Page 59 of Hell Bound
I must justlooklike this Lilith person. It was a shame she was gone, that the people who cared for her had lost her, but I wasn’t some replacement character for them to force into her role.
Anger threatening to rise at the injustice of it all, I refocused my attention.
These marks had to go. I wasn’t going to sit there with Asmodeus’s handiwork staring me in the face, mourning what would likely be scars.
I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
With a steadying exhale, I dabbed the concealer on the first mark in the center of my cheek.
And waited.
I wasn’t sure what I’d expected to happen, but when nothing did, another exhale escaped me, this one a deep sigh of relief. They weren’t magic potions disguised as cosmetics to trick me.
More confident, I covered that mark and moved to the next one that was closer to my jawline.
Everything grew hazy the second I touched the brush to the second mark.
Superimposed over my reflection, the mirror suddenly showed a woman who looked a lot like me—okay, she was identical, but I wasn’t ready to admit that even to myself—tenderly applied makeup to her face to cover a large bruise along her jaw.
The brush she used was much larger than my small one. It had to be in order to apply the copious amounts of concealer she’d need to hide that mottled stain.
There was one major difference between the two of us, however.
My reflection had shown barely constrained rage in my eyes, the burning desire to retaliate in kind.
Her gaze was broken. Utterly defeated.
She’d done this before, and she expected to keep doing it, covering up the evidence of the abuse she suffered night after night.
Seeing her like that triggered a fury in my chest that I couldn’t hold down. I dropped the brush and with both hands, shoved every damned piece of makeup to the floor.
Metal clanged against marble as they hit the ground, tops flying off and pigments spilling onto the stone. The eyeshadows blended into the lighter colors, looking almost like the bruise that had marred my—Lilith’s—face.
I had to get out of that room, or I was going to lose my fucking mind.
Everything in there was hers, and the more I was around it, the more I was finding it harder to deny that it was alsomine.
Racing from the bathroom, I rifled through the clothing until I found a simple slip dress that actually covered most of my body.
The black silk still showed a ridiculous amount of cleavage, but after the things Asmodeus forced me to wear? It might as well have been flannel pajamas.
There weren’t any shoes that looked comfortable enough to run in if it came to that, so barefoot would have to work. I rushed to the door and held my breath, placing my hand on the handle with a silent prayer.
When it yielded beneath my palm, my throat constricted.
Thanks, Hana, I owe you one.
I opened it slowly, just in case there were guards outside the door watching for my escape. Thankfully, I was alone.
Still, I crept out of the room with extreme care, shutting my door as gently as possible.
I was out.
I wasfree.
Well, free-ish.
No one was wondering where I was, and I hadn’t been ordered to be anywhere, so I could truly go wherever I wanted.
