Page 37 of Prince of Ruin
“You turned away from him,” she yelled. “What was I supposed to do? Watch you die? You’re not invincible. And he was wielding demonsteel!”
“I’m not invincible, no.” He looked disgusted. “I didn’t have to be.” He stirred a finger in circles and a second Azazel stepped out of his body until they stood side by side. The two of them prowled toward her. “It wasn’t real, Sera. I was never in any danger. I needed Samael to break the treaty. I needed witnesses. I need him totryand kill me, before I could crush him.”
And then the second figure evaporated like a cloud of smoke.
A single tear caught her by surprise. “Well, I’m sorry. I didn’tknowthat. Forgive me for caring. Forgive me for trying to save your fucking life.”
More followed and she dashed them away with a flurry.
She’d spilled enough tears over this demon over the years.
And then Azazel was there, offering her something to wipe her face.
She clung to his arms, fingers clenching in his shirt. He knew the truth now. She didn’t know where that left them.
He kissed her temples, her hair, breathing in the scent of her shampoo.
“Six months of hard work,” he whispered into her hair, his hands clasping her head between them, “and you fucked it. A year of searching for that fucking shard, laying rumors, trying to push Samael to come for me, and you took one look at all my plans and went stomping all over them.”
“I’d apologize, but I’m not sorry. Not even a little bit. That shard belongs with the angels.”
“It’s not the worst thing you’ve done to me.” He tilted her chin up so she could see him. And he actually looked like he was searching for the right words. “Do you remember what happened in that alley?”
Sera rubbed at her chest. Something hurt inside her. “Fairly certain I went toe-to-toe with Samael and—”
She still couldn’t put it into words.
A prince of Hell was so far above her on the power scale that his sword should have cleaved her in half.
Instead—
“Won.” There was something dangerous in his eyes. “You won.”
Sera shivered. “I shouldn’t have—”
“No.” He kissed her again, but this time he sought her lips. It was hard and fierce and formed of nothing of pleasure. Desperation, perhaps. His hands shook a little. “Your love wasn’t enough to save you. You were dying.”
She could remember the firefly glow, that sudden intake of breath—and the burning sensation in her chest.
“What did you do to me?” she whispered, because she was starting to understand.
“Ruined myself.” His thumbs stroked down her cheeks and this time, when their eyes met, she could see his whole soul. “I showed the world my weakness. I showed my immortal enemy my… my heart.”
“You saved me.”
“I gave up half the light in my world to save you.”
Half the light in his world….
There was power in a soul, after all.
That was how the demons were winning this war. Consuming the souls of others, powering up with each and every raw recruit.
But his own soul….
He’d offered it up to her, binding them together so that she would live.
Sera bit her lip. There were so many things left unsaid in such a statement.
