him first.” Belial raised an eyebrow and nodded to the scroll. “Let’s get the Sword and go after him. Let’s finally end this.”
Azazel touched my hand, stroking the back of it with his fingertips. “Melisande. Don’t worry about us. As long as we reach him before he reaches Ereshkigal, we’ll stand a fighting chance.”
“You’re all just trying to placate me. This is a terrible idea.”
“It’ll feel less terrible when you have the Sword again,” Tascius said.
I frowned at him. “You, too? A week ago, you were all for caution.”
He toyed with the feather in his hair, frowning right back at me. “It sounds like we really don’t want him to meet with Ereshkigal, and it’s going to take us weeks to get there. We don’t really have time to lose now, friend.”
“We absolutely don’t want him to meet with Ereshkigal.” Azazel scowled, the air darkening around him. “We don’t want to be anywhere near her radar. This is of prime importance now. Perhaps we made a mistake in choosing to wait so long, but it was necessary. Now it’s time to collect the Sword and go.”
They all looked at me, waiting for me to get on the same page with my usual enthusiasm.
But there was no way I could be enthusiastic about this. With Satan’s essence on the loose and moving around, every single one of them were in abject danger, and they didn’t seem to care at all.
Belial smirked. “Now you know how we feel about you rushing into danger.”
I glared at him.
“He’s right,” Tascius said quietly. “But we still support your wishes regardless of the dangers. If we want Lucifer and Vyra back, we must do this.”
“Come on.” Belial pushed back his chair and sat up, holding his hand out to me. “Let’s go to Wayland. Tascius, do what you need to do with Michael. Azazel… go do whatever weird shit you get up to. Pinpoint us an exact location.”
Azazel gave him an exasperated glance. “I’m not a compass.”
“Just do it.”
My entire body felt like it was made of wood as I got up and followed Belial, his warm hand enveloping mine.
He looked down at me as we left the arena. “No fear, Princess Wrath. When the Sword is in your hand again, you’ll do what you need to do.”
I nodded stiffly, and he shifted into his lion form, bending his front legs so I could climb up on his back.
I was wary of assassins all the way to the First Circle’s gates, especially since Dis was caught up in the elections of the new ambassadors, but there was no sense of malice. Perhaps Adranos had finally hunted down the last of the rogue Sin Eaters.
And maybe pigs had wings. I snorted to myself, and Belial tossed his head.
Lucifuge Rofocale, wearing long white and gold robes, was giving his speech in the First Circle as we passed. “You know my history, citizens,” he said. He stood on a tall podium, wearing a hat that exposed a ring of horns. “I’ve brokered deals with the likes of Prince Leviathan and Prince Belphegor. I have the trust of the Consortium. If you want your voices heard by the Princes, I am the Minister for you!”
Belial made a grumbling noise and I leaned over his neck. “If all you Princes just talked to each other like normal people, we wouldn’t need ministers,” I said quietly.
He swished his tail, almost setting a fruit stall on fire.
“Don’t get an attitude with me. It’s true. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if we elected princesses, we’d be ruling the world in no time.”
Belial waited until we were well out in the wastelands to respond. “YOU ALREADY RULE DIS, PRINCESS WRATH. DO YOU WANT MORE?”
I swatted his shoulder blades gently. “I’m just joking. I don’t really want more. Dis is more than enough trouble already.”
“WE CAN GET YOU MORE. I WILL GO TO WAR FOR QUEEN MELISANDE.”
“No. No more, absolutely not. I just want Lucifer and Vyra back, and I don’t want to be the queen of anything.” I shuddered at the thought. I barely got peace as a princess-in-nickname only. Being queen would be Hell.
He laughed, the sound reverberating through his ribs and into my legs.
“You just want an excuse to start another war. Good news: we’ve already got one, so let’s focus on that first.”
Belial began to lope faster as we hit the open dunes, and I gripped handfuls on his fur to keep myself in place. “I NEED NO