“Is that so.” The male’s voice was calm. Deadly calm. Scarily calm.
“Yes. That is so.” She was proud of the way her voice didn’t quake. Not much, anyway.
A slow smile curved the male’s lips, and if it hadn’t been so terrifying, it would have been beautiful. “I don’t want to cause trouble for you, Cataclysm. So either fetch him or take me to him. Those are your only choices.”
“Or?” she asked, and how the hell did he know her name?
Suddenly, the air went still and thick, and massive gold wings sprung from his back, spreading like liquid sunshine far above them both. “Guess.”
Holy...fuck. He was...he was...a Radiant. An angel who outranked even archangels. And since there could be only one Radiant in existence at any given time, that meant that this was Reaver, brother to Revenant, the King of Hell. That alone would have been enough to terrify her, but making things worse, much worse, was the fact that she had lost her wings because she’d been in league with an angel who had not only betrayed him, but who had attempted to kill his infant grandchild.
Cat’s knees gave out, but before she hit the ground, Reaver caught her, landing her on her feet with one arm around her to hold her steady. Instantly, her skin became charged with his Heavenly energy, the magnitude of it rendering her almost breathless.
It was too intense, scattering her thoughts in a way that touching Hades hadn’t. As an angel, she’d touched other angels, but it had never been like this. As a fallen angel, she’d had skin-to-skin contact with Lilliana, and while the female had given off a slight positive energy buzz, it hadn’t been anything like what she was experiencing with Reaver.
Maybe the fact that she was a fallen angel had made the sensation of goodness too overwhelming for her. Or maybe the intensity had to do with the fact that Reaver was a Radiant. Whatever it was, it made her want to throw up, the way eating too much of a rich food did.
“You okay?” he asked, his voice low and soothing.
She couldn’t say a word. But her inability to speak was more than just her reaction to his touch. He was a rock star in the angel world. Beyond a rock star. He was...the rock star. The angel.
And she’d nearly destroyed his family.
“What the fuck?” Azagoth’s voice rang out from somewhere behind her. Dazed, she turned her head to see him walking toward them, his gaze boring into Reaver. “You know that when a high-ranking angel steps foot into my realm, I feel it, right? Like, migraine feel it.”
Legs wobbly, she stepped away from Reaver. “Sir––”
A wave of Azagoth’s hand silenced her. “I’ve got this. Reaver is a friend.”
“Friend?” Reaver asked, incredulous. “May I remind you that you ordered Hades to hold me in the belly of a giant demon, where I was slowly digested for centuries?”
Cat couldn’t believe it when Azagoth rolled his eyes. He wasn’t usually so casual with Heavenly angels. But then, Reaver had sent gifts for him and Lilliana. “It was three puny months.”
“Yeah, well, it felt like centuries,” Reaver muttered.
“Good.” Now that was more like Azagoth. “Are you here to see Lilliana?”
Reaver shook his head. “Unfortunately, I’m here to see you. There’s a soul in Sheoul-gra I need to be released.”
“Demon?”
“Human.”
Azagoth cocked a dark eyebrow. “Really. And why should I do that?”
“Because he shouldn’t be there. Your griminions took him before his soul could cross over.”
“Even if they’d made that mistake, I’d have caught it,” Azagoth said, and a knot formed in Cat’s stomach.
“You missed this one.”
“Impossible.”
A bird chirped in the distance, its cheery song so out of place in the growing tension surrounding Azagoth and Reaver. Cat couldn’t help but think that the old, lifeless Sheoul-gra might have been a better setting for the confrontation happening right now between these two powerful males.
Reaver stared at Azagoth, his expression darkening with anger. “Seriously? You think Heaven would make that kind of error?”
“You think I would?” Azagoth shot back. “In thousands of years, have I ever allowed a non-evil human soul into Sheoul-gra?”
Oh, no. The knot in Cat’s belly grew larger as her little incident three days ago filled her thoughts.
“Mistakes happen.”
As Azagoth growled, Cat started to sweat. She was responsible for the innocent soul being sent into the holding tank. It was the only explanation.
“I don’t make mistakes.” Azagoth spoke through teeth clenched so hard that Cat swore she heard one or two crack.