of the many reasons I love you. I would rather have a mate who keeps fighting to her last breath than one who runs from war.”
Belial slicked the cloth over the outside of my feathers, then dropped it to the side and carefully pulled me back against his chest.
“Good,” I whispered, burying my head under his chin. “I can’t stop. I won’t stop until we have them back, and it makes it all easier knowing you have my back on this.”
“Of course I do.” He stroked my hair, and I caught sight of his palm when he pulled his hand away. It was streaked black with grime.
I lifted a strand of my hair. Hardly any of the violet was visible; every strand was coated black and gray. “Ugh. Get in here and let’s get this off.”
His sharp teeth flashed when he smiled, and he got to his feet. “Thought you’d never ask, angel. Make room.”
I barely managed to duck aside in time to shield my bandaging before he dove in like a cannonball. He surfaced a moment later, shaking water from his hair and laughing.
I pulled him close to me, touching the glint of dark stubble along his chin. “You’re incorrigible, you know that?”
“Would you want it any other way?” he asked, giving me a devilish look.
Belial sat on the underwater ledge and pulled me into his lap, keeping my wing just above the water. I felt his cock harden and push against the inside of my thigh, even though he made no move to fuck me while I was exhausted.
“Not at all.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and leaned my forehead against his. “But if Sarai is anything like you, we’re going to have problems.”
“Now that you’ve said it out loud, she will be,” he said. Water beaded and sparkled against his full lower lip, and I interrupted him to kiss it away. “Joke’s on you.”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s not how it works.”
“Yes, it is,” he said.
“No, it’s not.”
The argument hadn’t ended by the time we left the lukewarm bath. I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep curled against Belial’s side, feeling a little more peaceful than before.
4
Melisande
We woke up to someone knocking on the door.
Belial groaned, snuggling against me tighter. I squeezed my eyes tightly shut, pretending for just a moment that nobody else was there.
Whoever it was knocked harder, refusing to be deterred.
“Time to rise and shine,” Belial said muzzily, rubbing a hand over his face. I got out of bed feeling much better than the day before, even though I still had to move gingerly with my wing.
He strode towards the door stark naked, but before I could open my mouth to say something, he’d already pulled it open. “What?” he said, sounding far more snarly than usual.
An Overseer was there, his hand still raised to knock again. I recognized the porcine snout and gold ring. “Hi, Tabor,” I called, waving from behind Belial.
His piggy eyes widened in horror, and his next words spilled out in a flood. “My Prince, the Brightside needs your assistance in the excavation of the arena. Your assistance. Just yours.”
I held up a dress against myself. I’d slept in one of Belial’s shirts, which came down to my knees. “Aw. You don’t want to stay and help me pick out clothes?”
Poor Tabor was already backing away. “It’s urgent, my Prince. Some of your safeguards are too powerful for the Overseers to break, and they’re nervous about some of the… uh… things locked in there.”
Belial leaned against the door frame and scrubbed a hand through his hair. “I’ll be there shortly, Tabor.”
He closed the door as the Overseer fled. “You really left a lasting impression on that poor demon.”
“When you brought me in, my goal was to be as big of a pain in the ass as possible.” I smiled sweetly at Belial and discarded the dress. “I think I managed quite well.”
He pulled a clean shirt over his head and tied his long hair back in a ponytail. “Damn right you did. But I’m afraid I’m going to have to handle this first, angel. There are some things I have buried under the arena that shouldn’t be disturbed without me being present. We can go together later, if you’d like.”
I picked through my clothes until I found a leather shirt with straps that laced in the back. I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to know what sort of things Belial was talking about. “Can you help me with