the luxurious black hair became white and dull, yellowed at the ends.
To my left, Satan made a disgruntled noise. “I never took you for one who loved the day.”
I focused on the arena, feeling for the chain between myself and Lucifer. It was there, glowing brightly in my sight, invisible to everyone but me. Every time I saw it, I was filled with renewed hope and purpose. For the sake of that bond, I’d get us out of here.
It had been worth coming here to free Lucifer.
He spun on the arena floor below, striking out with the rusty spear. A gash opened wide on the manticore’s leg and hot blood burst out, painting the ebonite floor, but Lucifer was just toying with it.
Like me, he knew his role. Give Ereshkigal the show she desired. Let her think us obedient to her.
Still, manticores were dangerous even without having your limbs bound, and even a young one had a sting toxic enough to kill.
I resisted the urge to gnaw my lower lip and give away my anxiety to the Queen. If she saw it on my face, she would slap it away with her claws. And then probably slap me some more for having the audacity to bleed on her, even though she loved the smell of fresh blood.
“Many eons have passed, love.” A sharp note had come into Ereshkigal’s voice as she addressed Satan over my head. “In my age and wisdom, I’ve learned to appreciate even the beauty of the daylight. But, oh, I wish I could taste him.” She took another deep draught of her wine.
I practically felt the tension humming between them, so tight a knife could cut it.
“Not my son. He’s not for you to consume.” Satan looked at her with Nergal’s eyes, the muscles in his stolen body gone tight.
“I didn’t ask for your son’s life,” Ereshkigal said. If she wasn’t a Prime power, a goddess in her own right, I would’ve said she sounded peevish. “Only my little songbird.”
“Mmm. My spoils of war. Your little songbird cost me my throne,” Satan hissed.
Ah, back to the crux of the matter.
In the last several days of serving Ereshkigal, I’d discovered several curious things about the eons-crossed lovers.
First, she did love beauty, almost as much as she loved others’ pain, and she was deeply jealous.
And second, Satan was beginning to take on some unusual qualities.
In Dis, when he’d possessed a body made of straw and insects, he’d been chilling to be near. I’d felt the sickening power that came from him, the endless hunger and need for destruction.
I still felt the hunger that rolled off him in waves, but now there was a strange new undertone to his possessiveness. If I was a broken doll, I felt like a doll that was being pulled between the two of them, like two overgrown children fighting over a toy until they ripped it in half.
Satan had been very clear in his displeasure in gifting me to Ereshkigal, no matter how much he claimed to still love her.
I thought he only loved what she could give him, but if Ereshkigal couldn’t see that, it was a secret I would keep to myself.
“Thrones come and go.” Ereshkigal waved her hand carelessly and spilled wine on my lap. It soaked through the silk shift I wore, plastering it against my thighs. “Now you have all of Kur beneath you.”
“No.” Satan sat up in his throne, as tightly coiled as a snake, but when Ereshkigal looked at him sharply, his expression shifted like he’d put on a mask, nothing but adoration written there. “My love. You rule Kur, and you did promise to bring Dis to its knees.”
I held my breath as he held out a hand, and Ereshkigal placed hers in his after a petulant moment of silence. She shifted from maiden to crone, her slim hand wrinkling in his powerful one.
There was a curl of disgust to Satan’s lip, but Ereshkigal was blind to it.
“We will. I promised you then, and I promise you now: Dis and Kur will be united again. I’ve always loved you; I would do anything for you.”
Satan smiled at her as she became a beautiful woman again. My stomach lurched at the thought that they might start kissing right over my head, like I wasn’t even there.
Beneath their clasped hands, I had a good view of the arena floor. The chain connecting me to Lucifer seemed to pulse in my chest, reacting to his presence and my