“Prove it. Bond with me,” he blurted. “Swear to be my mate.”
Her heart slammed against her ribs. She hadn’t seen that coming. She’d been thinking more along the lines of a tropical cruise or a bigger house. Swallowing dryly, she glanced at his bedside clock because she couldn’t look at Lore, too afraid he’d mistake the doubt in her face for rejection of him, when the truth was, she still wasn’t sure she deserved to take anything so wonderful.
“We have to go.” Her voice cracked, and the doubt seeped out through it.
“I know.” He gripped her chin and brought her face back around. “I want this, Idess. I keep telling you that I’m selfish, and this only proves it. I can’t bond with anyone as long as I’m bonded to Deth, but as soon as we defeat your brother, I’ll be free. We’ll come back here, and I’ll make you mine. Forever. Don’t say no.”
Maybe she didn’t deserve this, but he did. And she couldn’t deny him anything. “Yes,” she whispered. “I’ll bond with you.” She smiled, hoping he didn’t notice the tremor on her lips, because they definitely did not have forever.
Two-fifty-nine A.M. Venezuela time.
Lore breathed deeply and handed Idess the dagger.
“You ready to do this?” “
Not at all.” She clutched the little bag of powdered monk wine tighter. She’d flashed in and out of the abbey with no problems, and she’d admitted to him that she’d been glad to test her powers. Rami had told her that ruined Memitim retained their abilities until their official summoning to the Council, but she’d been nervous about it, nevertheless.
“Can you do this?”
She averted her gaze, and fear spiked through him. He got that they were going to kill her beloved brother. But if they didn’t kill him, the contract with Deth would still stand, and Lore would once again be caught in an impossible situation with Kynan and Sin.
Though… if Idess had ruined herself by sleeping with Lore, would she still be required to guard Kynan?
Fuck. He still couldn’t believe she’d done it—damned herself like that, when for two thousand years, all she’d dreamed of was earning her wings. And now she couldn’t.
Because of him.
He would have to make it up to her somehow, even if he could only make sure that she spent the rest of her life happy. He’d spoil her and make love to her and treat her like a damned queen.
They just had to kill her brother first.
“Idess?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes. I can do it.” She tightened her grip on the crossbow, grabbed his hand that held the dagger and suddenly, they were in a cavern deep inside Sheoul. The walls were lined by live demons crucified on twisted crosses, some being eaten alive by various hell-creatures.
Rami stood just three feet away from Lore and Idess, jaw-dropped and gaping.
“How—”
Idess released Lore and hurled the wine powder in Rami’s face. The fallen angel screamed and clawed at his eyes. Taking advantage of Rami’s misery, Lore buried his sword in the angel’s gut, and Idess cried out at the gruesome sight of her brother being impaled. Steam hissed from the wound, a wet, grotesque sound that was joined by the slide of bone on steel as Rami stumbled backward and off the blade.
Chasing the momentum, Lore swung, a blow that would have decapitated the angel if it had landed. But the bastard wheeled away in a blur, and the tip of the sword only nicked his throat.
He backed against a wall, teeth bared, clutching his gut and glaring at Idess, who had him in her crossbow’s sights. “You bitch.”
“Rami, please. Listen to me. I’m sorry. What I did was stupid. Selfish. I know that—”
“You know that? Your self-serving exploit kept me on this hellhole of a planet for two extra centuries!” he bellowed. “And then it got me kicked out of Heaven, you cocksucking whore!”
The crossbow started to shake. Lore inched closer to Idess when all he wanted to do was shove the sword up her brother’s ass. Her voice shook as hard as her weapon did. “What I did was unforgivable. But it affected you on Earth, not in Heaven.”
“You have no idea.” Rami circled them, his movements as sinuous as a snake’s despite the hole in his gut. “I learned of your betrayal days after my Ascension. Did you know, sister, that once bitterness takes root in an angel, it grows like a weed? Grows until the soul becomes shriveled and polluted with hate, which is not welcome in Heaven. It is your fault I was expelled.”
“No.” Idess wanted to cover her ears, to block the ugly truth. “No!”