I said nothing, every defense I could’ve thought of completely deserting me. My throat tightened around a knot, swelling painfully as I shook my head.
“Maybe you should’ve had a little more faith in me,” Belial said. His hair was becoming gold, his form trembling. “Now go.”
“And if I won’t?” My tears broke free, sliding down my cheeks.
“GO!”
His roar crashed us over like thunder. I cringed, my eardrums aching, and Capheira broke into a gallop, fleeing the bone-trembling force of Belial’s wrath. The ground beneath us was trembling like an earthquake, growing worse by the second.
I gripped her reins for dear life as lightning sparked under her hooves, looking back over my shoulder to see the flaming tail of a lion whip around the side of the arena and vanish.
“Stop,” I gasped, but Capheira kept running, and another earth-shattering roar rumbled down the tiers of the Circles.
A dark shape lunged in from the streets, grabbing Capheira’s reins and pulling her to a halt. I gripped the saddle as she reared, kicking out with sharp hooves, but the cloaked demon held her fast until she hit the ground on all fours again.
I swiped my sleeves across my eyes, wiping away tears. The dim fires in the abyss of Dis were growing brighter, throwing off flares like a storm-
A dark shape swooped overhead, plunging past the Circles into the Pit.
Lucifer.
He rocketed downwards, vanishing into that cold fire as my followers surrounded me.
“My Lady.” One of them touched my leg, the barest sensation that called my attention. I looked down, blinking gritty eyes, but it was impossible to see past the dark depths of that hood. “The Dragon stirs. We must leave and find shelter.”
I nodded, but I had no idea where to go.
Belial was home.
The demon didn’t wait for orders, though. He held Capheira’s reins and led her down the street, the demons forming a neat phalanx around us.
I almost choked on hysterical laughter, swallowing it down past the painful lump in my throat.
I didn’t have my prince, but I did have demons who looked ready to murder any living thing that stood in my way. I supposed that was one small comfort.
I lost track of time completely until we reached the demarcation of the Brightside into the Nightside, and Capheira tossed her head in pleasure as we entered perma-twilight. I stroked her mane as the demons led us on the route Belial had once taken me. At least one of us was happy.
To my surprise, they didn’t slow until we reached the broken-down arena of the Nightside.
The ivy had been cleared off the doors, and the demons unlocked the wrought-iron gates, pushing them open. The rusty hinges shrieked, but they opened wide enough to admit Capheira.
I slid from her back in front of the massive ebony doors and a demon led her away.
It was like a mirror-image, but not. Belial’s arena was warmth, his spires protection and comfort.
This place felt like a graveyard.
“Inside, my Lady,” one of the demons muttered, nudging me forward to the crack in the door.
I ground my heels in the dirt, refusing to budge an inch. “I can’t go. I need to find Belial.”
Somewhere above us, there was a lion stalking the wastelands of Hell as the Dragon woke, but if I flew above the city I’d find him for sure. I’d just follow the path of destruction and flames.
“We cannot.” One of the demons stepped forward and took my hands, their eyes glinting in the darkness of the hood. Their tone brooked absolutely no argument. “The breaking of a bond has far-reaching consequences, my Lady. The Dragon almost certainly felt it and knew who it belonged to.”
“But Belial-”
“The Prince of Wrath will be fine, but you must be off the street. He will catch your scent and hunt you.”
I didn’t need the demon to clarify who he was.
Satan knew I was free, no longer under Belial’s protection. The quaking earth, the lightning reaching towards the sky- that wasn’t just Belial’s rage, but Satan’s awakening.
He knew fresh prey, prey given the invitation of a black rose, was wandering his city.
I glanced over my shoulder with a shudder, half expecting to see a scarecrow with goat hooves and a cape of insects to be jerking his way up the street like a puppet.
But the roads and alleys of the Nightside were empty. All the demons had taken shelter as the Dragon rustled in the abyss far below.
“Who are you?” I rasped, allowing the demons to herd me into the darkness of the arena. No, not the arena- my arena.
My ill-won property.
Several lamps flared to life, but the pools of light they cast didn’t touch even a fraction of the darkness around us.
“We serve the Divine Chain, my Lady. We are the Chainlings, the sect devoted to its most unholy mysteries.” A wrinkled hand reached out to stroke my cheek, wiping away the remains of half-dried tears. “You are one of the links in the Chain. We serve.”
Their words barely penetrated the numb haze in my brain. My body still felt eerily disconnected from the rest of me as several of the Chainlings pushed the massive doors shut, blocking off the outside world.
The light became a tiny sliver, then died completely as the doors shut and locked.
It felt more like being buried alive than coming home.
The Chainlings herded me down dark hallways that still smelled musty with disuse, beneath draping cobwebs as thick as bridal veils, until we reached an ebony door.
“We’ve prepared quarters, Lady Wrath,” their leader said, opening the door. Instead of more must, a breath of fresh, lily-scented air washed over us and down the hall. “There are windows, but they are not street-facing. Even so, you must remain inside.”
I nodded, but now that I had something that resembled actual privacy, Satan himself could’ve offered me Heaven on a platter and I would’ve turned it down in favor of locking myself in here alone.
The Chainling bowed her head as I passed and shut the door behind
