I growled and glared at him.“Something fucking stronger.Can you do it, or are you that incompetent?”
He got the damn hint and poured me blood.It wasn’t what I loved.I hated the fucking taste, but it was enough to hurt.I wanted to hurt.I wanted to feel again.Since I had been down here, I had pushed that side of me away.
But Raphaela had brought it all back.I had been a dick to Dani and Eros yesterday.Letting them go.Pushing them away.Getting too caught up in Raphaela to see that I loved them.
Love.
Really.Truely.Loved.Them.
I’d never thought I’d ever feel that way again since I had fallen from Heaven.Told Eros to stay away from me.Broke our relationship for hundreds of years for selfish reasons—because I had known he was my weakness and that if I wanted to rule all of Hell, I couldn’t be weak.
I glanced at the grand entrance for Dani and Eros.They were never late—at least not this late.Dani loved the parties in Pride, and Eros loved me.They wouldn’t miss it.Eros had even told me they’d be here … so why?Where the fuck were they?
Raphaela continued to stare at me from across the way, giving me those seductive eyes that I’d never thought I’d see from her.
Fuck, this blood tasted bad.I didn’t know why the heavens anyone drank this shit.
“More,” I said to the bartender.“Make it stronger.”
Hurt.Pain.Love.Lust.
That was all I wanted to feel.That was how they had felt yesterday.That was how Eros had sounded over the phone.That was why they weren’t fucking here.I wasted—ruined—my chance at ever being with himandher without some heartbreak.
After finishing off the next one, I slammed the glass on the counter and struggled to stand up.Fuck it.I was going to find them.Yet, just when I thought they weren’t coming, the double doors opened, and they walked in.Dressed in her finest traditional Lust clothing, Dani had her arm curled around Eros’s, her chest up, her back straight, her eyes fixed directly on me.
Forty-One
They didn’t come rightto me like they usually did.Instead, they stayed by their kingdom, talking and chatting with other Lusts, sitting at the end of the table, gaze flickering to me every so often.I stared at them, wondering where the hell my pride had gone.Why was I suddenly afraid to go over there, afraid to speak to them?Heavens, I didn’t know what to say.
After about fifteen minutes of Dani smirking at me with those damn sinful eyes, I took a deep breath and walked over to them, trying not to stumble on my way there.
“Look who it is,” I said, feeling both light and heavy on the inside.“Finally decided to show up.”
“We were deciding if we wanted to even come at all,” Dani said before Eros even got the chance to open his mouth.
He sipped on his Passion Delight and stared at me.And for the first time, I couldn’t read him.
He was always easy to read.Either wanted to fuck, wanted to talk, or wanted me to love him.But now … now things were different so suddenly, and I wondered how the fuck Raphaela could change my entire life in the span of a day.
“Oh, darling, you wouldn’t miss a party in Pride,” I said … but I was beginning to think she was serious.That this wasn’t all an act.That she meant what she said and didn’t want to just get a rise out of me.
We sat in silence for a few moments.
I glanced over at Eros.“You wouldn’t miss one either.”
My lips curled into a smirk, yet they faltered when he grumbled something, wrapped his arm around Dani, and looked toward Biast, who stood in the middle of the Wraths, fire burning from his hands.
Dani snorted and rolled her hazy hazel eyes.“I can’t believe he’s going to be the next commander,” she said, relaxing only slightly to lighten the mood.
Biast gazed over at us.“What the fuck are you looking at?”
“You,” Dani said.
Eros tensed beside her, straightening his back when he stalked over.
“What about me?”he asked through clenched teeth.“If it’s about my father, I will?—”
“You’ll what, Biast?”She tilted her head and let out an angelic laugh.“Kill me too?”When he turned around and stormed away, she smirked.“I thought so.”
