Page 98 of All's Hell That Ends Well

“No.” Azazel kept guiding me forward.

“But—”

“He told us in no uncertain terms that he wants us to leave,” he muttered, not breaking his stride, leading me toward a side door, “and I will not argue with him when he’s like this. There are moments when he is amenable to listening. This is not one of them. We’ll check in on him later. For now, the administration of the territory is well taken care of, and the governance of the palace is running smoothly again. Both my and Daevi’s people are still here, and all of them are well versed in managing an estate and ensuring security. Lucifer can take a moment to himself without everything crashing down around him.”

“Okay…” I chewed my lip. “I just think?—”

“Zoe.” Azazel stopped in the middle of the corridor we’d entered, pulling me to a halt as well. Grabbing my chin, he leaned in until our breaths mingled, our power entwining in the small space between us. His eyes held churning storms of lightning as he pinned me with a look that made me shiver. “You. Are. Mine. Now. I have waited for this moment for eight fucking years, and I will not wait to take you home,where you belong, for one moment longer.”

Grabbing my hand, he pulled me along again, and I was so stunned that I stumbled a bit to keep up. Heart thumping madly in my chest, it took me a few seconds to parse my thoughts, but when I did, I dug in my heels and yanked on his hand to stop.

With a raised brow and a questioning look, Azazel paused and turned to me.

“We haven’t really talked about this,” I began, “what with everything that happened, but…am I your subordinate now?”

“What?” He looked almost comically confounded.

“I mean”—I waved my free hand around—“this is different from our situations before. When I was a human, we were married, which made us kind of equal in rank, and then when I was in Heaven, you were higher in the hierarchy, but you never enforced rank, and we also weren’t part of the same territory,just like all this time that I’ve been here in Hell as a demon, but now… Lucifer transferred me to you. Technically, I’m in yourservicenow.” I swallowed, my brows scrunching together. “I’m under your command, aren’t I? Like, theoretically, I’d have to follow your orders. So, when you say that I’m yours…that holds a different meaning now, too. Doesn’t it?”

Sparks of silver erupted in his eyes, and within one breath and the next, he had me pressed against the wall, one of his hands flat on the stone next to my head, the other cradling my cheek.

His voice was an intimate murmur, the heat of his body sinking into mine. “What did I tell you when you greeted me for the first time in Heaven?”

I licked my lips, my legs trembling. “You don’teverbow to me,” I quoted him in a whisper.

“And what did I say when you jokingly addressed me by my title just recently?”

His thumb was stroking my cheek, and it distracted me quite a bit because that soft touch sent out waves of sensation that traveled all the way down my body.

“That if I ever call you that in front of others,” I said a little breathlessly, “you’d have to spank me later.”

He hummed in assent, his eyes intent on mine. “And what does that tell you, love?”

“That I’ll definitely address you asYour Highnessin public quite often?” I fluttered my lashes at him and sent him a coy grin.

His chuckle let his power vibrate over mine, and it caused exquisite shivers down my spine and into sensitive areas of my body. “Your kinkiness notwithstanding,” he purred, “the message received should be that I do not consider you my subordinate. You are not beneath me.”

“I am in terms of rank,” I interrupted him. “Officially.”

He paused for a beat, his eyes shrewd as he mapped my face. “Then I shall change that.”

I snorted. “You can’t just?—”

“How did Lilith get her rank?”

I grimaced. “That’s different.”

“Oh? How so? She and Lucifer were not even married. They were bonded, not unlike what we have now. She received her standing because Luciferwilledit so. Because he enforced it. She was never his subordinate; she was his equal, by choice and by practice.” His gaze burned down to my soul, to where the pulse of our connection beat in sync with both our hearts. “As you shall be mine.”

“So,” I said, my voice a bit rough, “basically, it’s the same as before, when I was human? I’m of the same rank as you despite not having earned it? That’ll go over well with others.”

He shook his head. “The difference is that now you do have an enormous amount of power to back it up. Courtesy of our bond, you’re almost on par with me in terms of strength, and”—he lifted a finger to cut off my imminent protest—“even without our bond, you’d be nearly a seraph now.” He tapped that finger against my breastbone. “Because of what you carry within yourself naturally.”

“And thanks to Lilith,” I muttered. At his questioning look, I added, “Lucifer said the kernel of her power might have helped my strength develop much faster than it would have without it.”

“Quite possible, yes.” He nodded. “All of this to say, you’ll actually be respected and accepted as my equal much easier than Lilith ever was as Lucifer’s. With the exception of the seven archdemons, seraphim are the fewest among us. You’d outrank most of Hell already even without our bond.”

The unease in my chest loosened bit by bit as the realization of my new reality truly sank in.

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