Thanks to a dare gone wrong, Maggie Brumfield finds out the hard way that Heaven and Hell are real.
Prince Laudon, Lucifer's son and the current ruler of Hell, has locked Maggie into a sinister deal that grants him temporary ownership of her soul...
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LAUDON'S POV
"Laudon! I'm back with Myrlande."
Lila bursts into his office with the specialist right behind her. She looks and sounds as panicked as she did when she first came into Laudon's office and found him lying still on the ground.
The two women kneel beside him, Lila having been too nervous to move him, then Myrlande gently flips him over onto his back and angles his head before pouring some foul-tasting liquid into his mouth. As it travels down his throat, Lila strokes his hair while whispering all the ways for which she plans to make Zul pay for having done such a foolish thing.
Even though Laudon has been unable to verbally identify the culprit responsible for attacking him, Lila was quick to correctly guess that it was Zul.
She recalled the fight that Laudon and Zul had days prior, a fight that left Laudon covered in Zul's blood. Could Zul have come back from wherever Laudon had sent him, now seeking vengeance for the way that he was treated? Possibly. But apart from that, the other scent in the room besides Laudon's was Zul's, and when Lila smartly took the wine with her to seek out Myrlande for help, the specialist was able to confirm that it was Zul's prints on the bottle.
The man clearly has a death wish.
"The grogginess will wear off shortly." Myrlande helps Laudon up from the ground and gets him back into his chair, quietly noting how the color of his eyes flashes between red and black. "I am afraid you may not be able to fully transform for a while, my prince. I tested the wine and was able to link it to the Sonne flower, which can be used as a suppressant. Too much of it can also cause temporary paralysis. That flower blooms in Hell once every ten years, so it would appear that..."
"Zul has been planning this attack for quite some time," Lila growls in frustration, pacing the floor. "I'll gut him the next time I see the bastard."
That declaration is one of many that Laudon has been tossing around inside his head.
There had been a moment when he felt as if he would never be found. Hours and hours passed before Lila had sought him out, having noted that he was the only one of importance who had yet to show his face while everyone else helped prepare for Lucifer's return. Through it all, as Laudon laid in silence on the floor of his office with nothing but his thoughts to keep him company, the need for taking revenge came second to what he deemed was most important.
Finding Maggie.
"This is not how you challenge someone for the throne," Lila continues. "But of course, that cheating asshole never planned on having a fair fight!"
Laudon is still unable to speak despite the paralysis fading, but his thoughts mirror Lila's dramatic outburst. Not only that, but a warning from Jicha—the previous bastard who challenged him for the throne—suddenly returns to him. Jicha told Laudon just before committing suicide, 'He is not who you think he is.' Was Jicha talking about Zul? Is that who helped Jicha cheat during his battle with Laudon? Just how long has Zul been planning on stabbing Laudon in the back? And how is it that Lucifer never caught on to see past Zul's fake smiles and devotion?
