“Um...” She cleared her throat. “I’m not sure where to start. I originally came here with every intention of stealing your chronoglass and leaving.” Her eyes grew liquid, and it took every ounce of restraint he had not to reach for her. “And then I...I started falling for you. I put off taking the chronoglass so I could stay, and then I changed my mind, but by then...”
“By then it was too late,” he finished. God, he was an ass. “I’m sorry too,” he croaked. “I should have let you explain. I should have listened. Instead, all I could think about was how I’d let another female deceive me. I went back to that dark place from so long ago, and it wasn’t fair to you. Please forgive me, Lilli. Please.”
A tear dripped down her cheek. “Only if you forgive me.”
He caught the tear with his finger, and damn, it felt good to touch her again. “It doesn’t matter. None of it matters.” His heart thumped against his rib cage. “Tell me you’re here to stay. Tell me—”
She silenced him with a kiss. When she pulled away, she was smiling. “The window for me to leave closed sixty seconds after I got here.”
He stepped back and nearly fell down the stairs. “Lilli, damn...you took a huge risk. What if you’d gotten here and I was in a rage? Or if I never forgave you?”
“Then I’d spend the rest of eternity making it up to you.” She grinned. “I can be pretty persuasive. It wouldn’t have taken an eternity. Besides, I figured I could hold that hour a day of time traveling over your head.”
He grimaced. Ran his hand through his hair. Looked down at his shoes. They were dirty. “Ah...about that. I sort of destroyed the chronoglass.”
“You what?”
“I know. I’m an idiot. I just—”
Abruptly, she gripped his arm in a bruising hold. “Azagoth! Look.”
Cranking his head around, he took in the new splendor of his realm. His daughter was gaping in disbelief as the scorched earth once again sprouted with lush, green grass. The gnarled, charred trees straightened, their blackened bark peeling away to leave healthy wood in its place. Leaves unfurled along branches that stabbed up into an infinitely blue sky. And all around, the fountains spewed crystal water against the backdrop of pristine white buildings.
“That’s your doing, Lilli,” he breathed, his love for her flowing through his veins and through the realm. “This is all because of you.”
She sidled up close, drawing him to her with arms around his waist. “We’ve been over this. It’s you. Because you can feel again.”
“Yes,” he said, as he dipped his head to kiss her, “I can feel.” He could feel everything now. Love. Joy. Tenderness. Against the soft warmth of her lips, he whispered, “But all of the beauty infusing my realm is simply a reflection of what I see when I look at you.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Eight days had passed since Lilli returned to Sheoul-gra, but to Azagoth, the realm now seemed like Heaven.
He could tell she missed being able to time travel, but maybe he could arrange for an artifact that would allow her to get out of here every once in a while. He’d heard that some objects, such as the one her torturer had possessed, could transport the user to a very specific time and place.
Better than nothing, he supposed.
He’d been keeping her busy with plans for the newest Inner Sanctum level, and it wouldn’t be long before construction would start. She’d also been tending to the new growth in the realm, but soon she was going to need a definitive purpose. He just hadn’t figured out what. He definitely didn’t want her involved in soul reaping or visiting any of the Inner Sanctum levels.
A tap on his office door brought him out of his planning, and he hoped it was Lilli, in from outside for a lunch break and, if he was lucky, a little between the sheets action. Or on the floor action. Or against the wall action. Or maybe if he was very lucky, she’d done something deserving of a spanking.
He wasn’t particularly picky.
“Come,” he called out.
The door burst open, and the Four Horsemen’s Heavenly Watcher, Harvester, swept in, dressed in super-skimpy attire as usual. Her mate, Reaver, must love her barely-there black leather miniskirt and thigh-high boots. Azagoth needed to get that outfit for Lilliana, ASAP.
“Azagoth.” Harvester brushed her long black hair back from her face. “I assume you’re calling in that favor I owe you?”
“I am.” He sat back in his chair and folded his hands across his abs. “I need an angel to be dead.”
She gave a haughty sniff. “You do realize I’m not a fallen angel anymore. I can’t go around killing angels for fun. Not that I wouldn’t like to, mind you. But sadly, Heaven frowns on angels who assassinate other angels.”
“You will handle this,” he said, allowing a thread of warning to weave into his voice. “When I allowed you into the Inner Sanctum to rescue Reaver, you agreed to bring me one item and one person of my choice. Stamtiel is my person.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Stam? Heaven has been looking for him for years. Do you know where he is?”
He nodded. His network of spies and people who owed him favors had made fast work of his request to locate the bastard. “He abused Lilliana. I want his soul.”
“Can’t you send your griminions out to give him a heart attack or something?”
“Come now, Harvester. You know they can only kill demons and evil humans.” And even then, there were rules he had to follow.
“Hmm.” Tapping her chin with one blue-lacquered nail, she appeared to consider that. “Swear to me that if I agree, I will be free of my debt to you.”
A strange request, since that was the deal they’d struck already, but what the hell. “I swear.”
“Then I agree.” She shrugged. “So how are things going with your...what should I call her...prisoner?”
He looked past her shoulder at the female just now entering the office. “Why don’t you ask Lilli?”
Lilliana strode inside, giving Harvester a polite, but forced, smile. “Hello.”
“Lilliana, this is Harvester.”
Lilliana checked up short, as if she’d hit an invisible barrier. “H-Harvester,” she stammered. “I, ah, know your Reaver.” Wincing, she shook her head. Damn, she hadn’t even been this flustered when she’d met him. “I mean mate. I mean, I know your mate, Reaver.”
Harvester cocked her head and studied Lilli. “Have you fucked him?”
Lilliana choked. Maybe he should tell Harvester to stop messing with her, but this was kind of amusing.
“N-no.” Lilli waved her hands vehemently. “We’re just friends.”
“Oh,” Harvester said brightly. “Then you can keep your head. And geez, don’t be so nervous. Also, you should probably know that it was your friendship with Reaver that got you sent down here.”
“What?” Lilli blurted breathlessly. “How?”
Harvester’s smile was sour. “Raphael and Reaver have a...past. Now that Reaver has been raised to Radiant status, he’s far more powerful than Raphael, and he can’t strike at Reaver the way he wants to, so he’s finding other ways to punish him. When you did Reaver’s Christmas shopping, it gave Raphael a reason to go after you.” Her tone turned apologetic, something Azagoth had never heard from the notoriously prickly angel. “You got caught in the crossfire. I’m sorry.”
Lilli looked down, and for a long moment, Azagoth feared the worst. That she was wishing she’d never gotten involved in a power struggle between an archangel and a Radiant.
But when she looked up again, there was fire in her gorgeous eyes. “A couple of weeks ago, this would be upsetting news. But today? I think I’m very fortunate that Raphael has it in for Reaver.”