Cornelius’s smile didn’t slip. “I offered myself to enhance her greatness, to become part of her.” He broke off into a rattling cough. “Alas, she could not complete the feeding in the midst of the final strike, could not take the fullness of my soul into herself.”
That explained Cornelius’s half-desiccated state.
“And the women?” Raphael asked in an ice-cold tone that had Ashwini’s heart freezing. As long as she lived, she would never understand how Ellie got into bed with him. Even more so now that Ashwini had personally experienced the shattering vulnerability that came with sex.
Janvier shot her a look at that instant, his eyes glittering, and it was as if he’d read her mind. She scowled. He grinned and closed his hand over her own. “I could tear off your head with a single wrench,” he said in a low tone that reached only her.
“Stop reading my thoughts.” She wasn’t worried in the least about his strength. If he’d wanted to hurt her, he’d have done it long ago. Instead, he’d put himself in the path of danger for her more than once.
Frowning, Janvier said, “But you spoke aloud.”
She blinked, leaned in to speak against his ear. “No, I didn’t.”
They stared at each other.
“We’ll talk about it later,” she finally whispered and they returned their attention to the interrogation.
Cornelius admitted to using the women to maintain his strength as he awaited his “goddess’s return,” but refused to admit he’d fed on animals before he tracked down Giorgio.
“Saving face,” Dmitri murmured. “To feed on animals makes him an animal himself.”
“What did animals ever do to you that you’d insult them like that?”
Ashwini’s muttered rejoinder made Dmitri’s lips curve. “My apologies. You are, of course, correct. He is an unnatural abomination.”
“What will Raphael do to him?” she asked.
“He’ll ask the surviving victims their will and then he’ll make sure it’s carried out, on both Cornelius and Giorgio.”
“Good.” Had it been up to her, Ashwini would’ve told Raphael to shut the bastards up in a room together, where Cornelius could feed on Giorgio until the vampire died, then starve to death himself. It’d take a long, long time, even given his current state.
Maybe she’d mention the idea to the living victims.
“You are bloodthirsty, my Ashblade.”
When she glared at him, Janvier scowled. “You didn’t say that aloud, either?”
“No.” She pushed off the wall when Raphael turned to leave, indicating the questioning was over.
He left Cornelius in the room and Dmitri locked the door behind them.
“I have spoken to Giorgio,” Raphael said, his wing brushing over Elena’s.
“Already?” Ashwini said before she realized she was interrupting an archangel. “I didn’t think he was powerful enough to heal so fast.”
Raphael held her gaze, the blue of his eyes violent. “He isn’t.”
But Raphael, she understood, keeping a white-knuckled grip on her ability so she wouldn’t be sucked into the force of him, was an archangel. No way of knowing how he’d made Giorgio talk, and it was probably better if she didn’t; she had enough nightmares inside her skull.