otherworldly fire, dark feathers growing from his curly hair, and the High Priestess’s words came back to me: the dreaded bloodline he was born from.
What was Azazel?
A moment later, I was off the bed, wrapping my arms around his neck and drawing him down for a kiss. He closed his eyes as his hands came up around me, blocking out the sight of the eerie flickers in his eyes.
No matter where he came from, he was still mine. I felt nothing but love and trust through the violet star permanently marked on the back of my neck.
But as I ran my hands through his hair, I felt the soft shafts of feathers. His arms still had long pinions hanging from them like sleeves.
“You’re still half-bird,” I whispered against his lips.
He opened his eyes again, peering into mine. With an intake of hissed breath, his entire form quivered under my hands, and I felt the feathers melt away.
Suddenly, I understood. He’d practically been living in the raven form since the liberation of Dis.
How long could he spend steeping in his magic before he needed to change back? Everything came with a price. Even the oracle we’d killed had asked him about looking into an abyss… and if the abyss looked into him, too.
Azazel was completely soaked in darkness, but I had no reason not to trust him. I lowered myself flat to the floor again, looking up at him.
He touched the fresh bandage on my arm. “What’s this?”
No more lying or deflecting. I’d promised them honesty and openness. “One of Mammon’s loyalists tried to kill me. Belial stopped him.” I didn’t need to regale him with the gory details, the deep, satisfied smile on Leviathan’s scarred face as he ripped all the blood from the assassin’s body, the soft spatter of blood on obsidian. “I’m perfectly fine.”
Azazel’s eyes darkened, the fires in them softening to embers. “I hope he got what he deserved.”
I suppressed a shudder. “I’d say that.”
I took Azazel’s hand and led him to the bed to sit next to me. “Have you been searching? Is there any news?”
He looked down at his hands, entwined with mine, a grim look on his face. “I’ve caught flickers of power, but it’s difficult to pinpoint. There’s so much land to cover, and other things tend to get in the way. Other Prime powers. It makes precision nearly impossible.”
I nodded as though I understood, but inside, I was screaming. “Isn’t it time we begin a search by air? It can’t be easy to miss an enormous dragon.”
Azazel glanced at me, his gaze shielded. “That’s our last resort. Give it a little more time, Melisande. Satan is not the only dangerous power out there.”
I bit my lower lip, every fiber in me longing to go out there and see for myself. Damn this broken wing.
The breeze ruffled Azazel’s dark curls, and sudden compassion came into his gaze. “It will be okay,” he said softly. “I promise. No matter where I must go, what deals I must make, I will find them for you.”
“I believe you,” I breathed. It would be okay. It had to be.
But for tonight, there were no assassins at my door, no need to fear the unknown. The questions that had been prickling at me bubbled up- where are you from, Azazel? What are you? - but I held it back.
I just wanted comfort in his arms, to know that we were still together.
He didn’t object when I began unbuttoning his collar, slipping my fingers in his shirt to stroke his silky skin.
We undressed each other quickly, and I pushed Azazel back onto the bed, my breath coming faster and sharper. He was already hard, groaning against my neck when I straddled him, his hands gripping my hips.
I settled myself with the thick head of his cock pushing against me, and slowly slid down, drawing in a gasp at the feeling of fullness. Azazel’s eyes glittered in the darkness as he ran his hands over me, delicately tracing over my injured shoulder, and sliding downwards. He ran his thumbs over my nipples in slow circles, making them harden under his touch.
I rode him in a rhythmic motion, pleasure spiking through me as my clit ground against the hard V at the base of his stomach. He moved his grip back down to my hips, grinding me against him, his own breaths coming faster.
This was all I wanted, peace with my men, the desire to be connected to all of them.