I snorted. “Right. ‘Belial, I’m so sorry I was desperate to escape your captivity. The fault is all mine’.”
“How about, ‘Belial, I’m sorry I stole your priceless knife and made a bet under false pretenses after everything you did to keep me alive’?” Vyra countered.
“Hmm. I think I’d prefer ‘Belial, I’m sorry you’re such a raging asshole that you feel the need to keep my mate away from me because you didn’t expect me to actually think for myself’.”
Vyra groaned and dropped her head face-first onto my bed, looking up a second later. “Why do you have to be so stubborn? Our ways aren’t Heaven’s ways, Melisande. He did what he thought was best.”
“But why?” I tore my eyes from the garden and spun around. “The only thing in it for him was getting a new player for his blood sports. He’s just upset because he doesn’t have the draw of a fallen angel in his arena anymore.”
I knew I was lying even while I said it. Maybe Belial had first seen me as a good business move.
But it hadn’t stayed that way for long, and I knew that perfectly well.
We were too well-matched to keep the fire between us from sparking.
Vyra chewed her lower lip, for once not meeting my eyes. “He kept you safe. And that’s more than you could ask from most of the princes. If the Prince of Treachery had found you first, you’d be living in the Pit now. Belial defied Satan himself to keep you.”
I sighed and finally sat down, collapsing on the bed next to her. She was right. Belial might infuriate me, and maybe he had seen me as an investment at first, but he, Azazel, and Lucifer had all put themselves on the line.
Now that Satan knew my name and face, there was nowhere in Hell I could go that he wouldn’t find me. Maybe having two princes and a Watcher could keep me safe for a while, but I knew the day of reckoning would soon come.
And before it did, I needed to possess the Sword of Light.
Vyra dumped her nail polish back in the box with a clatter, packing it up and kissing the top of my head when I flopped back on the covers.
“I know you’re upset now, but you’ll see.”
I closed my eyes, listening to the door open and close, wondering if I was the one being too stubborn when I could just say two simple words and fix everything.
Maybe.
God knew I wasn’t very forgiving, and with my luck, Belial was just as stubborn as me.
At least there was one thing I could do while I worked on swallowing my pride. If I wanted to steal the Sword of Light, I was going to need back-up.
The idea of trusting either of them with my secret sent a wash of coldness through me, raising goosebumps on my arms. I trusted Tascius implicitly, but Lucifer and Azazel…
I had no choice. They were my only allies now that the Prince of Wrath and I were on the outs.
I forced myself off the bed and started unlacing the ribbons of my dress, peeling the straps over my shoulders. No more moping. I’d change into something more suitable for flight and go straight to Blackchapel, and ask Azazel why the hell he hadn’t been around-
A glimmering wind spilled in through my open windows. I snatched my dress back up to cover my breasts as a cloud of stars filled my room, materializing into a familiar shape.
Azazel ran his fingers over his lapels, the silver raven skulls catching the light. “Melisande.”
“Azazel.”
I just stared at him like an idiot, licking my lips to wet them. It’d been a full week since I’d seen any of them. Maybe they were giving me space to settle into my new home.
It’d been a little too much space, in my humble opinion.
“How am I supposed to call you when I need you?” I asked, keeping my arms firmly over my chest. The urge to throw them around the Watcher was almost irresistible.
Even with Vyra living with me, I’d been feeling… lonely.
The notion startled me. I’d been trained to deal with isolation. Gabriel had once kept us in locked cells no larger than three feet by three feet for a month, with guards under strict instruction not to speak to us when they brought food.
When I’d emerged from the cell, I’d been sure that loneliness would never touch me again. If I could survive a month in that box with nothing but my thoughts for company, a week on the Nightside without them should’ve been a piece of cake.
But now Azazel was staring at me, just as frozen as I was. His gaze flicked over my bare shoulders, the sheer silk just covering all the important bits, and the hungry something inside him rose to the surface.
“I can think of one way,” he said, his violet eyes flashing. The baritone of his voice had become a throaty rumble. “Would you like to be branded again?”
I nearly flinched away. “Keep your brands to yourself.” Then a horrendous thought occurred to me.
It was the sixth day. Twilight.
“But I’m free,” I said, my lips suddenly numb. “You can’t take me. I earned my way out.”
Azazel’s lashes lowered and he shook his head, but his gaze was back on me within a second like he couldn’t bear to look away. “I’m not here to take you for training. That said, your training isn’t over. Lucifer wanted- we both wanted to give you time to come to terms with your new life.”
“A week was more than long enough.” I tried my hardest not to sound too eager at the idea of seeing them again.
“I’m glad to hear it.” One of his wry smiles just touched the corners of his mouth, but his eyes were still distant, his hunger focused on me. “Did you miss us?”
I hesitated. It was so hard to open up
