Sinners' Kingdom #1: The Book of Lust (Complete)

35

If only it hadn't been too late.

On the last screamed syllable, the ceiling gave, buckling with a cascade of dust and debris that deafened and blinded all over again, but this time there was no illumination from glowing demon blood to strain my eyes by. And pain, more pain.

But I wasn't crushed.

Thick slabs of stone should have crushed my bones to powder, and the place was collapsing still. Yet the only pain mottling my senses were the dull thumping of my head where I had hit the doors, and the too-tight squeezing of something hard and warm all around me from behind.

Warm? Not cold? A body?

"Sable, it can't be done. The Shard is enveloped in his body and power, so without his cooperation, I can't take us away. But a clever idea from my good girl, nonetheless..." Lust's voice over my shoulder was a semi-harsh rasp in my ear, and it righted the world all at once, recalibrating my senses.

Take stock, hurry. On the ground? Yes. On my belly. Still dark? No. Light now, just Lust's shadow over me. Things everywhere, dust choking, going up my nose and into my mouth. And up? I couldn't crane my neck to see properly, but cloudy daylight and piles of snow littered the vicinity, not wooden ruins. Had the chamber not been under one of the temple buildings? We were still in the compound itself, though. Through the horrible visibility past the snow and wind, the very tops of brown and red buildings peeked into view out of the veil of fuzzy white over the pit's rim.

More snowdrifts poured down over the edge of the fallen chamber, and a howling wind picked up. Oh, shit. Cold! Cold! The shock had numbed me to some of it, but now it pierced my skin like swords all over. How long before I froze like an icicle?

The large, solid weight behind me draped too heavily over my body, pressing me flat to the ground. It had protected me from the falling slabs and chunks, every single one of them. Now the noises faded, the last of the debris rolling over the floor, but Lust didn't get up. I remained pinned belly-first to the ground with his forearm braced under my chin and around my throat. It hurt a little, and my throat bobbed as I struggled to swallow, but I wasn't stupid. If he hadn't caught my neck that way, I would have slammed face-first into stone, probably losing a few teeth if I even managed to stay conscious. Not to mention his life-saving warmth, despite my shivering.

But what was he doing! What about Mammon! Or had he managed to defeat the other demon just in time?

"Get up, Asmodeus. I'm going to wear your entrails around my neck as a trophy. But not before fucking her in a pool of your blood first as you watch."

Shit.

"My, my. Someone's hasty." Lust eased off of me, apparently totally at ease despite the nearness of Mammon's voice. Oh, God. He was right there, standing at our feet, just waiting. He could have killed Lust on top of me if he'd wanted. Why had Lust lunged for me, exposing his back! I at least had had a chance of surviving as long as I covered my head and my organs weren't crushed and my spine didn't break in thirty places—

Okay, so maybe my chances of survival, especially intact, would have been astronomical, but Lust had been fighting for his life. He should have prioritized that. What good would shielding me have done if Mammon had killed him? The contract would have killed me too, dead as a doornail. But seriously, Lust shouldn't be alive right now. Why hadn't Mammon killed him already?

And to top it all off, I was still buck naked and wet with come. Wonderful. What little joys to brighten my day. Just the thing I needed.

But I would sort out all the rocks trying to go up my ass crack later. I glanced back, still blinking sharp pieces out of my eyes as fast as I could with my heart about to vault out of my chest, and found Lust standing in the light... now facing Mammon. The other Prince still retained human shape, but the black tattoos swirling over his body were thicker, moving faster — and sprouted black fur for brief instants before sucking them back in again. Demonic magic. The burning scent of it permeated every inch of space, overpowering even the dust. Brimstone. Normal humans confused it with sulfur, but it wasn't the same. This was the scent of a true Infernal. The stronger the demon, the more powerful the acrid smell and taste. I'd only ever smelled the lingering after-scent before on my mother and grandmother, never as strong as this one, but I could never mistake it. I had to get away.

"Don't move, witch."

I only froze for half a beat, then kept crawling forward as fast as I could. No, no, no. That had been Mammon. Talking to me. And if he wanted me to stay where I was, I could guess the reasons. Either he wanted to kill me, or use me. And Lust had just taunted him by fucking me in front of him as he watched, so I could guess what 'using' me would involve.

"I said to stay there, witch—!"

"Sable!"

I registered it too late. Not only Mammon's guttural, angry command, but Lust's warning shout at the same time. If I had paid closer attention, maybe I would have seen it coming, but what good would that have done? That golden rope came out of nowhere, binding me fast and snapping my arms to my sides in less time than it took to blink. Trying to avoid it would have been futile. Lassoed like a heifer, then dragged forward just as fast, I was already airborne by the time I realized I was caught.

My teeth bit into my bottom lip when I whipped skyward with a vicious jerk. As I barrel-rolled upward out of the bowels of the stone pit, I caught the world only in disorienting flashes. White everywhere. Broken gray stone. Lust, jumping toward me, arm oustretched. Mammon, black-furred, a humanoid wolf, doing the same as he shoved Lust out of the way. Flash. Flash. Flash.

Until I reached the peak of my ascent, suspended for an eternity at the very top as time froze. Cold. So, so cold. But the view was incredible. My jumbled brain didn't know any better than to mildly appreciate the snow-covered wonderland, mountainous and serene.

Serene, that is, except for the army of red and orange-robed monks streaming over the snow like a rogue wave. There had to be a hundred of them at least, but before I could numbly begin to count them, gravity won its battle against my momentum. With one last flip, my body tipped downward, then fell like a diving hawk.

I was going to hit the ground hard. No way to avoid it. But if I landed in that powdery drift right there, I might avoid breaking bones. I'd get wet and freeze to death in a couple of minutes, but I'd cross that bridge when I got there. I had to survive the fall, first.

The golden rope binding me buzzed against my skin as I descended, living magic. At the other end of it, a hooded monk held onto the coils that wrapped around their hands and forearms. With one last yank, they pulled me straight to them, and my body changed direction so fast my head whipped back. I landed at their feet hard, the breath knocked out of me and a wall of cold immediately swallowing me up from head to toe...

I'd landed on my back. Now I stared up at the monk as I fought for breath between the constricting rope binds, and they pushed back their loose hood with one graceful hand.

The gaze was so cold, I almost didn't recognize it.

"You've betrayed us, I see," said Sarina. Her voice was as keen as a blade, somber as a headstone. "I was wrong to trust you after all."