Page 132 of All's Hell That Ends Well

Just a few steps away from me, Azazel was crouched behind a huge piece of debris, withstanding the onslaught of power much like me. I glanced over the edge of my chunk of the broken ceiling and looked for Lucifer, spotting him across the remains of the destroyed room, right behind Ashtaroth. He was still half covered by a large part of the collapsed wall, looking badly bruised and possibly immobile. I squinted, then widened my eyes, shock spearing through me.

He wasn’t just half buried under stone. Something sharp protruded from his chest, glinting bloody in the flashing light of the archdemons’ power. A piece of metal must have skewered him when the room collapsed. It hadn’t pierced his heart—he was still conscious—but it pinned him to the spot, and with his hands bound, he had no easy way to free himself.

The archdemons continued to duke it out, locked in their battle and—from the looks of it—currently oblivious to what else was going on.

Lucifer caught my gaze, and with a jerk of his head toward the hallway and the remains of the rest of the palace, he mouthed,Go.

My heart stuttered. Thoughts in disarray, I studied the distance between him and me, calculating, trying to see if I could reach him. But the fighting archdemons were in the way. I’d have to scramble and climb all over the debris to get to where he was trapped, and then I’d have to strain to lift him from whatever sharp thing impaled him, and my movements might alert Ashtaroth and the others. Right now, they were so caught up in their battle that they barely paid us any mind. Azazel and I were much closer to the hallway and our possible escape, the path there partly obscured from view by fallen parts of the wall and ceiling. The archdemons likely wouldn’t even see us leave.

Azazel and I could make it. Lucifer wouldn’t.

An ache shot through my chest. We couldn’t just leave him here.

Lucifer drew my gaze back to him with a terse shake of his head. He’d seen me survey the area and gauge the distance to him. Again, he mouthed,Go, followed by,Run!

My eyes clouded, and my throat closed up. A touch on my arm made me jolt and glance to the side. Azazel had made his way over under the cover of the debris, and he now nodded toward the half-standing wall behind us that led to the hallway and deeper into the palace, with the blown-down door in the middle.

His gaze tracked past me to where Lucifer lay, and while his face shuttered, his features turning hard, his eyes gave him away. Underneath a sheen of wetness, something broke in their storm-lashed depths. Deep agony rolled over through our bond,then he sucked in air, grasped my elbow, and pulled me toward our escape.

If we stayed and tried to free Lucifer, we might be discovered, and then we’d find ourselves in the same bind as before. If we ran without him, we’d at least have a real chance at an escape. And once free, we might be able to come for him later.

Azazel pulled at me again. My chest drawing tight, I threw a last look over my shoulder, and the relief on Lucifer’s face as he saw us leaving would haunt me for the rest of my days.

CHAPTER 38

Azazel and I managed to sneak out of the destroyed room and into the hallway without drawing the attention of the still battling archdemons. Their power struck and whipped at us, lashing at our clothes and precariously rocking the ruins of the walls, and I was sure that it would have melted us much like the unfortunate soldiers if we’d been of lower rank.

As it was, Azazel’s archdemon-level of power meant we got away bruised and bloodied, but with our skin still in place.

As soon as we were clear of the view of the room, we ran for a bit to put more distance between us and the archdemon fight. I was able to move just fine by now, but Azazel kept stumbling. I shot him a worried glance as we rounded a corner.

“Let’s stop here for a sec,” I whispered.

Far behind us, the sonic booms of the archdemon battle rolled through the hallway and shook the walls. From somewhere even farther away, the sound of dragons screeching reached us. This corridor seemed largely intact, with recent repairs that had been done still showing.

And thankfully, it was empty of anyone but us.

The shackles around my wrists clinked as I pulled Azazel into an alcove, my brows drawing together at his condition. Heswayed a little, his face was pale underneath the dust and blood sprinkling his skin, and his eyes held pain.

“Are you hurt?” I asked, carefully feeling along his torso.

“No,” he rasped. “But this power… Zoe, I can barely hold it.” His throat muscles worked hard as he swallowed. “It’s taking all my focus just to keep it contained.” He shook his head and closed his eyes for a moment. “I can’t believe Lucifer has been carrying this for ages. No wonder he was so fucking cranky all the time.”

“I feel it, too.” I bit my lip.

At that, Azazel opened his eyes and stared at me, shock making his features slack. “The bond,” he said, and his shoulders slumped. “Fuck, I didn’t think of that.” He raised his manacled wrists and rubbed his face with both hands. “I agreed to take this on, and I didn’t even consider that it might affect you through our bond. But I should have. You’re already sharing my power through our connection, so of course this would be no different. Shit.”

“I know.” I laid my palms on his chest. “I didn’t consider it either, though it’s logical. I guess we were both a bit naive about this.”

His storm-gray eyes studied me with concern. “How are you holding up?”

“Like a dam that hasn’t had any maintenance in decades. I can feel the pressure, but I’m able to push it back. For now.” I dug my fingers into his shredded tunic. “Lucifer wanted me to use the power, but I have no idea how. He was banking on us being able to wield it.”

Azazel grimaced. “I’m not sure I can force the power to obey right now. If I let loose, I might not be able to channel only a small, targeted amount.” He paused, then added, “What happened while I was out?”

I gave him a quick rundown of the events before he’d woken up, and his expression got progressively darker as I laid it all out.

“With how we’d fixed the security recently,” he said when I’d finished, “it shouldn’t have been possible for armies this large to amass along the borders unnoticed. We should have had ample warning, not just a few scouts racing over here at the last minute.” He shook his head. “I’m sure Ashtaroth and the others have prepared this strike well in advance and were just waiting for the opportune moment to hit us, but we should have noticed those preparations. Troop movements of this magnitude usually draw attention, even across borders.”

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