Cipher (Demonica Underworld #8) - Larissa Ione Page 0,31

you know?” She cocked her head, watching him with curiosity. “You seem pretty chill about this. You’re the most laid-back fallen angel I’ve ever met.”

“Well, I have only been fallen for a few years. True Fallen for a few months. You know, since the day I was dragged down here and imprisoned in Bael’s ice jail.”

A shamed blush bloomed in her cheeks, surprising the shit out of him. “I remember when Bael sent Flail on a mission to infiltrate Azagoth’s realm. I was jealous for a while.” She gave a bitter laugh. “As a historian, I was dying to meet him.”

He frowned as the implications of what she was saying took a dark turn. “So Flail wasn’t sent to nab me?”

“Not at first. Bael wanted intel on Azagoth. You just happened to be the best way to get it.”

Well, fuck. If he hadn’t invited Flail into his bed and, therefore, his life, she’d never have known how important his cyber skills had been to Azagoth. This was all his fault.

Which didn’t change the fact that Flail needed to die.

Lyre studied him for a moment, her expression thoughtful. “I’m curious. What were you like as an angel?”

Ah, those were the days. He’d spent them surfing on the Beaches of Paradise, skiing in the Infinite Mountains, and feasting on dishes crafted from decadent ingredients available only in Heaven.

“I was a laid-back son-of-a-bitch,” he said. “Pissed off all the Type-As, you know?”

“Is that why you fell?” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and he suddenly wondered if they were sensitive to being nibbled. “Pissed off the wrong asshole?”

“Nah. I slept with a Primori.”

“Oh...shit.” She stared. “Human?”

“Human virgin whose virginity was the reason she was Primori.” His actions had also screwed over Hawkyn, who had been her guardian. He hadn’t known Hawkyn at the time, so he hadn’t really cared. To this day he couldn’t believe Hawk had forgiven him.

“Did you know she was Primori when you slept with her?”

“Yeah.”

She stared harder. “Did you know what a Primori was? Like, that they’re guarded by Memitim because something about them is important to the fate of the world?”

“Well, I didn’t know her virginity was the thing that made her a Primori. And I didn’t know she was a virgin until afterward.” Still, it was forbidden for any angel to sleep with a human, let alone a human under the protection of Memitim. “But yeah.”

“Damn. You’re an asshole.”

He snorted, because hello, that was obvious. “Yeah.”

But if he could take it back, he would. He’d met the human, Felicia, in Fiji, where she was on her honeymoon. Alone. Her fiancé had left her at the altar, and since the honeymoon was paid for, she’d gone alone. She’d been angry and hurt and ready for a vengeful wild fling to give someone else what she’d saved for the man who’d left her.

He’d been at the resort keeping tabs on a demon plotting a cyber attack on several countries, and Felicia had set her sights on him. Being young, arrogant, and really, really easy, he’d been all about hooking up with the hot, tight-bodied woman looking for a way to forget her jackass of a fiancé.

Then Hawkyn had showed up, all, “Hey, she’s Primori, and you need to back the fuck off, Halo.”

No one told Cipher to back the fuck off.

So he’d ignored the Memitim, and when Hawkyn showed up again, knocking on Felicia’s hotel room door just as they were starting to get down and dirty, Cipher had enough. As a full angel, he’d been far more powerful than Hawkyn, and he’d put the Memitim into a temporary coma and flashed him to a deserted island.

Then he’d given Felicia a night to remember.

He had a lot of regrets about that day, but taking care of Felicia wasn’t one of them. He shouldn’t have had sex with her; that much was clear. But he didn’t regret everything else he’d done to help her get through the pain of being betrayed by her fiancé. It wasn’t much, but when she’d cried afterward, he’d held her. He’d brought her food and nursed her through a hangover. And when she’d talked about hurting herself, he’d talked her off the ledge.

The day she’d flown back home, he’d been summoned to Heaven for a quick judgment and a wingectomy.

No, sleeping with Felicia hadn’t been worth it. He didn’t know what her destiny would have been if he hadn’t, but just a year ago he’d checked up on her and found that