Page 95 of All's Hell That Ends Well

Vengeance stopped snapping at feathers and lifted all three of her heads—one of her ears turned inside out—and uttered a deepwoof.

The doors to the throne room clanged open, and a staff member stepped in, sinking to one knee and announcing, “The lady Zoe has returned and seeks to speak with you, Your Grace.”

Lucifer whipped his head around, and my heart jumped to my throat when I beheld Zoe entering the throne room behind the female demon. Mere weeks I hadn’t seen her, yet my body and soul responded as if it had been years again. My breath stalled. Every part of me homed in on her, the center of my universe, the reason I’d truly learned, after thousands of years of existing, what it meant to lose oneself in another.

What it felt like to be drawn to someone as if they alone held the answers to all the mysteries of life.

Her gaze met mine, and even over the considerable distance between the dais and the doors, I felt the jolt of that connection, her nearness giving me a rush of her emotions down the bond between us.

Surprise, relief, happiness…and a frayed kind of excitement, spiked with nerves.

I didn’t wait for permission. Didn’t care about proper decorum.

Flicking the letter I still held to the side, I strode down the dais and was in front of her within seconds, and then she was in my arms, and all I could feel, smell, and sense was the woman I loved with every beat of my damned heart.

CHAPTER 29

Zoe

Ihad a second of bewilderment looking at the scene in front of me—Lucifer and Azazel standing next to each other on the dais, seemingly…friendly? No torture involved? No threats or insults being thrown around?—before Azazel stormed toward me and enfolded me in a hug that shut out everything but him and the pulsing connection between us.

Inhaling his scent, I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed him right back, every cell in my body sighing in happiness at having him near again. Everything else fell away—the reason I was here, the tangle of emotions over what I’d learned, the utter astonishment and confusion about the state of this palace, the many questions that had piled up while I walked here from the gate. It was only him and me in this moment, our hearts beating in sync, our souls aligned.

Azazel pulled back and framed my face with his hands, planting a passionate, lingering kiss on my lips that spread tingles of heat all throughout my body.

“I’ve missed you,” he murmured against my mouth.

Before I could reciprocate the sentiment, something huge slammed into me from the side and knocked me over. The next second, three large tongues bathed my face in slobber, and wet dog breath fanned against me.

“Venny!” I squeaked. “Enough! Off! Get off me!”

My trusty hellhound let up and scrambled back a few steps, allowing me to stumble to my feet.

“Sweetie,” I said to her while I summoned a towel and wiped my face, “I’m happy to see you, too, but we gotta revisit our lesson about thelicking, okay? Idon’tlike to get wet.”

Azazel made a choked sound next to me, and I rounded on him with a raised finger. “Don’t you dare.”

He looked utterly innocent except for the glint in his stormy eyes, the scoundrel.

I pointed at him. “No.”

My gaze flicked to the dais, where Lucifer stood watching us, casually cleaning his hands of what looked like blood. Come to think of it, the steps and the dais itself were covered in crimson, and there were smears on the floor that appeared as if someone had been dragged along bleeding.

Scanning Azazel for blood or signs of injuries, I frowned when I realized he seemed unharmed.

“What’s going on?” I whispered, leaning toward him. “Has he hurt you in any way?”

“No. Not at all.”

“Then what…” I trailed off and sloppily waved at the streaks of blood and the scarlet stains on the dais, then at him and Lucifer and the entire throne room.

“Uh.” Azazel seemed to be searching for words. That was new. He was always so unflappable, but right now he looked quite flapped. Rubbing the back of his neck, he said, “He’s been getting his house back in order.”

“Uh-huh. I’ve noticed.” Raising both brows, I gave an approving nod. “What brought about that change?”

“I might have yelled at him.”

With my lips pressed tightly together, I sucked in air through my nose, dread curdling in my stomach. “And now he’s keeping you hostage?”

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