“Once Death, always Death. It's your magic, Az; no one can take it from you.”
Except for us, Star added in my head.
“The fucking Angel of Death is her husband?” Ninkasi whispered to Sin.
“True,” Azrael conceded, ignoring my new friends. Then he shook his head and glared at me. “What are you doing here, Vervain?”
“I thought I'd take in the sights. Have a nice stroll through the desert, meet some new people, drink something exotic. You know; expand my horizons.” I shrugged. “How did you find me anyway?”
“I'm your husband. You made a blood oath to me, remember?” Az said impatiently. “Plus, I'm bound to the Garden and the Garden has ties to this place. As soon as you set foot here, I knew where you were.”
“But you waited until now to come,” I pointed out and grimaced. “Where are the others?”
“They were too angry. I thought it best that I speak to you alone.” Azrael looked pointedly at Ninkasi and Sin. “Can we talk in private?”
I sighed and stood up. “Of course.” I looked back at the other gods. “Sorry for leaving so soon but I'd best deal with this and I think I've brought enough drama to your club for one evening. Thank you for bringing me here, Sin, and thank you for your hospitality, Ninkasi. It was lovely to meet you both.”
“Come back again; it's been a blast,” Ninkasi offered immediately.
Sin stood up. “Are you sure you want to leave with him?”
“Stay out of this!” Azrael snapped. “You've known her a few hours; I've known her two lifetimes.”
Sin just looked at me.
“I'll be fine,” I assured him. “I'm staying at the Fraser Suites, the Royal Penthouse if you'd like to stop by sometime.”
“I'll come by tomorrow and check on you,” he promised.
“She won't be there,” Azrael growled, grabbed my arm, and traced us away.
Chapter Thirteen
Azrael traced us to Shehaquim, the Third Heaven, which he ruled. It was also the territory where the Garden of Eden had been transported to after its brief stint on Earth. We stepped out of the tracing room in Azrael's palace, and he immediately turned to me.
“What are you doing, Vervain?” Azrael asked, his expression baffled. “Bahrain? Why?”
“I saw a documentary.”
“You saw a documentary?” He gaped at me.
“Yes. It looked interesting.”
“Carus, can't you see that—?”
“Oh, hey guys,” Mike, AKA the Archangel Michael, stepped into the hallway. “I thought I heard someone out here. What's going on? Everything okay?”
Azrael had been attending the Angelic University in Zebul, the Sixth Heaven, and he didn't have a lot of time to rule Shehaquim so Mike had stepped in to help. He had even moved into Azrael's palace temporarily.
“We're having some marital problems,” Azrael said as he led me past Mike. “Sorry, Mike; it's good to see you, but I need to talk privately to my wife. We'll be in my bedroom.”
“No prob.” Mike waved at me. “Lookin' good, Vervain. You do something different to your hair?”
“I freed my star from its restrictions,” I called back.
“Oh.” Mike blinked. “Well, it shows.”
“Thank you.”
Azrael and I climbed the sweeping, Gone with the Wind staircase in silence, his hand gripping mine as if I might disappear at any second. Even Star remained quiet; neither of us knew what Azrael's intentions were; this could go either way. My heart beat wildly. I was hoping that at least one of my husbands would realize his mistake and try to fix our marriage.
We stepped into Azrael's spacious bedroom. Sunlight streamed in from the balcony, shining through the stained glass set within the railing and painting the thick rug with sheer washes of color. The light stretched through the French doors, behind the sitting area, and barely touched the edge of the enormous bed. Four posters in the form of giants scythes arched their blades over the center of the bed where they connected. Black silk draped the scythes, tied back around the handles.
“You redecorated?” I asked in surprise.
“Mike thought it was funny; a scythe bed for the Grim Reaper. He did it while I've been gone.” Azrael waved away the issue of the death bed, closed the bedroom door, and started again, “Can't you see that the Star is changing you; altering your personality? Vainamoinen's magic has infected you, Vervain. You're starting to behave like one of the Finns.”
“I'm not stealing magic from other gods nor am I planning to do so.”
“No; you just want to control the world,” he said it as if it were laughable.
“I can control the world, Az,” I said gently. “The Star has connections to the greatest magic in all the Realms. If I wanted to, I could simply wish myself into the position of World Leader.”
“Then why don't you?” His pale blue eyes shifted into sparkling diamonds as they narrowed. “You know this is wrong, and you're fighting it; that's why. Somewhere inside you, you're still my wife. Fight harder, Carus!” He grabbed my upper arms urgently. “Don't disappear on me.”
“Azrael, stop,” I whispered gently as I laid a palm on his cheek.
He closed his eyes and leaned into my touch.
“I'm still me, just smarter. I see everything clearly now.”
Azrael opened his eyes and pulled away with a sigh. “No, you don't, Carus. It's the opposite; you're being blinded by power.”
“Az, I can make the world safe. Truly safe. No more war. No more God War. Don't you want our sons to grow up without the God War threatening their family?”
“Of course, I do. But conquering everyone—Gods and humans—is not the way to end the war. You talk about freedom, but what you're really saying is that you want to enslave the world.”
“Not enslave,” I protested. “I'll be a guardian, like the Police except on a global scale. I'll make sure that bad people and bad gods can't hurt the good ones. So simple, but no one has had the power to do it. Well, I do, and I'm not going to waste this gift.”
“Do
