Hellfire Crown (Underworld Bride Trials, #3)

by Meg Xuemei X

And he didn’t forget to flash me a grin to show that he was still friendly, despite his stalking.

Lol. That’s stalking?

I shouldn’t have trusted him, shouldn’t have given myself to him. I

Time to skip. This is a rabbit hole I care not to venture.

A blink. And the veil lifted, rippling across their faces. It wasn’t Loki and Esme,

See, stupid. I’m pretty sure a lot of bad crap was said about Loki in the stuff I skipped.

My ineffectiveness spelled one thing: I’d fallen for the King of the Underworld and let my emotions get the better of me.

Like you don’t know that already. Ridiculous chapter thus far.

Their stares moved from the sanjiegun in my hand to the corpse and then to me again.

The sanjiegun that has zero specks of blood on it…

“You pushed my king away, regardless of his feelings for you,” Esme said, anger in her voice and fire in her eyes. “Now that he keeps his distance you start to chase him, demanding he pay attention to your every whim?”

This makes no sense considering what she was saying earlier about them all agreeing to the distance until the blood contract is canceled…

“It was never my intention to hurt him.” I threw up a hand in exasperation. Esme was no longer my biggest fan after having learned about my connection to Lucifer. “Relationships hurt, and there’s no perfect relationship.”

But… she sipped her tea after that was revealed like everything was all good that day. I think the author messed up during the editing.

The Duke of Deception just shook his head at me.

Well, he should know if she’s lying and should say so.

“He has never even looked at any other woman since you caught his eye!” Esme said. “Could you cut him some slack? He’s never bent his ways for anyone like he’s done for you.

Exactly. Cut the man/demigod some slack!

However, the power I felt and his power seem to share the same origin. There could be a connection, but I can’t pinpoint it.”

And here we go being dumb. You know he’s Loki’s cousin and have been to Asgard so you know his mother is still alive, possibly his father as well… and you say the power has the same origin but can’t think of why?

victim’s half-eaten face.

Now it’s eaten? I thought it was slashed!

We’d long since suspected that gods from other realms and their minions had come to Earth, but we hadn’t expected some of them to infiltrate the Underworld.

Whoa! What the hell kind of recap is this? Why is it placed here? What in the name of all that’s holy is going on here? What kind f writing is this?

His face was so perfect and gorgeous that it reached a level of obscenity. Colors of sunset streaked his pure blond hair that billowed around his broad shoulders.

I can’t even imagine Lucifer with blonde hair… and why is she just now mentioning him being gorgeous? I’ve been waiting for that since book 1 and she spoke of meeting him then seeing Loki…

and when he spread his wings of ivory feathers to their full length to show off his glory,

I thought his wings were black…

He’d hurt Marigold, my kin. He’d cut her open every day for months while she’d been trapped in the Underworld. And this motherfucker had terrorized and abused my mate when he was a child.

Yet you still agreed to a contract with him knowing all of this… says a lot about you…

“When I offered to fuck you, you turned me down.” He narrowed his green eyes at me, his expression vengeful. “I’m superior to my mongrel son in every way. No woman has rejected me before.” “Last I heard, your ex-queen not only divorced you, but diligently seeks to kill you,” I said.

Wow… I see where Loki gets it…

However, there was some misunderstanding between Lilith and me. My son and the brat, Celeste Marigold, only made it worse.

Yeah, we will believe she didn’t divorce you and that you didn’t kidnap her child to gain her power…

I’d thought the blood contract wouldn’t be able to make me its bitch if I stood strong, but I’d been wrong.

And when exactly did you stand strong? When you avoided him for days or when you had his cock in your mouth?

“You just have to ruin the moment with such a long speech,” I sighed. “Could you just leave it be? Sometime less is more.”

That’s what I’m saying…

I wondered who had given him advice about how to be a proper mate. Hopefully, it wasn’t his wolf.

Lol

My little brother is all bark and no bite.”

Little brother?

“Tessa’s having breakfast,” Mari called giddily. “We came at a good time.”

Tessa is also naked in bed. Rude much?

I could relate to Axel. It could really twist a person when the hero you’d looked up to your whole life turned out to be a monster.

Um, no. You can’t relate. You knew the Ice God was a monster when he showed up in your realm, killed your parents and siblings and took over the throne… then he groomed you. Axel had never seen the monster what Ares was before this.

Loki and his dukes versus the demigods.

Isn’t Loki a demigod as well..?

I’d been able to wrap my arms around Loki’s waist, my cheek against his shoulder.

Huh?

“Let me check Tessa’s temperature!” Marigold said, pushing through the crowd. She hadn’t told Loki about my connection to her either, and I hadn’t gotten around to it since so many things were going on.

So, having a fever throws your body across the room and into a wall hard enough to break bones? Is she not going to tell anyone about that? It’s not off limits.

The vampire princess slept inside an ivory coffin. I sat on the brink, staring down at her with affection, since I’d be wearing her skin.

Hold on.. didn’t she jut follow her into the building? How is she already in her coffin?

I was also pleased with her slender body type and ample breasts.

I have never heard of an overweight vampire…

She stared at me from inside her coffin, her hazel eyes turning black. I bet that for the first time, the vampire princess, a monster in her own right, was petrified.

Is she forgetting that she is also a witch? What if her eyes turning black signifies something else, like some magic spell or something. Tessa said she was supposed to be powerful since she’s a hybrid.

In two days, I’d be Tessa Morrigan. I’d wear her face and ride the king like a hurricane. My fingers brushed my hot, wet cunt.

So… she’s not going to give Tessa to her son? She’s going to eat her now?

“The prize of the third trial is the king himself. Whoever fetches the Hellfire Crown will spend the night with His Majesty.”

Why does that even make any sense to be so? They are competing to be his bride and lover so why give up the goods prior to the finale?

Loki’s gaze landed on me, and when my look showed him my irritation and lingering fury, his grin only widened. His expression spelled, “You’ll just have to get the Hellfire Crown and claim me tonight.” Then, the next heartbeat, his smile was gone. Deep worry shadowed his eyes. I didn’t want him to carry that burden alone, so I sent him my message with a snicker.

What burden? The rule said “spend the night with” not have sex with. They could watch Netflix all night.

I’d killed dozens of their respective kinds, and the rumor on Hell’s streets was that I was the king’s favorite. Only no one outside Loki’s circle knew I was actually his true mate, who now had to fight all the false mates to stand by his side.

Why is this being repeated o much like we don’t know this?

who’d gotten a kick out of seeing my phantom wings.

So now they were phantom wings…

The Wild Hunt magic was monitoring my every move. It wouldn’t let me out so easily.

Well, I hope it’s also monitoring the Asgardian Goddess disguised as Veronica.

I started to uproot the cornstalks around me to make a circle.

If it’s monitoring you, won’t it see you doing that?

Then my teary eyes watched my younger self break free of the Ice God’s magic binding and charge him. The bastard’s silver eyes widened in surprise and delight as she grabbed a blade from a guard, trying to stab the god with it. She was the only one who could counter his magic.

So that’s why she was “spared”…

“I’m Princess Marigold’s kin, bloodsuckers.”

She’s just spilling everything today…

“I’ll fight and win this trial, as it’s not in me to let anyone else have my mate, but it doesn’t mean that the pack will have to sacrifice itself. I won’t allow it. I’ll find a loophole and get us out of the trials alive.”

There’s a slip up here as when they saw the Wolf God, they were unaware that he was also Loki. And they know this trial is to be Loki’s bride, yet also know she’s the Wolf God’s mate. And now she’s saying this. Should be clarified on when they figured it out.

The wolves howled in relief, but I shouted for them to slow down before diving in headfirst. We needed to scout and assess the situation before we decided where to go. I didn’t trust the Wild Hunt one bit.

You only have 2-3 minutes though…

She knew that I wasn’t a wolf or a vampire. A humanoid like me didn’t drink blood or eat raw meat, but this was survival, as no one knew when we’d have our next meal. And I wasn’t some delicate lady. My team and I had eaten raw rats and scorpions to live to fight another day.

After just saying she didn’t eat raw meat and shit…

A twist of thorny vines lashed out, grabbed a wolf roughly by the paws, and lifted her into the air, turning her upside down.

This sounds like the path she avoided initially…

We now know the Wolf God is also… the king, and he’s chosen you as his queen.”

A little late with that revelation…

“We’re the only ones in the area.” Raina said, stating the obvious. The wolves hadn’t sensed anything either.

It’s not stating the obvious when someone more powerful could be cloaking themselves and their scent…🙄🙄

Two paths lay before us, and neither corridor looked appealing. I picked the left corridor, as it felt less clammy.

What happened to following the rabbit?

You must get in the cell and touch the chain. Feel his pain as his future queen.

Sounds like a set up… go in the cell and it locks shut then Lucifer shows up and cuts her like he did Marigold…

I studied the symbol of a black wolf riding hellfire beaming on the façade of the golden band and smiled.

How in the hell does the crown have a black wolf when Loki didn’t even know he was a wolf shifter?

“Don’t worry. My nephew won’t know a damn thing. He’ll think he’s still fucking you when I take your place and come out of the third trial.”

So much for her not letting their relationship be known… And how is she going to fake her ice magic? She doesn’t have any, and her son got it from his father…

She’d become Veronica to enter the trial. She must have consumed the vampire princess to absorb her essence. Was she going to do the same to me?

So how about voice it out loud to the Wild Hunt because I’m sure it wouldn’t take kindly to being deceived like that.

The Ice God couldn’t enter the realm of the inferno, so he’d sent his mother.

Why is this being repeated?