Revenant(109)
Reaver’s blurry face appeared in front of hers. “I warned you.”
“Revenant,” she gasped. “Is he —”
“I’m… here.” Revenant’s throaty voice rumbled through her like a long-overdue caress.
She wheeled around, nearly knocking herself over again as her wobbly legs tried to reorient themselves to the new vertical position. Revenant was lying on the table, his body covered only in a sheet up to his waist, and although he was bruised and looked exhausted, he was whole.
“Thank you, oh, gods, thank you.” Blaspheme threw herself on him, hugging him hard, as if he hadn’t just been pretty dead.
He threw an arm around her, holding her tight against his chest. “What… what happened?”
Reaver gripped Revenant’s hand and squeezed. “We won.”
“Awesome.”
Blaspheme straightened, afraid of hurting the ribs that only moments before had looked like a jigsaw puzzle. “You died. That’s not awesome.”
“But we imprisoned Satan for a thousand years,” Revenant said, his voice as torn up as his body had been.
Shade, his right arm wrapped in bandages, snorted. “Seriously. What did you guys do?”
Reaver frowned down at Revenant. “How did you know they’d be gone for that long? Prophecy?”
Everyone who had gathered outside the room filtered in, and suddenly the tiny space was packed with Horsemen, Seminus demons, and a couple of mates.
“The Pruosi tome.” Revenant swallowed. Winced as if his throat was sore. Blas had a feeling he’d be feeling the aches and pains of this battle for a while. “It’s kind of a recipe book. I combined a recipe for a brig and an abyss, and both have a shelf life of a thousand years.”
“So wait,” Eidolon said, wearing bandages that matched Shade’s. “You’re serious. You’re saying you locked Satan in a magical brig and tossed him into an abyss? Satan. For a thousand years?”
“And we locked him up with Raphael, Gethel, and Lucifer.”
Wraith, lounging against the doorjamb, whistled. “Dude, he’s gonna be pissed when he gets out.”
“We’ll worry about that in nine hundred and ninety-nine years,” Revenant said. He took Blaspheme’s hand and tugged her down onto the bed. “You didn’t perform your ceremony.”
“The blood went toward a better use,” she said. “And you’ll be happy to know that Thanatos willingly gave it to you. And more.” She smiled over at the pregnant Horseman. “And Limos gave you her tears.”
From near the doorway, Thanatos dipped his head in a slow, respectful nod. Limos rolled her eyes.
“What ceremony?” Wraith asked, and Eidolon used that opportunity to usher everyone out to give them some privacy.
When everyone was gone and Blaspheme was alone with Revenant, she allowed herself to relax. The tautness in his body melted away as well, and for a moment, they lay there in silence, reveling in the relief that the nightmare was over.
“I wish you’d told me what you had planned,” she finally said.
“You only would have worried more.”
“That’s not your call to make,” she said sternly. “Next time, you tell me. Got it?”
He chuckled. “The next time I imprison Satan inside a mystical box?”
“You know what I mean,” she ground out.
His arms closed even more tightly around her. “I know.”
Another comfortable silence wrapped around them, and she almost wished they could remain like this, with no immediate worries, no dealing with anything except recovering from wounds, physical and mental. But at some point they needed to discuss the future, and Blaspheme had spent too much time facing uncertainty to want to delay the talk they had to have.
“So,” she said softly. “What now?”
His hand sifted through her hair as she snuggled against his chest. “That depends, I guess.”
Her stomach clenched. “On what?”
“On if you can get past what I did to your father.”
She pushed up onto her elbow so she could look at him while she spoke. “My mother told me everything. You were right. He was a bastard. And even if he wasn’t, you weren’t… you. Your past doesn’t matter to me, Revenant.”
He grinned. “That settles it, then.”
“Settles what?”
“We’re getting mated.”
She nearly swallowed her tongue. “Ah… what?”
“You don’t have to say yes right away.” His expression turned serious. “But never doubt what I feel for you. I lost everything the day my mother died, including my soul. And when no one else saw the good in me, not even my brother, you did. You brought me back to life in more ways than one, Blaspheme, and I never want to be without that lifeline again.” His hand came up to cup her cheek. “I love you, and whether you say yes or no, that will never change.”