He watched, mesmerized, terrified, fuckingawedby its otherworldly beauty as it crept up the door and licked at the ceiling. It seemed to be eating the very air but left no damage in its path, no blackened plaster or blistering paint.
Across the room, Jacinda stood with her hands raised, her lush mouth parted, eyes shining with the barest hint of the dark power he’d seen in the water last night. Flames roiled and churned at her command, following a liquid path across the ceiling, straight back to the witch-demon.
Hellfire rained down upon her shoulders, flame by flame, vanishing beneath her skin until there wasn’t a single trace of it left. She lowered her head and met Gabriel’s gaze, the last of the silver-blue hellfire flickering in her eyes, then fading.
It was horrifying. It was beautiful. And in that moment, Gabriel had never feared her more.
Neverwantedher more, either, and there was that damned devil on his shoulder again, pushing him in the wrong fucking direction.
He stalked toward her. One step, two, three, just like he’d counted in his head, and then he had her backed up and pinned against the glass balcony doors, no escape.
Not unless she wanted to incinerate him.
She pressed her hands against his chest, her touch warm and defiant, the threat in her eyes clear.
“Do it,” he dared, half wishing she would. Half wishing she’d end this fucking nightmare existence once and for all. “Light me up, little moonflower. Watch meburn.”
He felt the heat gathering in her hands. Felt it radiating through his blood-stained shirt. His skin.
Deep in his lungs, the first ember caught. Smoldered. Made his eyes water.
“Do it,” he whispered hoarsely, barely holding back a cough. “Fucking do it.”
She quirked an elegant eyebrow.
He wondered if it would be quick. Wondered if it would hurt. Wondered if she’d be waiting for him on the other side of hell.
But Jacinda wouldn’t give him the chance to find out.
She dropped her hands, clenching them into fists at her sides. The heat dissipated, leaving nothing but the faint taste of smoke and brimstone in his mouth.
Gabriel grabbed her jaw, tilted her face up. Forced her to meet his gaze.
“Make your move, dickhead,” she practically hissed. “My three minutes are up.”
“You’re not even going to try to explain yourself?”
“Why? Nothing I say will make a damn bit of difference. You made that quite clear with your little speech this morning—you don’t trust me.”
“And why the fuck should I?”
“Because I… You’re…” She tried valiantly to hold on to her righteous anger, but it dimmed as swiftly as the hellfire, her eyes welling with tears, all the sharp edges of her voice turning soft. “I’m sorry. I never meant… I wanted to tell you about Viansa’s connection to the curse, but there was never a right time, and everything last night happened so fast…”
“You’re sorry? That’s it? Sorry you lied about your sister and the curse? Sorry you forgot to tell me you’re part demon? Sorry a dangerous succubus is loose in a city of nine million humans, not to mention countless supernaturals, every one of them at risk? Sorry you planned to kill me, resurrect me, and leave me trapped in a life of misery as a fucking mindless gray?”
“I’m sorry for all of it.”
“Sorry,” he repeated, as if it were a foreign word whose translation he just couldn’t grasp, no matter how many times he heard it.
“More than you know, Prince.”
Still gripping her jaw, Gabriel brought his mouth close to hers. Did everything in his fucking power to ignore the taste of her cloves-and-cinnamon breath, the memory of her kiss, the dark craving clawing through his chest, kicking his heart into overdrive.
The red dress from last night still clung to her curves, and the sight of it sent him right back to the boathouse. His other hand clenched tight, itching to touch the fabric again. To push it up to her waist, exposing her thighs. To pull her close and fuck her hot and hard against the wall, just as he had in that boathouse, until they cracked the plaster and chased off every last doubt festering between them.
Gabriel released her jaw and dragged his thumb across her lips, mesmerized by their soft, pillowy feel. By the hitch in her breath. By the light in her eyes.
All of it made his heart ache.
