Okay, maybe.
“Anyway,” Cat continued, “do you know the Four Horsemen’s ex-Heavenly Watcher, Gethel?”
The bite of fruit in Lilliana’s mouth soured. “The evil bitch who wanted to start the Apocalypse by slaughtering one of the Horsemen’s children? And who is now carrying Satan’s baby? That Gethel?”
“Yes,” she said wryly. “I see you know who I’m talking about. Anyway, I was her apprentice when she was still an angel. She made me do a lot of things that were questionable, but I did them anyway. Who was I to question the great Gethel, Heavenly Watcher to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, you know? By the time I figured out that she was working for Team Evil, it was too late. I was in too deep.”
“And you were punished by expulsion.”
“Yep.” She held up a pitcher of orange juice, but Lilliana shook her head. “So here I am. Thank you for giving me this chance. I was starting to get scared. It’s very dangerous for my kind out there right now.”
Footsteps signaled an approach, and a moment later Azagoth entered, looking scrumptious in black jeans, a forest green Henley, and Dr. Martens. His gaze traveled up and down her body, and her cheeks grew hot as her shower escapade roared back into her head.
“I see you’ve met your assistant,” he drawled.
“Assistant?”
He swiped a grape from the fruit tray and popped it into his mouth. “Cataclysm is here to handle all your needs. Her chamber is down the hall.”
“I...um...why?”
“Because Zhubaal has enough to do already.” He went for a slice of apple next. “And you were right about my realm being no prize for someone like you. The least I can do is make this punishment of yours more tolerable. So for as long as you’re here and you want her, Cat will be as well.”
Okay, so now she felt like a piece of shit. Cat was here for her, so when Lilliana left with the chronoglass, Cat would be out of a job and a home, and she’d be vulnerable to anyone who wanted to hurt her or force her into Hell to complete her fall.
Dammit, she did not need this complication. She wanted to get out of here, and now she had Cat’s future to consider.
“Well, thank you,” she said as she pushed to her feet. “Did you come for breakfast? I’m just finishing up—”
“I came to ask if you’d take me someplace.”
“Ask?” She snorted. “Is this going to be like last time?”
He swore, and yup, looked like they were in for a repeat of the drill sergeant routine. So she was shocked when he said, “Will you please take me someplace? I’d really like to get out of here for a little while.”
“You’re lucky I have nothing better to do,” she said, only half-teasing.
She’d planned to spend the day in his library and wandering around his realm in search of anything that might help her get the chronoglass out. She doubted she’d find a moving dolly, but there were millions of items with the mystical power to render even the heaviest items much lighter. A lot of spells, too.
Azagoth led her out into the hall, where he started in the direction of the library. “We’ll find something for you to do.”
“Like what?” Walking next to him, she waited for a crude comeback like, “You can do me,” but he didn’t. He was serious.
“I don’t know,” he said. “But I was thinking of creating a new level in the Inner Sanctum, one appropriate for demons who aren’t evil.”
“All demons are evil. That’s why they’re demons.”
He shook his head. “Just as there are angels and humans who are bad, there are demons who are good.” He slowed to let a griminion scurry past. “There’s good and bad in everyone, Lilliana. Some just have to work harder than others to overcome their nature.”
She supposed that was true, but boy, did it ever fly in the face of everything she’d ever been taught in battle angel classes.
“What do you do with these ‘good’ demons now?”
“I send them to the first level, which is a vacation spot compared to the others,” he said. “And I authorize their reincarnations first.”
“Aw, look, there is some good in you,” she teased.
He laughed. “Sending non-evil entities back into the world isn’t out of the goodness of my heart. It floods Sheoul with neutrality, which means the truly evil demons will pay any price for me to authorize the reincarnation of evil souls.” He winked. “I’m very open to bribes.”
Charming.
“Why are you being so nice and talkative all of a sudden?”
“I wouldn’t go so far as to say, nice, but you are my mate, and this is your realm now too. Cold and dreary as it is,” he added. Ouch. He still had a bite, didn’t he? “You need to have your own space and purpose.”
Lilliana could just shake her head. How could someone who was so awful to his children be so thoughtful to someone he barely knew?
“People in Heaven think you’re a monster, you know.”
“I am.” He pegged her with a dark stare. “Don’t let my calm exterior fool you. There’s a beast inside me that’s capable of horrors you can’t imagine.”
She didn’t doubt that.
They arrived at the library, where a fire was roaring in the hearth, but the temperature in the room was more akin to someone having left the freezer door open.
“Oh, and just FYI, something I forgot to mention last time.” She shrugged like it was no big deal, but it kind of was. “There are a handful of fallen angels who can sense entries into the shrowd, and they make it their mission to destroy any angel who travels through time. It’s rare that they find their target, but when they do...” She shuddered. She’d come up against them twice, and her mother had lost her life to the bastards.
“Any angel, fallen or not, who dares to challenge me will spend all eternity as artwork in my great hall.”
She frowned, remembering all of the grotesque statues. The ones that looked like humans, demons, and...angels...in agony.
“Wait. So all of the sculptures in your...”
“Yes. Instead of sending their souls to Sheoul-gra, I bound them in statue. Some of them have been there for thousands of years. I’ll bet they’re quite insane by now.”
“You can...you can even do that to angels? Even if they haven’t turned evil? Their souls should automatically return to Heaven.”
He shrugged. “I’m the Grim Fucking Reaper. This is my domain, and if I want to keep a soul, I can.” He shot her a sideways glance. “I told you I’m a monster.”
She’d be wise to remember that.
Because holy shit.
Inhaling the dusty tobacco scent of the library, she started toward the mirror, but something crunched under her feet. “I’m sorry.” She sidestepped, cringing at whatever it was that she’d broken. It looked like a crystal chess piece.
“S’okay.” He swiped the bits of crystal off the floor and tossed them into the trash. “It was broken before you stepped on it.”
Realization dawned. “You broke it. Why?”
“It was a gift from Methicore,” he said gruffly. “I want all reminders of him gone.”
Her heart clenched. She’d sent a rare singing iris from Heaven’s Covenant Mountain to her father once, hoping to open the lines of communication before their first meeting. When she’d finally met him face to face, he’d returned it to her.
Broken into three pieces.
“I don’t understand how you can reject him so thoroughly.” She searched his face for some sign of regret, but she saw nothing in his expression but disgust for his son. “What did he do to you?”