Chapter 519

Andrei's POV

"Do you know who I am?" the figure asked. His voice echoed in the quiet forest. It was no longer the overlapping timbre of many voices, but one. Deep. Resonant. All- consuming. As if it sucked all other sound out of the air around us.

I tried to speak, but my throat closed up. The air reeked of sulphur, thick and acidic.

It burned my nose, eyes, and mouth, and made me cough.

“I am the Lord of Hell. The King of Blood and Refuse and Filth and Agony." He removed his hand from my shoulder and walked around to face me. Up close, I could see him more clearly. His skin was as black as night with no discerning features, like he was made of void. His eyes were hollow pits with red coals burning within. His horns were twisted and jagged. Somehow, I knew if I touched the tip of one, it would slice right through my finger.

I quickly looked away. This was not real. It couldn't be.

"Oh, but I am real. I have existed since the dawn of time. Long before your kind was created by that Moon bitch of yours. And I will exist long after this world turns to ash and your so-called Goddess abandons everything."

I blinked. How had he heard that? My thoughts?

"Because your mind is mine, boy. You killed the Winter King. You took his place. And now you belong to me. The moment you pushed him into the portal to my house, your soul became mine."

"I'm not yours." I managed to choke out the words, but they sounded hollow and far away.

"I beg to differ. Look at what you've become. A monster who blacks out and kills animals. A husband who can't even sleep in the same bed as his wife. A father who terrifies his own children."

"Shut up."

“You're already mine, Andrei. You just haven't accepted it yet.”

I lunged at him, but my fist swung through empty air. The demon dissipated into a dark mist, and for a moment, I thought I was alone. That I had imagined this, just like everything else.

But it didn't last long.

"There's no fighting this," he whispered. His breath was hot against the back of my neck, and the smell of sulphur made me gag. "You can try. You can resist. But in the end, you will obey. They always do."

"I won't kill for you," I retorted. "I'm not as easily swayed as your last pawn."

"You will. Because if you don't, your children will suffer."

My blood ran cold. "What?"

“Jane. Max. Little Hope. Such sweet things. So innocent. So fragile. They're your main weakness, are they not? You wouldn't let anything happen to them."

I whirled around to look at him. It. Whatever it was. "Don't you dare touch them.”

"I don't need to touch them. You'll do it for me. And you will do it in ways that will make you wish you had simply obeyed." He smiled with a mouth that had far too many teeth in it. Infinite rows of jagged fangs "But it doesn't have to be that way. You can save them. All you have to do is complete the ritual."

"What ritual?" I asked. I looked at the deer carcass. "This? This... abomination?"

"This one was just practice. The real one, the one I'm training you for, will give you the power you need. Real power. The kind of power only my most loyal disciples possess. Even the Winter King did not possess such abilities."

He waved his hand, and an image appeared in the air, shimmering above his right shoulder. It was cloudy at first, but then I recognized that face. It was the male from the bonfire. The one td beaten to a pulp for no good reason. Isaac

The man from the pictures.

Rage began to swirl within me. I tried to quell it, but it wouldn't go down. Whatever

this thing was doing to me-it was making me irrational. Angry. Jealous.

"Kill the traitor, the creature went on. "The one who foolishly claims he can become my chosen one. Offer his blood to me, and I will grant you the Waterking's throne Then, once you fulfill my commands, I will allow you into my kingdom. Forever.”