Page 79 of Sorrow & Strangers

He doesn’t move, doesn’t speak. He just holds me close and watches me try to figure a way out, and I’m not sure how, but I can almost feel his heat seeping into me. Is it because of our proximity to the veil and the exposure to the magic required to secure it in this realm? Though I don’t feel weak, the opposite, in fact.

“I can do it myself,” I say stubbornly, but my voice no longer holds any surety or confidence. “I don’t need you,” I throw out, doubling down, but it does fuck-all except make my initial argument less believable.

He splays his hand against my lower back and fits me tighter against his massive, solid form. He releases my wrist and brings his other hand up to cup my face, brushing his thumb along the curve of my cheek, and my traitorous head tilts a little for him.

“Ask me to help you. To keep you safe.” His voice is inviting, and I feel like a snake being charmed, coaxed from the safety of my basket.

My lips part as my breath hitches, and I feel myself bending toward him. The halo hums, pulling me back to myself, but I can sense that Connor is gently urging me to accept his protection. I bristle at being ganged up on, and I clear my throat, pulling away from him and ignoring the pang of loss that stabs at me as his hands fall away.

“Let’s just fucking do this,” I grumble, turning away from him to look at the trees again. Now, instead of sadness radiating from them, I feel a sort of intimacy. I’m desperately trying to get away from the stranger, but my roots are tangled with his. If I could, I would rip every single one of them from the ground in order to be free of him, but this isn’t about me.

This is about Rafe.

Rafe needs me, and so I will endure.

Chapter Forty

The Stranger

Ispent two weeks keeping my distance from her as she coped with Rafe. During that time, I quietly monitored her and strengthened the wards on her house and the dome that surrounds the school. Lucifer is not an adversary anyone takes lightly. He is just one more enemy who’d delight in taking her from me. There are so many threats against her, but he would use her to strike at her adopted brother.

Even with the looming threat of war between Eden and Hell, it is only one of the many apocalyptic events that could take place at any moment across the realms. There is more going on in the world than just their conflict, and Lucifer has his fingers on the pulse of each of them. He is cunning and willing to do things that his counterpart, Michael, is not. He interferes with other realms, moving his allies like pawns on a chessboard and not hesitating to make enemies. If the war begins, I am not sure which side will emerge victorious.

And now, that malicious being has its sights set on her.

How does the list of chains between us keep growing? Despite meticulously crossing off those who would take her from me, another has been added, and this chain will not be as easily dealt with as the others. How many lives have I taken in the last year just to get a little closer? How many more will fall by my hand with Lucifer now in the picture?

What does it matter? They will all fall to me in the end.

There is no end for us that isn’t our bones and ash mixed as one. She is my beginning and end, as I am hers, first and last breath.

Right now, I need to deal with her recklessly trying to go to the one place she should be avoiding at all costs. Grabbing her arm, I spin her into me hard, watching in satisfaction as those dark, angelic wings of death vanish. So fucking reckless, as if she could so easily pass as an angel of death? At the end of the day, her guardian angel of death was still a boy, unaware of this new world he’d been thrust into. How would he know that angels of death are more conspicuous than any other creature that calls Hell home? If I hadn’t been watching . . . fool.

I drop my avatar to reveal my new glamour. I’ve created and perfected many of them over the years. It is one of my skills that will aid her in this foolish mission. In this demon form, I have long silver hair that reaches my waist, dark eyes, and I am a few inches shorter. My height makes me stand out in most crowds, and as an assassin, it is usually best not to be noticed. The glamour I form for her will not be as seamless as mine, but it will still be quite well-crafted.

Absently, I cut my thumb and draw a rune on her shoulder, keeping her internal clock on this realm’s time. If she accidentally adjusted to Hell’s clock, it would be a brutal shift back with the massive, accelerated time change. I push my will into it and watch as it takes effect. It ripples over her skin, fitting itself to her form and adjusting her appearance until it perfects itself.

I can’t bear to change her features too drastically. I am a selfish and greedy creature who wants as close to the real thing as I can get, but I do change her eyes to obsidian and hair to black, with bloodred horns emerging from the ebony strands. Her outfit is what most female demons prefer. The slick leather strap wrapped around her chest barely covers her breasts, and the tiny, well-tailored shorts leave a lot of her beautiful skin exposed.

Focus!

Lifting her chin, I draw two more runes, one to translate her words into Infernal, and the second to conceal the first. The translation rune I invented myself, made from Daoine Sith and Infernal combined. I have utilized runes like it in the past when I needed to stalk a target. My fingers hum at the contact, and I can’t remember the last time I felt such soft skin. And touching Summer⁠—

Need to focus.

She glares at me but doesn’t move as I concentrate. “You didn’t have to make the shorts this short.”

My eyes narrow as I finish the rune, watching as it turns iridescent on her skin and then vanishes. “It’s how they dress,” I explain with a slight shrug.

As if I’d dress her like this on purpose. I don’t like her showing what already belongs to me. My claws dig into my palm, cutting into it. Having just the glamours between us is already fucking with my control. Things are muted when I wear my avatar, and now with that veil lifted, her scent and the heat of her skin feel like an assault on my senses. As if I weren’t already insanely possessive of her, this is only making it worse. I failed to realize how much the avatar kept the more insane part of me in check around her.

“Can we just go?” she asks, yanking out of my hold.

I sigh and reach out, wrapping my arm around her again and pulling her back against me. “Brat. You need to stay close for this,” I say.

Do I need to have my arm around her? No, but her warmth seeping into my side is something I am not going to pass on. I will not deny myself the softness of her curves or the sweet scent drifting off her. She huffs and crosses her arms over her chest but doesn’t pull away. From my height and with her defiant position, her cleavage is a tempting view. Clenching my jaw until my teeth ache, I wave my hand toward the forever-entwined trees. The space between the leaning trunks sparks with hellfire, and I walk us through it.

Had she sensed this portal to Hell? Annwn is the nexus of such stray locations. This must be the same gate that Lucifer has been using to come and go as he pleases. Unfortunately, permanent portals like this cannot be moved. Even as I parade her through his realm like I don’t have a care in the world, I know I’ll need to figure out a way to keep the King of Hell out of Annwn and away from my little fae.