Valefor hadn’t broken any rules—even the human he’d kidnapped had been a witch and therefore not under Heaven’s protection—and his death was unsanctioned. Those complicit would face punishment if they were caught. It was yet more leverage she could hold against Raum and his brothers if she chose.
Raum’s brow furrowed. “You saw that?” He’d mentioned Valefor when they’d taken the hellgate to his former lair, but he’d avoided mentioninghowhe died.
She shifted on her feet. “I told you I was watching you, didn’t I?”
He didn’t answer, but his stare didn’t waver. The silence dragged on, until he suddenly twisted and lay down on the cot, kicking off his shoes and lacing his hands behind his head.
“We’ll go in a few hours when I’ve had some rest. Haven’t slept in two days.”
“Does the Market stay open at night?”
“Days are twice as long as Earth and nights are three times as long, but demons usually sleep every twelve hours or so. So nothing in Hell is dependent on the time of day. It’ll be open.”
“That sounds confusing and awful.”
“It’s Hell.”
She stood in silence and waited for him to say more, until she suddenly realized he planned on sleepingrightthen. In fact, he might’ve already fallen asleep.
She looked around, suddenly uncomfortable. If she was wise, she would get some rest as well.
She looked at the bed—the narrow bed—and winced. She wasn’tthattired. She would lay down on the rug by the fireplace for a bit to stretch out her back.
The floor was hard and uneven, and the rug only provided so much padding, but she studiously convinced herself she was fine where she was. She had no need to share the bed with Raum. That would be ridiculous.
11
Blood Lust
“Say it again.”
“I would do anything for you.” Her voice was husky from prolonged cries of pleasure.
His hips flexed in a lazy circle, and the feel of her body gripping him was greater than any promise of Heaven.
“And I would burn down worlds for you,” he replied, tangling his claws in her thick hair and clenching his fingers to demonstrate his control. His arm was covered in black scales—as was the rest of his body.
He remembered the first time she had seen him in his half demon form. His full demon was little more than a beast, but this form was almost worse.
He’d expected her to shudder or at least carefully disguise her revulsion out of sensitivity to his feelings. Instead, she had risen to her toes, reached up to stroke one of his feathered wings, and whispered, “You are magnificent.”
She had asked him to take her in that form that very night.
Never had he thought his archenemy, the angel who had stalked and threatened him for decades, would become the most precious thing in his universe. Never could he have imagined she would look at him with trust in her eyes as she surrendered her body to his control.
How long had they hunted each other before their bond had formed and he’d realized he’d sooner cut his own arms off than harm her? Decades. A century, perhaps.
But he didn’t regret a moment of their rivalry. It had been the most exhilarating thrill of his life.
“Say it again,” he demanded, needing to hear her words.
“I would cast the innocent into flames to spare you from harm,” she promised, arching her spine as he drove deeper into her. Her fingers dug into his shoulders, spurring him to push further still. Beneath her, her glorious white wings were spread across the pillows, reminding him what she risked by being with him. A gift he would never squander.
“Again.”
“I would do anything for you! I would—” Her voice broke on a cry as he pushed still deeper, and her efforts at speech dissolved with her ecstasy.
“They could take everything from me,” he swore, tightening the hand in her hair until she met his gaze, “but so long as I have you, my little ray of sunshine, I will have lost nothing.”
