Chapter 1

I plummeted straight into the Demon Pit.

Vanessa Rowe’s triumphant smile echoed through my mind as I fell.

I never thought I would see the day when the King of All Demons was pushed into an abyss by his own wife.

If Vanessa had known that in one more month, on her birthday, I would have told her the truth about who I had been, she would have thought twice. I would not have stopped at a youth preservation spell. I would have given her half the demon realm.

If she had known, she would have drowned in regret.

I let out a cold laugh and shook my head. Then I started walking toward the center of the Pit.

A pack of lesser demons swarmed around me and bared their teeth and claws.

The one at the front let out a shrill laugh. “Well, well. Look what dropped in. Nice and soft, too. Boys are gonna have some fun with this one.”

Disgust churned in my stomach. I had been gone too long. The Pit needed discipline.

I did not bother with the low‑level filth and turned to leave. They pressed closer with every step, too foolish to know what they walked into.

“Know your place.”

A wisp of hellfire flickered in my palm.

The lesser demons seemed to sense the danger. They froze mid‑step and locked their eyes on the flame.

I smiled coldly and prepared to teach them a lesson they would not forget. A sharp pain tore through my chest before I could act. I dropped to one knee and coughed up blood. The hellfire in my palm went out.

I stared in disbelief and pressed my hand against my chest. There was nothing there. The hellfire that sustained my existence had been snuffed out by someone.

There had been an old custom among demons. If you truly loved someone, you gave them your hellfire on your wedding day as a safeguard against the corrosive energy of the demon realm.

All that love I had given without reservation had dealt me the worst blow of my life.

“Look at him. Tried to scare us and he cannot even stand up. He is all bark and no bite.”

The leader recovered first and howled with laughter. The rest joined in, and their shrill cackling bounced off the walls of the Pit.

They rushed me and pinned me to the ground. One grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked hard. “Thought you were tough, huh? Go on, try that again.”

Another kicked me wherever it could land a hit and cursed between each blow.

I clenched my fists and wiped the blood from my mouth with a cold, steady calm. Then I fixed them with a stare that could kill.

The pack must have taken it as a challenge. One picked up a jagged rock and drove it into my right eye. Blood ran down my chin in a thin stream.

“This is what happens when you cross us. By the time we are done, you will beg to die and we will not let you.”

Their abuse came in waves.

I did not flinch. I kept my one good eye locked on every one of them.

The leader shuddered.

“Alright. He is a dead man walking anyway. Why waste our time? The boss up top said all we gotta do is dump him in the arena, and there is plenty in it for us.”

They wanted to make sure I had no way out.

Ten years together, and Vanessa had helped Troy Merritt plan every detail.

It did not matter. I could not be killed. I was never going to stay down here, and when I climbed out, I was coming for every one of them.