Page 23 of Absolved In Death

I held back my laughter, barely. Okay, maybe a small chuckle slipped through. I couldn’t help it, because that was so corny, it was hilarious.

“You’ll regret threatening me,” Desmond growled. Zaz gripped his shoulder, and I could only imagine what he linked him.

“Fuck around and you shall find out,” Q cackled. “If I were you, I’d try to be my friend instead of my enemy. I’m a better ally than enemy, demon. Don’t learn the hard way.”

Desmond broke out of Zaz’s hold, and he and my PA circled each other, sizing the other one up for an attack.

For fuck’s sake, he came to apologize,Zaz linked me.

I didn’t want an apology from him, especially when I could barely stand being in his vicinity. Breaking this up would get him to leave faster.

“Is there a reason why you’re here? I’m tired and want to go to bed,” I said around a yawn, a subtle dismissal of his presence.

“Q and I are going to leave and get a snack,” Zaz announced. His gaze swung to me.To give you two some space…

“If you need me, Diana, drop me a mental notification. I’ll be wherever you are within a few seconds,” my PA reminded me before they faded away.

My sigh ran bone deep. Dealing with Desmond was the last thing I wanted to do while exhausted from a long day.And why should I?I could fade away, too. I didn’t owe him a fucking second of my time after he betrayed me in the meeting.

“Don’t fade away from me,” he ordered me in his domineering tone as he grabbed my hand. His firm grip felt like a shackle around my wrist. The stone cold glint in his eyes used to make me fall to my knees, but now it royally pissed me off.

“Don’t fucking order me around like I’m your dog. I’m sick and tired of how controlling you are. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m only into that dynamic during sex.” I glanced at his crotch, a flippant smile spreading on my face. “Your loss.”

“That can be arranged if it’ll make you shut up and take this seriously,” Desmond growled, his black horns gleaming in the training room’s fluorescent lighting.

“I take your betrayal very seriously. You’re never going to stop trying to control everything and everyone around you. Well, guess what? Not me. Not anymore.”

“Diana, it has nothing to do with control. It’s about your safety! The Princeps Council isn’t a governing body. They aren’t fair and don’t adhere to a code. They’re bullies,” he spat, his face starting to turn red. “They will feel your power, know what you’re capable of…and they’ll target you.”

“What makes you think they can? Lucifer would never let that happen!” I took my hand back, putting more space between us.

“But what if he doesn’t have a choice? What if Red infiltrated the Council? We have no clue who’s on it, or what interests they have. You may think I’m being a controlling asshole—maybe I am—but it’s to keep you safe and alive to fight another day.”

“Do you understand how much it hurts that you don’t trust me to protect myself? The way you dismissed me in that meeting, as if it was ludicrous for me to have a say in decisions that impact my life. It fucking hurt to have someone I love do that to me.”

His face fell, and he took my hand in his, rubbing the back of my palm lightly with this thumb. “I’m sure it did, but you don’t listen. You’re so headstrong, sometimes I have to act like a dick to get your attention.”

Any hopes I had of him apologizing or of us making up disappeared. He wasn’t listening to me at all, and I wanted to smack him.

“Loving you is just…” I trailed off, unable to put my feelings into words. He was so frustrating!

“I know. Sometimes I’m difficult. But so are you.”

He did not just fucking say that…

“I deal with all your control-freak bullshit. Let you push me. Forgave you. Stuck by you through everything. Please explain howI’mdifficult.” He raised a brow at my incredulous reaction.

“You’re too beautiful. Too full of emotions I struggle to understand because I love and respect you too much to magically manipulate them again. You’re impulsive, can’t follow orders, headstrong, and you’re a swirling hurricane of chaos. I’m too obsessed with you—I’ve died for you, killed for you, and was inches away from destroying the world to keep you safe—and that’s dangerous for me. You are so deeply a part of me that without you…I won’t be able to carry on without you. And you don’t even give a damn about your own safety! That’s why you’re difficult, dollface.”

A tear rolled down my cheek.Fuck him.

“You red-headed bastard! You can’t just say that shit when we’re in the middle of an argument and expect everything to be okay!” I choked out as I hurled an oscillating orb of blue fire at him.

He froze it mid air. It doubled in size, then whizzed straight at me. I ducked, whipping my magic out like a lasso and curling it around his foot. Before I tugged, his shadows snapped my hold.

They rippled over the floor, chasing me for revenge as if they had a mind of their own.

I instinctively morphed into a raven, flying right under the vaulted training room ceiling. Desmond turned into his fulldemon form, his large red wings cracking as they spread. He flew after me, his shadows climbing the walls, reaching out as they tried to surround me. I morphed back into myself in mid air, landing in a crouch on the other side of the room.

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