I liked being up here with him, feeling his arms around me.
I swallowed hard. “Yes. Warmer,” I managed.
He lowered his face to mine. “This is why I didn’t want Kur to take you.” His voice was a purr against my neck, a dangerous invitation.
I had to stop myself from kissing his neck. What would he do if I pressed my lips against his throat, against that pulsing vein in his neck? I tried to imagine how hard it would be to wrap my legs around him from this angle.
It was a strange sort of torture, flying with him hundreds of feet in the air, desperate now to feel my body pressed against his masculine form. My gaze dipped to his sensuous mouth—the subtle curl of his full lips.
Another slow, lazy swoop up my inner thigh, and I let out a low moan. His body called to me, an inexorable magnetic pull. Tightening my arms around him, I moved my lips closer to his neck, an ache throbbing between my legs. His hand slid higher still. A cold rush of air—
Then, I slammed down the iron door on my desire. “Stop with the hands,” I said.
I wasn’t on this mission to enjoy myself, and definitely not to enjoy the pleasures of a dark angel of seduction.
My body went rigid, and I tugged down my dress. “I mean, I’m warm enough now, thanks.”
A low, nearly imperceptible growl in protest. Maybe he tried to hide it, but Adonis had his own conflicts—his perfect masculine beauty masking a primal side.
The combination was disturbingly tempting.
Chapter 22
As we soared over the English Channel, icy wind bit into my skin. Adonis was no longer using his seduction power to warm me, and I was starting to regret it deeply. Particularly when a light, freezing rain began to fall, drenching my clothes.
Drakon circled around us, igniting the dark air with his fiery breath.
“I told you about myself,” I said. “Now you tell me about yourself, then. You’re Death, supposedly. You can kill with a flick of your wrist, and you have. But you have a problem with the savagery of the fae.”
“Some creatures deserve violent deaths. Others don’t. The fae don’t discriminate in their ecstatic states.”
“Ah. So you’ve got a moral code.”
“Morality,” he said. “Shockingly, it’s quite important to angels. Sacrificing the few to save the many, brutally punishing those who deserve it. And do you know what? The second bit is my favorite part.”
“Of course it is.” I shivered. “I’d hate to be the recipient of one of your morally righteous punishments.”
“I don’t see that happening.”
“Any idea how far we have to go?” I asked.
“Another hour, maybe.”
I glanced down over the dark, churning sea, and it sparkled faintly in the moonlight. If Adonis decided to drop me for any reason, I’d freeze to death quickly. Maybe I should minimize the “Are we there yet?” questions.
“Close your eyes,” he said quietly. “I’ll wake you when we’re over Paris.”
I’d never sleep here, hundreds of feet in the air. Freezing, and with wildly sexual thoughts blazing in my mind.
Still, as I leaned against his powerful chest, the rhythmic beating of his heart lulled me into relaxation, and his soothing magic whispered over me. Slowly, sleep began to claim my mind, and I dreamt of a river carving through a wild garden dappled with red flowers.
A gentle nudging on my side woke me again, and my breath caught in my throat as I stared down at Paris. Or at least, what was left of Paris.
The Eiffel Tower still stood sharply in the dark landscape, silvered in the light of night.
While I’d been sleeping, rain had soaked my body, and I clamped down on my chattering teeth.
As we flew deeper into the city, warm lights burned in the ruins of Paris’s buildings—rookeries, just like the ones that had sheltered me in London. Around us, pale creatures flew through the air on gossamer wings. As one of them swooped close to us, I caught a glimpse of his face. His eyes were milky white, and curly gold hair spilled from his scalp. The creatures looked eerily like children, but with haunted expressions, mouths gaping slightly open.
“What are they?” I asked.
“Cherubs. They’re Aereus’s version of the sentinels. They watch everyone, report to him.”
“So Aereus will know the moment we arrive.”
“Oh, he’ll definitely know.”
Adonis’s wings beat the air rhythmically, then flattened out as he began to take us lower. The night air kissed my damp skin.
At last, we got to the center of Paris, where a vast palace stretched out below us—an expanse of ornate honey-colored buildings, joined together in a rectangular shape. A ruined garden spread out before the palace—all dead plants and broken statues.
In the center of a sandstone courtyard between the palace buildings, light blazed from within an enormous, glass pyramid.
“The Louvre,” I said. “We’re going to the Louvre?”
“Aereus always admired it. And when he got the chance, he made it his own.”
“How enterprising.”
“I should warn you that Aereus has his own effect on people.”
“I think I can guess. Johnny, angel of famine, makes people hungry, Kratos the Conqueror makes us want to submit. You make people...” I swallowed hard, wishing I hadn’t begun that sentence. “Yearn for things.” Vague. Good. “And the angel of war will probably bring out my violent side.”
A wry smile. “Not that it appears to take much in your case.” His breath was warm against my ear. “Do you remember the role you’re supposed to play?”
“Submissive succubus lover, her wild side tamed by the sexual prowess of the great and mighty love god Adonis.”
“You’ve actually elaborated a bit there, not that I object to the description. It sounds entirely realistic.”
I didn’t think he could see the roll of my eyes in the darkness. “Just one of these days I’d like a spy scenario where I get to be the all-powerful Empress, and a beautiful man has to cater to my every whim.”
A wicked smile. “Depending on your whims, I’m sure we could arrange something.”
At his words, that heat surged again in my blood.
We seemed to pick up speed as Adonis carried us lower toward the Louvre, and the wind rushed over us. We glided to a smooth landing in the courtyard beyond the pyramid, swooping down gently before a towering set of doors. Drakon screeched to a halt beside us.
A line of milky-eyed cherubs stood before the doors, their bodies glowing like starlight in the dark.
Adonis wrapped his arms around me, his wings surrounding me like a shield.
“Aereus is expecting us,” Adonis said in his commanding voice.
“The Dark Lord,” the cherubs spoke in unison. “Welcome to Sadeckrav Castle.”
A gentle thudding behind us turned my head. Kur and Tanit landed, their leathery wings folding behind them.
Eyes wide and gleaming, the cherubs glided to the side, and the front doors creaked open with a groan into a vast hall with an arched ceiling. Marble columns and alcoves lined the walls.