Finally, their leader sighs, seeming annoyed that nobody else would supply an explanation. “The Adversary is a bogeyman made up by the Elohim to separate us from ouripseity—our individual identities. My people are called the Adonai.”
“Oh? Does it bother you when someone doesn’t call you the name you prefer to go by?” I laugh sardonically. “Hypocritical as always,Lucifer.”
Ana snickers again. “I like her already.”
“Thank you, Ana. My name is Kae, by the way. Just Kae.”
She brightens immediately, seeming to feed off the attention. “Hi, Kae! We’re the Adonai Secretarii. We’ve been Azael’s closest advisors since before the resurrection.”
“You mean like… Jesus? Or…?”
“No, notthatresurrection,” Zaq says from beside me. “Ours.”
“It took a lot to get Azael out,” Amezarak grumbles, his voice regal and quiet.
Oh... I’ve been wondering how that happened.
My realization must be evident, because Azael growls.Actually growls.Like a dog—except a bit lower, shorter, and quieter. It’s bizarre and unusual.
I bring my eyes back to him, half expecting to see a beast in his chair.
“What?” Ana chirps, unfazed. “You didn’t say what we could and couldn’t tell her.”
“Details about my escape are off the menu,” Azael warns, shooting her a dark look that knocks the smirk right off her face.
Perfect. I’m successfully creating chaos for the God of Chaos—uh, Guardian, or whatever he called himself. I have no intention of stoppingnow.
“Oh, don’t worry, you can trust me,” I purr, flashing Ana a devious smile.
To my delight, she pales.
“Ignore her threats,” Azael says flatly, stealing my thunder. “She’s harmless.”
Harmless.Sure. They can go ahead and think that. It’d serve me much better if they didn’t suspect I was capable of doing whatever needs to be done to escape from here. Even now, I feel the pressure of the Aether building again?—
“Quit lying to yourself, Kaelene,” Azael adds.
Oh, that asshole.
I stab my knife into the table. “Youneed to get off your high fucking horse and stop thinking you know everything because you’re older than dirt. You’re a hypocritical, manipulative piece of shit with a God complex. There’s nothing special about that. It’s a dime a dozen with your kind.”
The table falls completely silent.
I sweep my gaze across their faces, daring any of them to challenge me.
They don’t. Instead, they all suddenly seem very interested in looking at their food, and not the steadily rising temper of their leader. If I’m not mistaken, the temperature of the room seems to drop a few degrees, too.
A few moments later, Zaq clears his throat to say, “Perhaps we should dismiss early.”
“Excellent idea,” Bat agrees immediately after him, jumping to his feet to usher everyone out of the room.
As soon as they’re gone, Azael begins his insufferable low-rolling musing again: “They can be a bit of a handful at times, but at least they know when to shut up, unlike some people.”
Red-hot anger boils up inside of me. “You?—”
He cuts me off by clicking his tongue, and I feel the warnings of his painful magic writhing in my wrists. Looking down, I expect to see somekind of vice grip around them. But instead, I find it’smyhands that are glowing.
My lips twitch into a snarl, but I make an effort to calm myself. Whatever wall I managed to throw between the Aether and me, it’s paper-thin. I can’t afford a complete lapse of control. I’ll have the ceiling caving in on me if I do.
