by Kim Faulks
Hell is a Harem - Book Four
Kim Faulks
Cover Designer
Jacqueline Sweet
Contents
Newsletter
Introduction
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Coming January 2019
Introduction
I’m a prisoner in the Unseelie world.
The bars of my prison my portal to home.
The Queen of Air and Darkness my judge, jury…and executioner.
I must pay for my crimes, she tells me—for all my sins.
And while I wait in this cold, dark Hell, my father has the real murderer, the Unseelie Prince, Absolon.
Lucifer won’t hurt him, even when Absolon laughs in his face.
For my life hangs in the balance…
But was this all part of the Queen’s master plan?
A plan to make me hurt.
A plan to make me pay…
And to force to his knees the one who got away—Redemption.
He will beg for her mercy.
He will stand bare for her cruel gaze.
Will do it all…and he’ll do it for me.
We’ll fight with all we have. We’ll hold each other close.
And pray we survive.
Warning. This is a dark book, deals with torture…and acts that might make you catch your breath and squirm on your seat. But hold on, you won’t want to miss a thing for this stunning conclusion of the Hell is a Harem Series.
Chapter One
Lorn
“Lorn?” Redemption took a step toward me, leaving Lucifer, Prince Absolon, and the others behind.
He glanced at the Queen’s hand around my arm, and then lifted his head.
My heartbeat resounded…one slow, mournful thud that shook with terror, before Redemption’s dark eyes widened and he lunged. “Lorn!”
I tried to tear from the Queen’s hold, tried to punch through the murky void, but the vibrant green grass, and the perfect blue sky faded as the portal to the Unseelie world closed in.
“Redemption!”
Gray descended, and then turned to black.
Until there was nothing.
Cold…suffocating nothing.
Laughter followed.
Cruel, sickening laughter as the Unseelie Queen’s pleasure filled my ears.
Fire lashed my throat. The scream tore like the cry from a wounded animal from my chest, and the sound echoed around me, slipping away as I left my world behind and plummeted.
Darkness…desperation—Unseelie.
Black on black whipped past my face.
I turned toward the movement. My boots skimmed the hard surface, pitching me forward, toward a dull, yellow light.
The sting was instant, tearing along my arm as I ripped from the Queen’s grasp. Boots echoed around me, and through the dull yellow hue of a lonely flickering torch, the shadows took shape.
Guards…
They were a wall of untapped rage, landing in a circle around us…thud…thud…thud. Dark eyes watched with contempt, one hand hovering next to the hilt of their daggers.
They’d kill me…one word from their mistress and I’d be dead…
I spun in the dark, and raised my fists, ready to fight. Don’t touch me…don’t you dare fucking touch me…
“Lights,” the Queen commanded.
There was a strike of a flint, and then a flare of a flame forced the darkness to retreat. Another sparked and then another, until the massive room was bathed in the flickering yellow hue of torchlight.
“Don’t you,” I gasped and spun. “Don’t you fucking hurt me.”
They never moved, only stared at the wall of Unseelie male. They stared straight ahead.
“They won’t hurt you,” the Queen murmured. “Unless your father decides otherwise.”
She took a step away from them, breaking the circle in smooth, even strides. Torches were lit around the room. A guard crossed behind the line of warriors and knelt at the mammoth hearth carved out of granite
I waited for the cell doors to swing closed, waited for the steel shackles around my wrists. But this prison wasn’t the Unseelie cells…it glinted black, shone with utter perfection, and as the torchlight reached outwards, illuminating the massive room, I realized where we were…
The castle.
I inhaled hard. “What do you want?”
Queen Mab turned and sat on a throne made of obsidian. She never answered. Cold, unflinching eyes trailed down my body and then up again, before she finally spoke. “I’m afraid it’s been an age since we’ve had proper company. You see, our guest wings are closed off, unfit for use.” She glanced to an open doorway behind me. “So you’ll just have to take the consort’s quarters.”
She lifted a finger, motioning toward a towering Unseelie male. Black and silver glinted from the medals across his armored vest as he strode forward and then knelt at her feet. “You don’t mind, do you, Boroch?”
His voice reverberated like thunder. “No, my Q—”
“—perfect. Have the room ready for our guest.” She cut him off. She had no intention of listening to what he said.
“As you wish, my Queen.” The male bowed his head and rose in one swift movement.
I saw her then…saw her for what she really was.
Starving. Hollowed out from the inside.
There was only so much hate and resentment one could swallow before it left you unfulfilled.
She hated me. She truly hated me.
This river ran deeper than the death of a Night Hag.
No, this was something savage.
I glanced at the wall of Unseelie male. “How long do you intend to keep me captive?”
“Captive?” She murmured and lifted a hand. “Does this look like a cell to you? Do I resemble a warden?”
I stared at the army of warriors at her call and waited.
“You’re free to come and go as you choose,” she continued. “Although, I’d be careful outside the walls of the castle. The Unseelie do not take too kindly to someone killing a Night Hag, especially a powerful one like “Mòr.”
I flinched at her words. “It was in self-defense.”
Hate flared with a terrifying glint in her eye. Stony words slipped free as she motioned to the line of soldiers. “That will be up to the jury to decide.”
She meant herself.
Judge, jury…and executioner…so why was she waiting? The portal to my world was closed. By now, Absolon would be flayed to the bone.
If not from my father, then from my men.
Redemption…Titus…Rival…Gabriel…
Their terror. Their hate…their desperation.
I tried not to think about them. Tried to keep my focus on here and now—and getting out of this fucking place alive. I held the Queen’s gaze.
She bled poison.
She whispered lies.
She waited…smothered in pretense.
There was a twitch at the corner of her mouth—a tiny smirk. This was amusing for her. Just one more cruel, fucking game.
But what was the prize?
Something more than her son’s life.
The air tasted foul, like deceit. Run, the urge thundered with my pulse. I needed to find a way out of here. Needed to get back to them…
The portal to the building.
Images crowded my mind. The old canning factory…the cross street where Mom…where Mom was murdered.
Red eyes glinted from the Bodoach inside my head. A foul Unseelie creature that’d once been human, and pretended to be my fucking father.
He killed Mom there…killed her, all because he couldn’t have her.
Him and that piece of fucking scum, Absolon.
Then they wanted me, too. They got what they wanted—they got all of me, all my rage, all my retribution—with just a lick of Hell fire.
First I killed the Bodoach, and then the Night Hag.
I’d kill Absolon next and close this book once and for all.
All I had to do was get out of here.
I took a slow step backwards. The Queen just watched, captured by my every move. One glance over my shoulder to the opening of a hallway and I turned, giving the bitch my back as I lunged.
Boots slammed on the hard, marbled floor as I descended into darkness once more. But this time my eyes adjusted faster. I blinked into the gloom, trying to remember every second of when I was in the Unseelie world the last time.
The time my grandmother was killed trying to save me. The time they hacked the wings of my Archangel…Gabriel.
Now, will you go to war, Lucifer?
Now, will you finally be the man I knew you will be?
I stumbled in the darkness, finding my way to a massive room. I took a step and then another, smacked something hard with my hip. Pain flared, carving deep. “Motherfucker.”
Chair legs howled against the floor. I reached out, skimming the backs of the damn thing with my fingers and then skirted the wide, stony table. Dining room. Where they served your fucking heart on a platter. Good to know.
I made for the hallway behind it. My boots rang out behind me. But they were the only sound I heard.
They weren’t coming. Maybe not yet. Maybe they liked their meal scared…made the meat taste bitter. I lifted my hand and opened myself to my power.
But there was nothing. No hunger.
No rage. No flame.
No flame…panic rose like a goddamn tsunami.
No…no…no…I tried again, digging deeper and moved through the kitchen. There was a doorway to the left, like a black blur at the edge of night. I dug deeper, resurrecting memories of Titus and Gabriel. I could do it. I could do it for them.
There was a flicker in the middle of my palm. A tiny sting of heat before it was done, snuffed out by the bitter cold of this Unseelie world.
“Come on, please,” I tried again, dredging memories of Rival and Lucifer to the surface.
I’d fight for them. Fight any way I could. Fire, and nails—teeth, if I had to. Heat lashed my hand, burning for a second longer before it was smothered again. I shoved through the hallway until it opened into a mammoth foyer.
I spun, scanning the darkness, and saw it…a door. I lunged forward, clawing for a hold and found the cold metal of a handle.
Don’t be locked…don’t be fucking locked…
I yanked until my arms strained and the heavy damn door swung slowly inwards, just enough for me to squeeze through. The edges squashed my ass as I titled my hips and pushed through.
My boots rang against the stairs as I took two at a time. The cells…I sucked in a breath and glanced left. They were over there somewhere. I remembered coming through the other side, running with Redemption, with Rival carrying Gabriel on his shoulders.
We came from over there…I shoved forward as a piercing squawk came from somewhere overhead. I flinched at the sound, and the Queen’s words echoed…I’d be careful outside the walls of the castle. The Unseelie do not take too kindly to someone killing a Night Hag, especially a powerful one like “Mòr”.
Fuck Mòr. Ugly ass bitch.
I winced as agony carved across my mind. Her nails dug deep. So damn deep they were still embedded in there, even after I turned the hag to ash.
The door…it’s a slip-way…
My heart thundered with Redemption’s words. That’s right…that’s what we went through, and we came out…
My boots scuffed pebbles as I lunged from the last stair and hit the ground. The wave of darkness was all I saw in the distance. Still I raced forward, heart hammering, mirroring the beat of my steps.
The forest. That’s where we came out. I remember. Now I goddamn remember. The swirling silver mist to the portal was on the other side.
I strained to remember. There was a path…a path that cut right though the belly of the forest—once I was out the other side, then there was the portal.
To home.
Pebbles skipped and scattered as I carved a line toward the edge of the trees. There was no grass here in the Unseelie world, none that I could find. It was stone and steep, cold and dark.
It was cruel…bitter and fucking cruel.
Something slapped my thigh as I ran. A sharp sting followed…like a cut. I reached down as I punched my boots into the ground and swiped my thigh.
Black glistened on the tips of my fingers, sticky and warm…blood…
The sting came again, only this time striking like a whip through the air to lash around my wrist. I jerked from the movement, and stumbled as a tendril gripped tight. I wrenched my arm, tearing free as the Night Hag’s laughter slithered through the gaps of my mind.
The lash ripped free. Barbed edges dug deep, carving my skin as it went. A cry tore free. I gripped my wrist and howled. The darkened tree line still towered in the distance.
I spun, stumbled backwards, scanning the dark and slowed my steps. “Who the fuck is there?” There was no answer. Only the frigid breath of this fucking world. “Touch me again, and I’ll kill you.”
Something slithered at my right. It was a blur near my feet before it was gone and the pebbles clattered in its wake. I tore my gaze away and lunged, gripping my wrist tight, and raced for salvation.
There was a crash through the trees, steps echoed like thunder. An animal. A big goddamn animal. An ache flared through my chest. I slowed my steps, sucked in hard breaths and scanned the forest as I came closer.
I had no weapons. I had no protectors, and it looked like everything in this goddamn place wanted to hurt me, or keep me prisoner.
I could do this. I could fucking do this.
I had no choice—not if I wanted to stay alive.
The edge of the tree line towered. I lifted my gaze to the tops of the towering branches, and then to the thick trunks. I could barely make them out, just shadows on top of shadows, on top of more goddamn shadows.
Until I caught the carved line right through the dark.
The path. My heart lunged at the sight. It was the path. I was getting out of here. I was going home.
Home to my men, home to my father. Home to justice and the Unseelie Prince. I unfurled my fingers, and the cold air licked my wounds.
But there was no stopping, there was no slowing. I raced forward, to the edge of the Unseelie forest, and the path that cut right through.
The screech came again, sharp and piercing. I scanned right and left of the pebbled ground behind. The heels of my boots sank into the earth. I stilled at the entrance to the path and waited.
The castle glinted in the distance. If I squinted, I could catch the yellow glow in the window, where the torchlight from the Queen reached.
That’s not real. That can’t happen.
The words hit me like a slap.
This place is playing tricks on your mind.
The snap of a twig came from my left. Something dark, darting fast before it was gone. Jesus Christ. “It’s okay…” I murmured. “It’s going to be okay. You’re going to get through this…and then you’re going home.”
A chuckle slipped throug
h the air. Sickening, and sinister…the same sound I’d heard before.
In my nightmares. And a truck stop on my way for revenge.
I spun, and stumbled, stepping into the worn path of the forest as a shadow stepped from behind a tree.
The shroud draped over her shoulders.
Dark eyes hidden behind a mask of bone.
“I fucking killed you,” my boot caught something buried in the ground. Pain ripped through my knee until it gave way. I threw out my hand, warding off the hag as I hit the ground. Still she rose above me, nails slicing through the air as I screamed. “I fucking killed you!”
Chapter Two
Redemption
“Lorn, no!” I roared.
A dark mist swept around them, like the Unseelie world exhaled into the mortal realm, and then, in a heartbeat, inhaled the Queen, her guards, and Lorn, stealing them before my eyes.
“Lorn!” Lucifer roared, and then turned on the Prince. “What the fuck did you do? Tell me…what did you do?”
I flinched at the Lord of Hell’s rage, and the ground beneath my feet trembled.
There was a whisper of midnight mist. Just a hint the Unseelie world had been here at all. I clawed the air, watching it disperse at the tips of my fingers. “No…no…no!”
“What the fuck?” Rival growled.
I turned my head toward the sound. Absolon stared wide-eyed at the spot where his mother had been.
“Did you know this was going to happen?” Rival snarled and took a step, bumping the Unseelie Prince with his chest.
Gabriel closed in, unfurling his wings to block any escape. Hate glinted in his icy blue eyes, the kind of hate unbecoming to an Archangel. “Did you?” Gabriel repeated. “Did you know the Queen was going to take her?”