Reaver(83)

Raphael swallowed audibly, and she swore she saw genuine regret in his expression. “I’m sorry. I never wanted you to suffer. But now that you’re here, I can make it up to you.”

“That’s very touching, but no.”

“No… what?” he prompted.

Was he being deliberately dense? “I won’t be your… whatever it is you want me for.”

Reaching out, he brushed a knuckle over her cheek, a gentle gesture that she might have fallen for when she was Verrine. Now she didn’t want his attention. Now she knew he could be as cruel as he was tender.

“Oh, I think you will,” Raphael drawled, and she broke out in gooseflesh as a sensation of impending doom sank into her gut. “See, I’m going to make you a deal.”

She narrowed her eyes. “What kind of deal?”

“I promise to keep you safe from Satan. You’re vulnerable while you’re in the human realm. Come with me, and he won’t be able to touch you ever again. In addition, I won’t destroy Reaver for what he’s done.” Raphael smile was wolfish, a predator that had pinned the deer. “In exchange, you agree to be my consort.”

The asshole thought he had her, didn’t he? She returned his smile. “Tell you what. I keep myself safe, you don’t destroy Reaver, and I don’t become your consort. In exchange, I tell you where Gethel is.”

He laughed. “We know where she is. We nabbed the demon you hitched a ride with in the Harrowgate.” He took Harvester’s hand and squeezed as if he owned her. “So what’s it to be? A ceremony for Reaver’s execution, or a ceremony binding us together forever?”

A thought occurred to her, a terrible, ugly thought, and she drew in a ragged breath. “This isn’t about me, is it? This is about hurting Reaver. That’s why you wanted me to torture him.”

He smoothed his finger over her cheek, and her skin crawled. “You’re part right. I did want him to suffer, but this isn’t about him. It really is about you. As I said, I’ve wanted you for a long time.” His vile touch moved south, down her neck to her collarbone, where he slid his finger under the strap of her tank top. “But if it makes you feel any better, remember when I threatened to take away your memories of Yenrieth if you didn’t torture him?”

“Gee, no,” she gritted out. “Totally forgot.”

“You’ll have to stop with the sarcasm. I don’t like it,” he said, and yeah, she’d get right on that.

“What does any of this have to do with my memories?”

He shrugged. “I lied. I couldn’t have taken your memories,” he said, and a blast of betrayal and fury blindsided her. Was the truth so fucking hard for people? “The blood bond with Yenrieth saved you from the full memory wipe everyone else got. Nothing can change that. Not even an archangel.” That last part came out with so much bitterness she could practically taste it on her own tongue.

Harvester had spent five thousand years in hell with demons so evil that even Satan contained them. And yet, Raphael, an angel of Heaven, was one of the biggest fiends she’d ever known.

And in order to save Reaver, she was going to be forced to spend the rest of eternity with the fiend.

For a split second, the length of half a heartbeat, her inner evil rose up and considered turning Raphael down. But she squashed the thought immediately. As jumbled as her feelings were about Reaver right now, she was one hundred percent certain that she couldn’t see him die.

“You sick, twisted bastard,” she rasped. “I hate you. No matter how long we’re together, I will despise every breath you take.”

He grinned. “Then a mating ceremony, it is.”





Twenty-Five





Reaver woke in the triage tent in Underworld General’s parking lot. Eidolon hovered next to the bed, Ares, Thanatos, and Reseph flanking him.

“Behold,” Eidolon said. “The angel awakens.”

“I’m guessing I owe you my life.” Owing a demon anything was never ideal, but Reaver knew Eidolon well enough to know the doctor would never abuse leverage. Reaver tried to sit, but heavy straps held him down. “And why am I restrained?”

“Because it took five Sems, including me, to remove the aurial without killing you.” Eidolon flipped the releases on the restraints. “You didn’t handle it well.”

No, a demon channeling power into him while he was unconscious would trigger an angelic instinct to fight. He was lucky his body had accepted Seminus healing energy in the first place. Most angels couldn’t be healed by demons. “Where’s Harvester? What happened?”