Page 35 of The River of Hatred

“Did you just make a joke?” the stupefied Fallen asks.

I shrug and face the trench again. “I’ve been known to produce the occasional witticism.”

“And you’ve ruined it.”

I smirk at Sariel’s grumbled words, enjoying Jessica’s amused chuckle. We can’t stand here joking around all day; we must find a way through. This is the seventh bolgia – we’re nearly done. The mortal has come too close to death one time too many. There’s a path leading through the trench, but patrolling it are winged demons armed with long spears.

“Friends of yours, Sariel?” My voice comes out sounding somewhat sour.

“No,” my former friend drawls. “They don’t look like they’d be any fun in a brothel on a Saturday night.”

I feel nauseous even as the Nephilim smirks. “I wouldn’t mind meeting the ones that are.”

She might not mind Sariel’s philandering ways, but my mouth still tastes sour. What is this feeling again? I feel like I’m losing all sense of identity in this place, just as these thieves are, metamorphosing into unrecognizable shapes in front of our eyes.

“I don’t think I’ll subject you to them, poppet,” the Fallen purrs, indifferent to the war within me. “As for these demons, I say we give it a good old fake-it-until-you-make-it try.”

I frown. “What do you mean?”

“Just that walking in like you own the place works ninety percent of the time.”

“You want to just casually stroll through?” Jess frowns down at Sariel, her cheek pressed against his temple.

He turns his head without warning, bringing their lips an inch apart. “Hold on to your bra straps, honeybunches.”

The girl’s dazed eyes are heavy-lidded as she whispers: “I’m not wearing a bra.”

“I know,” he breathes back, just as quietly.

I tug at my collar. “If you two are done flirting…”

Sariel faces me with a smirk. “Jealous?”

I growl under my breath. “Cease ascribing emotions to me.”

Heaven help me, Iamjealous. This sour, burning feeling is jealousy. I’m just not certain whether it’s him I am jealous of, or her.

“Both.”

I startle. “Excuse me?”

Sariel gives me a deadpan look. “I was answering Jess. She asked who the threat was; the snakes or the demons.”

Oh.

“But the demons elsewhere ignored us,” she says through a pout.

He reaches up to tug on her bottom lip and she waves him off, cringing. “That could’ve gone either way,” he murmurs distractedly, still looking at her lips.

“Let’s go,” I growl, leaving them and their damnable tension behind.

“He likes to walk away in a huff, doesn’t he?” Jess whispers, probably thinking I can’t hear her. Just like she thought I couldn’t hear her and Sariel at that cliff’s edge before we found ourselves in The Malebolge.

The fallen angel snorts and I hear his footsteps begin to follow mine. “It’s almost like he’s running away from something, isn’t it?” he says breezily, knowing well I’m listening.

Jessica scoffs and I can almost see her rolling her eyes in my mind’s eye. “Yeah, us.” She’s playing right into his hands.

“You think so?” Sariel asks with a heaping of mock innocence. “Are we that scary?”

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