Page 35 of All's Hell That Ends Well

“Your Grace,” I said and went down on one knee to greet him, once again in the grave-like room, with him in the same spot as before.

Did he ever leave this place? Go anywhere else in the palace?

Vengeance, who’d lain at his feet, jumped up to greet me with slobbering tongues.

“Down, girl,” I whispered and tried in vain to keep her away from my face.

Lucifer snapped his fingers, and Venny trotted back over to him.

“It’s time.” He bade me to stand again with an impatient gesture. “You will begin your search in?—”

Breaking off mid-sentence, he stilled, his black eyes narrowing on me. With fluid grace, he rose from his seat and was in front of me a second later. His hand shot out to grasp my throat, tilting my head up a little.

My eyes widened at the sudden move, my heart galloping wildly at the undercurrent of violence in his hold. Despite the rational knowledge that he wouldn’t—couldn’t—hurt me, mylizard brain still expected to feel the lash of pain, interpreting the aggression in his energy as an imminent threat.

I would always flinch when he raised a hand to me.

“What did you do?” he said with a low growl.

“W-what do you mean?”

“This.” He tilted my head this way and that, leaning in to sniff at me. “You smell of him.”

“Uh…” I swallowed, the muscles of my throat working underneath the press of his fingers.

Was he really asking me why he smelled Azazel on me? Like, wasn’t it obvious that we’d had sex? And did he not think this was going to happen when he allowed me to see him? I was so confused.

“So, this is awkward,” I began. “I mean, given your age and experience and general reputation, I thought you knew all about the birds and the bees. You know…the…when…” I grimaced. “Don’t make me say it out loud.” When he kept staring at me with barely leashed aggression, I blurted, “We had sex and he came in me. That’s what you’re smelling, okay? Ugh, now I want to take a shower. I feel so slimy having to say that in front of you…”

“Not that,” he bit out. “It goes beyond that.”

My brows drew together, but then the thought hit me, and my eyes shot wide.The bond.

“It is like he has a claim on you,” Lucifer snarled.

A whimper escaped me. Oops. Maybe we should have considered the proprietary ramifications of bonding like this. Did Azazel’s claim on me now override Lucifer’s? Did he just steal me from right under his nose?

“How?” Lucifer’s fingers dug into my throat.

“We, uh, we bonded, Your Grace.” I could feel my pulse pound against his grasp around my neck. “Like, he bit me, I bit him, we drank each other’s blood, which was hot in the moment,but I gotta admit that now I’m a little weirded out by it… I mean, when I was a hormonal teenager reading vampire romance, I thought a blood bond like that was sexy and cool and romantic, but I never thought I’d actually ever do anything of the sort in my life—I’m a vegetarian! I don’t even eat meat. But there I was chugging down his blood like it was fresh orange juice?—”

Lucifer covered my mouth with his free hand and closed his eyes, his features pinched.

After a moment, he let me go, rubbing his temple as if to alleviate a headache. “You soul-bonded him.”

“Uh, yes. I guess.”

He studied me from head to toe, and I fidgeted under his regard.

“Well,” he said tonelessly, “at the very least, it made you stronger. That will be an advantage for you down here.”

I blinked, taken aback. Both by what he’d said and the fact that he seemed so civil about it.

“You’re not mad?” Gah, maybe I shouldn’t have asked that. What a leading question… I should learn to play my cards closer to the vest.

His black eyes glittered. “His claim does not supersede mine. You are still in my service. All it does is tie you together on a soul level, and I don’t care about that as long as it doesn’t interfere with your task.”

“It won’t,” I rushed to say. “I’ll still be a good little bloodhound, no worries.” Then I remembered the interesting piece of information he’d just thrown me. “You said it made me stronger?”

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