Page 13 of Grave Consequences
“He won’t be purged for it, but itwillbe the talk of the Rings for a bit before someone else does something else shocking. I’ve never heard of a Nihil child not being molded to become the next generation of Hell’s Generals right from birth. That’s usually what these gatherings are for, the little one’s life needs to be carefully mapped out from the start.”
I let her words settle in my mind and try not to sigh. Great. Just what the hell are they going to do with me, then? I don’t want anyone fuckingmoldingme. It was hard enough coming to terms with becoming a Hellgate Guardian. A Hell General sounds a thousand times worse. How am I going to get home now?
Lousen claps her hands together excitedly, pulling me from my racing and worried thoughts. “Enough of that. We need to get started! We have an Abdicated party to get you ready for,” she announces, as if I could possibly forget that fact. “I’ll have you looking positively edible in no time,” she assures me cheerfully, revealing a smile of multicolored teeth as a vanity table and two bushels full of fabric appear behind her.
The second she saysedible, my thoughts immediately go to the Savor and his proclivity for eating demon parts, making me cringe.
“You can just call me Delta, and I’d settle for looking not embarrassing instead of edible. Don’t want to give anyone any ideas,” I tell her on a chuckle that sounds nervous even to my own ears.
She gives me a knowing smile and a wink, and I decide to interpret that as capitulation. “So, on a scale from zero to I’m fucked, exactly how bad are these Abdicated assholes?” I ask her.
She looks at me warily, the smile slipping from her face. “Let’s just...get you dressed,” she replies carefully, which answers that question without her even having to say anything more.
Trepidation sinks into my toes, making it hard to move. I have a really bad feeling about this.
5
“That should do it!” Lousen declares in an elated tone. She steps back, her yellow eyes taking me in and filling with warm pride. “You’ll be the envy of every menagerie,” she states, like that’s a good thing.
“Just to be clear, a menagerie isn’t a zoo filled with demonic animals, is it?”
She chortles, her colorful teeth glistening. “Of course not. The menageries are the Abdicated’s harems.”
“I had a feeling you were going to say that,” I grumble under my breath.
I look down at the gown that Lousen practically Bibbity Bobbity Booed out of nowhere and run my hands over the soft thin material now covering my body. I’ve been squeezed into a corset bodysuit that’s the color of my pale skin and will be impossible to get out of on my own. Over that, she’s draped a muted periwinkle fabric that’s softer than chiffon and looks just as delicate.
The gown is strapless, although two very romantic, but otherwise useless, sleeves are dangling down my upper arms. The soft pastel fabric hugs my curves and swaddles the perky twins, flaring out at my waist. The entire dress is covered in what I thought were various sizes of periwinkle pearls, but according to Lousen, they’re actually a rare color of moonstone.
The she-demon has straightened my hair, parted it down the middle, and pulled it back into a sleek and shiny ponytail that rests at the base of my skull. I can feel the strands of my electric violet hair tickle my back, and my wings are on full display.
I’ve never looked more beautiful, or felt hollower, than I do right now. I look so perfect on the outside, but I’m so broken on the inside.
“Deltagates, a frown is not the right accessory to go with this dress,” Lousen teases, but the half smile I try for seems to make her cringe even more.
“Delta,” I remind her. “Just Delta.”
“Well, Justdelta, play the devoted role, and by tomorrow, maybe Tazreel will have forgotten all about you. He doesn’t exactly have the longest attention span,” she tells me, offering me a soft smile and a reassuring arm squeeze.
I take a deep breath and hope, for my sake, that’s true. If I can play my part right, maybe this time tomorrow, I’ll be home. Dismay pools in my stomach, because the thing is, I have no idea whatmy partis supposed to look like. How the hell am I going to pull whatever this is off?
* * *
The guards standing outside my room are apparently my new bodyguards. I feel like a Kardashian as I get escorted downstairs, except instead of them keeping paparazzi and rabid fans away, they’re just making sure I don’t try to run. Which would be nearly impossible right about now even if I did know a way out, because Lousen forced my feet into three-inch heeled horrors, making me wobble with every step.
The last time I was in heels was when I went to senior prom with Tyson Prince. He was on the baseball team, and I was a sucker for those tight pants. But Mr. Prince turned out to be more of a frog, because I found him making out in the limo thatIpaid for with Katie Harris.
I punched her in the parking lot and made her cry, and even though I barely hit her, I had to leave prom early. I Facebook stalked her years later and found out that she ended up divorced three times and had too much plastic injected in her face, freezing her into a close replica of the Jack in the Box dude. That made me feel infinitely better. I’m going to go ahead and blame my demon side for that.
At the bottom of the steps, my bodyguarding duo silently takes me down the large corridor, my shoes clicking against the stone floors. As soon as we get to the end and round the corner, I hear voices, laughter, and music filtering in the air.
The closer we get, the more my nerves coil inside of me like knotted ropes. My hands come up in front of me, wringing together, but as soon as I catch myself doing it, I force them to my sides. If the guys were here, they wouldn’t be nervous.
Rafferty would be cool, calm, and collected, modeling for me how easy it is. Crux would be hitting on me and helping me feel relaxed by making me laugh. Echo would make me feel beautiful and promise all kinds of naughty things later. And Jerif would be put-out and say shit that’d get my hackles up, but that would help me, too. I’d be too irritated with him to feel small or intimidated by the demons in that room. I’d be able to shove aside any fear or insecurity and walk in there as my best self. It’s funny that I realize now that’s what each of them do for me. They each bolster me in a different way.
That was their magic. They showed me who I could be. Instead of realizing that and embracing it, I was fighting to hold onto the stuck, scared person I’ve been for too long. Hindsight being twenty-twenty is real, and I’m going to use my newfound clarity to my advantage. I’m going to be who they were trying to help me become.
When we reach a huge set of doors, the noise is at an all-time high. I take a deep, fortifying breath. I can do this.
