Page 155 of Legacy of Temptation

He looked out over the harsh landscape where he’d grown up, hunting apples and, apparently, storm demons. He’d lived a life full of adventure and family, but one thing had been missing.

“Eva?”

She looked up at him. “Hmm?”

Dipping his head, he touched his lips to hers, lightly at first, but his depth of feeling for her called for more and more. In a few long, lingering heartbeats, he had her against the great stone wall. They couldn’t take it any further, not when the walls crawled with guards and the cameras saw everything.

But his body craved hers, and his heart craved everything else. “I love you,” he murmured against her mouth. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” she whispered, tugging him even closer.

Happiness spread through his veins…and then he remembered what she’d said about the false good luck the demon had brought her. He pulled back to look down at her. What if he’d only come into her life because of the demon?

“You said you need to reevaluate your life and the things the demon brought you. Am I part of that?”

“You,” she said, “are the reason I’m free to do that. I don’t know if I believed in kismet, destiny, or any of that before now, but I feel like this is how my life is supposed to go. It wasn’t the nightmare luck demon that put me on Limos’s island and turned me into a vessel for an angel’s Grace. It was something else. A sign, I guess. That I’m supposed to be here. With you. Always.”

Agreed. The signs were there. And they told him that Eva was his.

Always.

Epilogue

It was good to be king.

Well, not king, exactly. Zaphkiel’s position as Celestial Most High was far more illustrious than any king.

Smiling, he sat in the simple olive wood chair that had recently belonged to the Archangel Michael. The thing needed to be replaced. The last time Zaphkiel was in charge, he’d had a throne of gold and jewels, as befitting his grand position.

He trailed his finger over the worn wood, his gem-encrusted rings glistening in the radiant light that touched all in Heaven. The chair was beautiful in its simplicity, but if Michael thought that an elegant, but plain, wooden seat somehow made him appear humble, he was a fool.

“Are you going to tell me why I’m here?”

Lifting his gaze, Zaphkiel looked at Michael’s buddy, Gabriel. The male, draped in a filthy gray smock and chains, kneeled on the pearlescent floor, his multicolor hair matted and hanging in ropes, hatred coming off him in tangible waves.

Zaphkiel was loving it. He gestured to the other angel in the room.

“Tell him, Jophiel.”

The senior Throne, standing near the doorway, his gaze hooded, turned to Gabriel. “Your Ordeal date has been set. You’ll be tested and tried, and if you’re found guilty of collaborating with Azagoth to destroy Sheoul-gra, your punishment will be determined by the Council of Orders.”

“And what punishment will you recommend?” Gabriel growled. If glares could turn angels to ash, Jophiel would be a pile of embers.

Zaphkiel would pluck his own wing feathers if it meant he could see Gabriel tossed from Heaven in disgrace. His wings would be breathtaking if mounted on the wall in Throne Hall. Unfortunately, Zaphkiel doubted the Council of Orders would have the balls to give an Archangel the boot. Only one Archangel had ever lost his wings, and that had been thousands of years ago.

But Zaphkiel could live with the next best thing.

“I will recommend nine hundred years hanging in the Holy Grail.”

Time ran differently in what was considered angel purgatory, and nine hundred years would feel like nine thousand. Gabriel would probably be insane by the end of it, but that would only make him a fiercer weapon in the Final Battle against Satan.

“First person I’m coming after when I get out is you.” Gabriel swung his head to Jophiel. “And you’ll be next. You claimed to be Metatron’s friend, yet you stand with traitors.”

Which was exactly why Jophiel was here. He’d been one of the few voices speaking out against taking control from the Archangels. He’d chosen to side with the Thrones when the time came, but Zaphkiel wanted to keep an eye on him. Just to make sure he remained on their side. The real test would come when Gabriel was found guilty of collaborating with Azagoth to destroy Sheoul-gra. Jophiel headed the punitive council, and he had the authority to change the recommended punishment. Would he go light because of his allegiance to Metatron?

Jophiel’s expression was stone, his eyes cold as he strode over to the Archangel and stood before him. “I argued against the takeover, but know this, Gabriel. By helping Azagoth, you put the human world in jeopardy. The humans should never have been forced into accepting demons in their midst. You may have handed Satan the victory in the Final Battle, and you will pay.”

Gabriel bared his teeth.

---