“You got it.” He positioned himself behind her and nearly moaned at the way she lifted her hips in anticipation. Her juices glistened between her swollen folds, and when he cupped her mound, her honey coated his fingers.
Still stroking himself, he slid his fingers into her slit and rubbed back and forth. She whimpered, pushing into his hand as far as the restraints would allow.
“Don’t worry,” he whispered. “I’ll release you. We’ll start this way, but I want to end with you on your back. I want to look into your eyes when I come.”
She cried out, so close to orgasm he could feel the tremors building between her legs. Gently, he eased his thumb into her silken opening.
“When you first came here, did you think we’d end up like this?”
“Never.” The honesty in her voice was tinged with an odd note of remorse. Did she feel bad about not wanting to come here?
Didn’t matter. What mattered was that she was here now, and he had all eternity to show her that she’d made the right decision to join him in Sheoul-gra.
His cock throbbed as he pressed it against her slit. Very slowly, he nudged the head inside her, her slippery desire easing the passage into her tight channel. Suddenly, her emotions slammed into him, a mixture of yearning and guilt. He shook his head, wanting them gone. He could feel now; he didn’t have to borrow her emotions.
But they wouldn’t subside. What the hell? He gripped her hips, holding both of them steady as he struggled to clear his head.
A glint of silver caught his eye, and suddenly, it all made sense.
The key pendant. Designed to transmit strong emotion, it was doing exactly that.
Another blast of her guilt hit him hard enough to make him groan. He needed to remove the necklace and use the rest of the night to assuage whatever regrets she had. He never wanted her to have a negative emotion again.
He’d get her a new pendant. One that wasn’t enchanted.
You only have thirty days to get out with the chronoglass before we close the door on Sheoul-gra, and you’re stuck with Azagoth forever.
He froze as Lilliana’s thoughts, her very memories, slammed into him like a lava troll’s meaty fist. Stunned, he could only stare blankly as the unbelievable truth pinged around inside his head and clawed at his heart. She’d betrayed him. She’d lied from the very beginning.
The warmth that had been nudging at his flesh, that had been starting to thaw his body, iced over.
“Damn you,” he rasped, his voice as raw as the wound she’d just inflicted. “You came here to steal the chronoglass.”
“Azagoth...no...wait—”
“Damn you!” Snarling, he gripped the necklace and yanked hard. The delicate chain snapped, and tiny links flew everywhere. Before she could say another word, he flipped the switch on the cuffs and released her.
“Get out.” Bypassing the ripped garment on the floor, he threw open her wardrobe, ripped a sunny yellow sundress from a hanger, and hurled it at her. And wasn’t he a gentleman for making sure he kicked her to the curb with undamaged clothing.
Idiot.
Lilliana caught the garment with shaking hands. “Please, just listen—”
“Listen?” he shouted. “Listen? To what? More lies? You’ve deceived me from the moment you crossed the threshold into my realm. You destroyed the only connection I had with my children, and now I find out you’ve lied about why you came here.”
Pain, sharper than any he’d ever experienced, cleaved through his heart and he nearly doubled over. How could she do this to him? How could she betray him like this? She’d used him, exploited his desperation, just like Lilith had all those years ago.
“Get the fuck out of my realm,” he gritted through clenched teeth. “and tell the archangels that if they dare to send another angel to me, for any reason, I’ll send that angel back in pieces.” He bared his teeth and advanced on her, forcing her to scramble backward toward the door. For the first time since she’d stepped foot in his realm, he got off on her fear. Craved it. Reveled in it. “Go. Before those pieces are yours.”
Lilliana tried to not cry as she fled down the hall toward the building’s exit, tripping and careening off walls as she attempted to put on the dress while running at full speed. She’d screwed up badly. She’d hated Azagoth in the beginning, but he’d been nothing but good to her. And once she’d understood his lack of emotions, his coldness had not only made sense, but had been understandable.
She should have told him the truth the very moment she realized she was having second thoughts about why she’d come here. Instead, she’d swept her deception under the rug and hoped he’d never find out.
Fool. Of course he found out. This is his realm. He knows all. Sees all.
Wait...how had he found out?
Not that it mattered. What was done was done, and as the tears rolled down her cheeks in hot streaks, she cursed Raphael. Hutriel. Herself.
“Lilliana!”
Cat’s voice rang out as Lilliana shoved open the door to outside. Only the knowledge that Cat might very well be screwed out of a job halted Lilliana in her tracks.
Cat jogged over. “What’s wrong? Where are you going?”
“I’m leaving,” Lilliana said. Well, she tried to say it, but the sobs muffled her words. “I’m sorry, Cat. I’m so sorry. Your job—”
The fallen angel threw her arms around Lilliana and hugged her tight, which only made her cry harder. “Screw the job. I don’t want you to go.”
Get your head on straight. Pull yourself together for her sake. You can fall apart later.
Easing back from Cat, Lilliana dabbed at her wet face with the hem of her dress. “Listen to me. Stay out of Azagoth’s way for a while. If he fires you...” Lilliana couldn’t believe she was about to say this, given the fact that she was an angel and this went against everything angels believed, but things had changed since she got here. She had changed. “There’s a demon hospital called Underworld General. Go there. Try to get a job. You’ll be safe from the fallen angels trying to drag you into Sheoul.”
Cat nodded, her eyes filling with tears. “Don’t go.”
A tormented roar, barely muffled by the building, rang out, stirring up a malevolent wind that reeked of rot and danger. “I have to.” She squeezed the female’s hand. “Promise me you’ll do as I said.”
Cat’s bottom lip trembled. “I promise.”
Breathing a sigh of relief, Lilliana released Cat. “Be safe. And thank you for everything.”
Hastily, before Azagoth made good on his word to send her to Heaven in pieces, Lilliana flew down the stairs and hit the ground running. As she stepped into the portal that would transport her out of here, she looked out over Azagoth’s kingdom.
All the new life, all the vibrant color and fresh air, was dying. Her last thought before the portal whisked her away was about Azagoth.
If his realm was dying, what was happening to him?
Chapter Nineteen
Azagoth stood in the library amongst shattered glass, his body trembling, his heart aching, his soul screaming. Pain surged through him in great waves that threatened to make him black out, but fate was a cruel bitch, and he remained as alert and sensitive to agony as ever.
His Lilli had betrayed him. Had plotted to steal his chronoglass and leave him. He looked down at the shards on the floor. Now she’d never get it. In a great fit of irrational fury, he’d destroyed it the way she’d destroyed him.