Reluctant Queen: A Hellscape Novel by Kira Stanley

Author:Kira Stanley [Stanley, Kira]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2022-11-24T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

I tugged them through the portal with me, using my body weight and the power they had lassoed around me against them to yank them forward. They all lost their balance as they held onto the wand, not counting on me trying to take them with.

I went through the portal backwards, not knowing if it was going to be a short or a long drop—portals were tricky like that—but I didn't care. I cackled as the heat of Hell started to wrap around me. My laughter was an ugly, raw sound, but I didn't care. I was pissed at everyone and everything, and I wanted them to know just by my laugh how I felt. If I was going down, they were going with me.

I enjoyed watching their faces as I pulled them through the portal. Con’s shocked face, War’s knowing smirk, Fame’s disbelief, and Death’s pissed off eyes drilling holes into my head. Yes, all of those emotions told me that even if they’d won, I didn't lose. I hated losing. I was a shit loser. I think it was a family trait.

I didn't look backwards as I fell, but my back slammed into the ground sooner than I anticipated. Hell’s landscape changed from circle to circle, the whole atmosphere altering depending on the sin. This felt like the Outer Lands—the space that souls used to cross into Hell. It was a barren desert, crafted to be like the Judaean desert, an exact replica of the one my father and Jesus went camping in for forty days and forty nights on Pop Pop’s orders.

My father had told me that Pop Pop had wanted Jesus to understand why my father ran Hell and the purpose of having two places for souls to go, but Dad said Jesus was a stick in the mud and always turned down all of his fun bonding ideas. Go figure.

I heard the guys’ grunt as they crashed to the ground, but I wasn't paying attention to them. I was sinking my hands into the fiery grains of sand beneath me, since my arms and body were no longer bound, as the job it meant to accomplish was complete. I looked up at the red Hell sky. I tilted my head at the design the clouds were making. Was that a dick in the sky?

It was bittersweet to be back. It was my home, where I was raised, where I learned how to live my life as a princess of Hell, but at the same time, it was my shackles, my responsibility, the place that was determined to make my choices for me.

As soon as I had that thought, I felt Hell’s call. The magic of the realm turned its head and looked at me, smiling. My hands and legs started to feel like they were sinking into quicksand, and I felt a rush of power coming for me, searching for me like a bloodhound. One minute I was sitting on the desert floor; the next, power rushed forward, claiming my body while it laughed and welcomed me home.

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