Reign A Romance Anthology - Nina Levine Page 0,218

wet fist in her abdomen. It had never felt like this before. “That demon told me to stay put, but I wanted to see more. I wanted to find you.”

“Why?”

“Because… I wanted you. Not him.”

“Lies.” He crushed the cigarette against the floor and pushed her back until her back hit the wall.

“They’re not lies.”

“I can taste it all over you.” He fisted a strand of her hair and brought it to his nose. “Every inch of you is a lie, from the tips of your pretty little toes to the ends of your bleached hair.”

“I’ll have you know the hair’s real,” she snapped.

“Truth again.” His mouth twisted in a mocking apostrophe. “But I want more of it. Careful, little angel. This is going to hurt.”

He stared into her eyes and all the world was stripped away.

This was no gentle touch, no velvet glove.

Instead, it felt like a man yanking the curtains down from a dusty window. Sera cried out as he stripped outer wards away, stripped her raw.

This was what she wanted.

Vision rose, planted under the base levels of her wards by Tayla.

A hand sliding over her knee in a shabby club.

A promise, whispered in her ear. “I want you to find something for me. If you find it, then I’ll give you what you want. I’ll give you immortality. True immortality.”

“You’ll give me the kiss?”

A hand slid between the crevice of her breasts. “Only if you find what I want and bring it to me.”

“What is it?”

“This.”

And all of a sudden, she was staring at the glass case featuring the small golden cask.

Azazel stepped back. Let her go. “You filthy little liar. You are a thief.”

Sera collapsed to her knees—as any mortal would after having their outer wards shattered—and sought to suck back her sobs.

It hurt. It hurt as if he’d cut her open with glass, and yet, he’d bought the false memory as if he’d paid for it in cash.

Thank you, Tay.

“Find out who she works for,” Azazel said, turning to walk away. “Then throw what’s left of her into the streets.”

She hadn’t even realized there were others there.

“Wait!” Sera pushed onto her knees as a pair of demons strode toward her.

Azazel stilled. “You dare?”

Uriel’s words echoed in her head. “What price are you willing to pay for redemption?”

Everything, she’d breathed.

Well, everything was right here in front of her.

And pay it, she would.

“I’ll do anything,” she whispered. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know.” Their eyes met. “But only you.”

4

“I’m waiting.” Azazel poured them both a scotch, vapor curling off the ice as the liquid hit.

They were in the private room overlooking the dancefloor. The glass was thick enough to stifle the music—or warded—but she’d caught a glimpse of hundreds of people throwing themselves around in ecstasy.

It was miles away from this moment.

Miles away from the deals and punishments that were clearly meted out in this room. She hadn’t missed the scars on the enormous desk of polished walnut that stood in the center of the room. Razor straight lines that had to have come from a knife.

“I… met a man. I don’t know his name, okay? Just… it’s been hard to pay the rent this time of year, hard to keep the bastards from knocking at my door, and he promised me a huge reward if I brought him the golden box in your gallery.”

“Immortality.”

“Exactly.” She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to play the innocent. “You don’t know what it’s like to be human. I just wanted… a chance. I wanted to be the strong one. I wanted to be the predator for once.”

Merciless eyes watched her as he sank into his chair and rubbed his knuckles over his thigh. A little smile formed. “You’re a fool if you believed he’d pay you thusly.” Lazy lidded eyes glanced to the left. “And only a demon could promise you such a thing.”

There were hundreds of true demons in the city.

But only a few who would dare take on the Prince of Ruin.

“What are you thinking?” she whispered.

“That you don’t send a girl like you to steal a dangerous weapon.” He brushed his thumb across the fullness of his lower lip. Thoughtful. Dangerous. “No. You send her to be a distraction.”

Sera swallowed. Hard.

He was buying this.

She turned away, pacing two steps to the right. “Then you think this was a setup? You think he played m— Oh.”

The painting stopped her in its tracks.

She’d raked the room for danger the second they entered, but her entire focus had