough calluses like I would never feel them again.
I shoved that thought away forcibly. I would have him once I’d said my piece. Once I made it clear that this wasn’t to get away from him, but to finally stand as a free equal next to him.
He pulled me across the arena into the hall leading to his quarters. For a brief second, I choked on a sigh of relief- we would be somewhere private, where I could explain.
I hadn’t stolen to hurt him, I wasn’t rejecting him- I just couldn’t live my life under a yoke not of my own choosing.
“Belial, I didn’t do this to get away from you-”
He held a finger to his lips, that cruel smile still pasted on them. The rage glittering in his eyes would’ve shut me up if that single terse gesture hadn’t.
The doors opened, but not on his chambers. The Prince of Wrath pulled me into the twilight gloaming of his stable yard, where Capheira’s bright flickers filled the air like summer lightning.
Realization hit hard, with all the finesse of a freight train.
He really did mean to kick me out.
I’d won my freedom, but unlike his other warriors, my conniving and thieving had made me persona non grata in his half of the Seventh Circle.
“Please, Belial, I don’t… I didn’t do this with the intention of leaving,” I said, unable to keep the strain of desperation from my voice as I tugged against him. He kept my wrist firmly clasped in his powerful grip.
Belial gestured to the imps as Azazel materialized in the courtyard in a flurry of smoke. “Belial, think of what you’re doing,” he warned, his violet gaze glacially cold.
“This is no business of yours.”
Belial’s voice was rough and strained, his free hand clenched so hard his knuckles were white.
To my surprise, Azazel just shook his head, casting me an unreadable look. “We’ll be waiting for you, Melisande. Lucifer will… he intends to ensure your path home is clear.”
Everything felt like it was happening from a thousand miles away and I was a ghostly observer.
This couldn’t be real. The Brightside of the Seventh Circle was my home.
He couldn’t make me go.
Azazel’s lips tightened as he looked me over, but he gave one last warning look at Belial and vanished.
My chained followers were streaming into the stable yard as well, silently flowing from around the side of the arena.
“You’ll be safe enough,” Belial said, unable to sound careless through gritted teeth. “You’ve got the Watcher-prick and the Morningstar.”
“That’s unfair,” I whispered around a tongue that felt thick. Pain radiated from my newly-empty palm, up through my arm and shoulder, nestling in my chest like a nest of writhing snakes. It was hard to breathe around the ache. “I don’t want to leave.”
“No?” Belial’s lips were white at the edges. “You bet on half of my Circle for the fucking fun of it, is that it?”
The imps led Capheira into the twilight, saddled with the custom tack. He picked me up and put me on her back but jerked away the moment I was settled, like his hands had been burned by the mere contact.
I stared down at him, my vision finally blurring with the tears I’d been unable to hold back, and he briefly touched his chest with a grimace.
In the same place where I felt an aching void.
When he saw me looking, he pulled his hand away, his face taking on a hard cast.
“Is wanting to keep me in a cage any better than what I did?” I asked, a thin sliver of anger cutting through the pain and exhaustion. I couldn’t help but rub my own hand, my breath shortening with every spike of pain. “I can remain here as a free angel!”
Belial’s nostrils flared and he leaned in close. It was so tempting to reach out and touch him, but his rage was shimmering off him like a heatwave. “Did I ever keep you in a cage?”
His voice was almost unintelligible, thick with pure fury.
“Did I ever treat you poorly? Did I chain you? Shackle you?
