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He took another step closer, and she dropped her gaze to his lips, unable to handle the intensity anymore. “Even if I leash you like a dog? Even if I decide to flay this pretty skin from your flesh?”
This time when he reached out, he didn’t react to her flinch. He simply ran the tip of his finger over the line of her jaw.
“I’m not asking you to protect me from you.” Soraya swallowed, knowing she could lose, but these odds were better than they’d be if she didn’t agree to this deal. “I’m asking you to protect me from everything else.”
Asmodeus tipped her chin up, forcing her to look into his eyes.
She thought for sure he was going to demand an explanation before agreeing to swear to such a thing, but he surprised her.
“I swear on the soul of my eldest brother, Lucifer Morningstar, that if you lose to me, I will protect you from anyone and anything that tries to harm you, excluding myself.”
Her eyes closed against her will as relief suffused her entire body. That was one thing handled at least.
Soraya could feel her eyes burning.
The weight of the last few centuries didn’t feel as heavy as they had just moments ago.
When she opened her eyes, he was watching her way too closely, but strangely she was no longer afraid of him now that he’d given her a promise. Asmodeus may be a psycho, but he never broke an oath or a deal. Everything he did had a purpose.
He wouldn’t be cruel to her for no reason.
Impossible and demanding? Most definitely. But he wouldn’t torture her unless she deserved it.
Those traitorous tears spilled down her face and she couldn’t decide if she was furious with him for evoking these emotions or grateful.
It almost looked like he was going to say something – ask her why she was crying, but Soraya pushed his hand off her face and nodded once. “Then I accept your deal.”
Was he like the devil Leviathan? Did he seal his deal with a kiss, or with something far more violent?
“You should feel honored,” he told her as he took her hand in his. “It’s not every day I make a deal.”
The skin on her wrist burned and she hissed in a breath, yanking her hand out of his.
Soraya pulled up the sleeve of her leather jacket to see an intricate golden tattoo on the inside of her wrist with an infernal dragon in the center.
The seal of Asmodeus – the Prince of Demons and Lust.
Ironic that she wore his mark whether she won or lost.
But it was best not to waste any time.
Summoning her angel blade, she drove it deep into his side, slicing through his flesh and bones like it was nothing.
“I’m sorry,” she told him, feeling more tears run down her face when he looked down at in her shock. “But I can’t go back.”
Before he could do anything about the blade in his gut, Soraya yanked it out and slid it back into that secret pocket she’d made – one only she could access.
She was already running before she’d even fully pulled it out of his body, taking advantage of his shock and pain before his supernatural healing kicked in. Since it was an angel’s blade, it would take him longer than usual to heal, but that didn’t mean much when it came to an archangel.
Asmodeus would heal before she knew it and she had to be ready.
Tapping into that immortal speed for the first time since she’d finished the contract that had brought her here, she ran. Planting her foot on the wall, she jumped from one to the other until she was high enough to pull herself up and over.
Now that she was on the roof, she didn’t have to worry about humans seeing her and Soraya didn’t hold back. She jumped from roof to roof, running for the abandoned cathedral where she could demand sanctuary – where she could make a deal for it if nothing else.
Once she stepped foot on that desecrated ground, Asmodeus couldn’t touch her.
Then a roar filled with wrath rattled the world.
