He grinned. “You want to kill me, don’t you?”

I threw the knife down and sighed. “You slit my throat! You made my family think I’m dead!”

He nodded. “A necessary evil. It’s better this way. You’re meant to be with me, and if they think you’re gone, it’s a cleaner exit.”

My chest was rising and falling as my gaze flicked to Raksha, whose fork was poised at her mouth, her eyes hard slits.

‘Kill her too!’ Sera commanded.

Fuck my life.

I felt frozen.

“What is to come? What do you need my complete loyalty for?” It was the question I knew he wanted me to ask. He’d never get my complete loyalty, and I was pretty sure he knew that. We were at a crossroads.

His eyes flicked to my nanny. “Raksha, you’re excused, my dear.”

Her mouth popped open in shock, and she set down her fork. She continued to sit there, looking dejected as the Dark Prince just stared at her. Finally, she stood and bowed her head, leaving the room.

Oh God.

I’d lost my appetite. Setting my own fork down, I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at Lucy.

He must have seen the fire in my eyes, but he just grinned. “Now that we’re alone, we can work out the details of our arrangement.”

Screw you, douchebag!

“Arrangement?” I forced myself to be civil, but it was damn hard.

He picked up a glass of what looked like red wine—though it could’ve been blood—and took a swig.

“I intend to enact my revenge on my brothers and sisters in Heaven, for disposing of me the way they did, and you are the key to my plan.” He spoke so casually, like he hadn’t just said the most batshit-crazy thing I’d ever heard.

I snorted. “Umm, no. And why after all this time? Haven’t you been ‘disposed of’ for like a thousand years?”

His eyes gleamed at my defiance, like he enjoyed it. “Because, Brielle, until now, I didn’t have the key.”

Oh shit.

‘Oh shit,’ Sera echoed.

Lincoln had mentioned that he’d heard Sera was a key to the gates of Heaven. Was she the key Lucifer was talking about?

The Dark Prince leaned closer, and I could smell the wine on his breath. Oh good, not blood, then.

“Are you ready for your motivation?” He grinned.

My heart hammered in my chest. What is he going to do?

Drawing his hands together, he clapped suddenly and all the candles blew out, making me jump. On the far wall, a movie projector-like scene played out, similar to the one he’d played before at my funeral, but this time… it was Shea. She was humming to herself, driving my car from the looks of the interior. Our view was as if we were sitting right next to her in the passenger seat. She had dark circles under her eyes, clutching the wheel with her left hand. From my viewpoint, I could see a new tattoo on her wrist. It was of my name in cursive letters.

A sob lodged itself in my throat.

“One flick of my wrist and I could have her crash that car,” Lucifer taunted next to me.

I snapped my teeth shut. “Don’t you dare!” I gritted.

As Shea pulled into a parking lot, I recognized it as Lincoln and Noah’s apartment complex. Oh my God, a few more minutes and I might see Linc and my mom.

“Or I could have my men take her too, bring her down here to motivate you.” The scene changed then to a warehouse full of demons. They were playing cards, fighting, milling around. “One call to these men, and Shea’s life is in my hands.”

Whatever strength, whatever fortitude I’d built up against him over the past few days shattered in that moment.

“Please don’t hurt my family. I’ll do whatever you want.” My voice was barely a whisper.

‘Brielle, no! Shea wouldn’t want that.’

I shut Sera out as the Prince of Darkness patted my arm. “Good girl.”

I felt nothing.

I was dead inside.

Chapter Five

That night when I was sent away from dinner, Lucifer told Raksha to withdraw all my meds, and prepare me for training. I tossed and turned all night, thinking about Shea and the tattoo on her wrist, the pain in her eyes. She was driving my car. When did she even get a license? I had missed everything, and she thought I was dead. I hadn’t even gotten to see Lincoln or my mom.

‘This changes nothing. We will train, become strong, and break out of here,’ Sera told me in the early morning hours.

‘I don’t want to talk about it anymore,’ I informed her, then sat up in bed, rubbing my face.

Raksha hadn’t spoken to me the entire walk back to my room the night before, only bidding me good night right before she slammed my door and locked me inside. Clearly she was pissed that Lucy kicked her out of dinner, but it wasn’t my fault.

I was just getting ready to stand up and do some stretching, when my ring started to buzz. I froze and wiggled my fingers a little to make sure I wasn’t imagining it.

No, the ring was definitely vibrating.

What the…?

‘Brielle!’ Shea’s voice sounded inside my head.

Shock ripped through my body as the room started swimming.

‘Shea!’ I screamed, gripping my ring like it was a telephone.

‘Brielle?’ she shouted again as tears started to roll down my cheeks.

Can she hear me? Is it really her? A faint white glow started to emanate from my ring and my eyes widened. What the…? Am I finally losing my mind?

Suddenly the door opened and Raksha burst into the room, her nose flaring.

“You smell of magic!” she accused, her eyes roaming over me.

My mouth popped open, but I had no idea what to say. I couldn’t think straight. All I knew was that hearing my best friend’s voice had shocked the hell out of me, and I couldn’t move.

“What have you done!” She lunged for me.

I fell backward onto the bed and covered my face with my hands to protect myself.

‘Brielle, are you alive?’ Shea screamed.

“This!” Raksha hissed, clamping her fingers around my ring in an iron vice.

“No, please!” I whimpered, elbowing her temple hard just as she yanked it off me.

She flew backward from my hit, and black magic poured from her palms—a color I’d never seen on her before. It saturated my ring until I couldn’t see it anymore through the dense fog filling her hand. She looked furious as she gazed at me, her hair floating around her like static electricity, her eyes flashing from brown to electric green.

“I told you no tricks!” she roared.

“I didn’t do anything! I don’t do magic!” I shouted at her, curling my body into a ball to prepare for her attack.

Her gaze darkened, and then fell onto my ring in her hand. “Well someone did, and now they’ll never find you.”

She’d done something to the ring, encasing it in a black swirling mass before she tucked it into her pocket. Raksha started stalking toward me with her hands out, but I decided I wouldn’t cower. With the medicine out of my system, I was feeling stronger, bolder. I sat up and faced her head on, tipping my chin up defiantly.

“You think I’m a monster?” she asked through gritted teeth.

I just glared.

“Answer me.” Her voice was low and deadly.

“Yes!” I shouted.

Reaching behind her, she slipped her hand into her back pocket, and pulled out a small wallet-sized picture, then shoved it in my face.

“Everything I do down here is to keep them safe up there. Every time I mess up, he hurts them. When you mess up and make me look bad, he hurts them. Do. You. Understand. Me?” Her voice quivered on the last word, and my chest nearly split in two as I looked at the picture.

A pretty woman with a short pixie haircut had her arm around a younger, happier-looking Raksha, and a young child about two years old peered between them with a big smile.

Oh God. I’d misjudged her. She wasn’t evil. She was just a momma bear protecting her family.

“I understand, Raksha.” I reached up to squeeze her hand. “I understand, and it won’t happen again.”

She had a wife and child. She was as much a prisoner down here as I was.

Taking a shaky breath, she pulled her hand from mine, slipping the picture back into her pocket. “Be ready to go to breakfast in ten minutes, and then we’ll go on our walk for exercise.” Her voice was still thick with emotion, but I knew better than to try and talk about it.

I simply nodded and she left the room.

When I was sure she was gone, I sank my head into the pillow and sobbed. I sobbed so hard that I thought I might die. Desperation saturated my entire body.

Shea tried to reach me. What does that mean? Does she think I’m alive? Did she hear me?

Whatever it was, all hope was lost now that Raksha had taken my ring. Now that she’d shared with me about her family and their situation. I couldn’t act out, couldn’t try to break free, or her family would get hurt. I had some pretty questionable morals when it came to certain things, but I’d never be party to seeing a child hurt. Ever. Period. I could still see the smile on the little boy’s face. It broke me in two.

‘Are you okay?’ Sera’s sweet voice came into my thoughts.

I would’ve lost my mind without Sera. Since we shared a mental link, she knew everything that just happened with Shea and Raksha.

‘I can’t. I just can’t do anything that would hurt her family,’ I told her.

Silence. I thought I’d lost her again, but then she finally answered, ‘I know. We’ll figure it out together, okay? But no giving up just yet.’

She couldn’t see me, but I nodded anyway. I was numb at that point. I didn’t care about anything anymore.

Getting up, I walked over to the small sink in the corner, by the toilet, and brushed my teeth. How could I live like this? Do as the Dark Prince ordered? Help him break into Heaven?

‘You can’t,’ Sera offered.

I ignored her. Then my thoughts went dark. Would he hurt Raksha if I killed myself?