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“Well?”
“I’m sorry I left you,” Casziel says. “I’m sorry I didn’t consider your feelings, but how was I to know you had any? You know how it is with our kind. You can trust no one.”
“Ourkind. How droll. You are no longermykind. You’ve been freed.”
Casziel takes a step to me. “I was freed because of Lucy. Because I love her. There is love in you, too. It didn’t begin with Cole, but he brought it out of the shadows, and it is so very bright. Ambri, don’t you see? There’s hope for you too.”
I want so badly to believe him, but that way lies pain. Another betrayal. Abandonment. I should storm out and yet I remain rooted to the floor, that precious book under my hand.
“You had the help of an angel,” I say. “I have none.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I’ve been wrestling with this bloody fucking assignment from the moment it was commanded of me, and there’s been no help. Nothing that lets me feel that I’m being watched over, even a little. Oh, except that I’m to die. Does that sound like hope to you?” My voice cracks and I angrily blink back the tears that threaten. “There is nothing that tells me I’m not doing this alone.”
“Maybe you’re not listening hard enough,” Cas says gently.
Outrage burns through me at his calm certainty. “I sold my soul to Ashtaroth—remember him? I burned my own flesh to remind myself of how I’ve been ruined time and again by humans and even that isn’t enough.”
“If you love Cole, nothing will be enough,” Casziel says. “If you love him, you will die a thousand deaths, burn to ash a thousand times for him. To protect him. To save him.” He moves closer and grips me by both shoulders. “If you love him, Ambri, you need no angel to tell you what’s in your heart. That love will save you. I swear it.”
“We’re throwing the L word around a little generously, aren’t we?” I say weakly.
He pins me with a hard look. “You tell me.”
And in that moment, for the first time in centuries, I’m at a complete loss for words. What I feel for Cole defies definition. It’s certainly nothing I’ve ever felt before—a terrifying and exhilarating blend of emotions that made what I’d felt for Armand pale by comparison. A tiny flicker to a blazing inferno.
I look to Casziel, wanting so badly to believe him and terrified down to my bones at the same time. “Let’s presume what you’re saying is true. How does it save me?”
“I don’t think we’re meant to know exactly how,” he says. “Only that it will.”
My shoulders slump and I pull out of his touch.
“That’s very helpful, thank you,” I mutter. “I’ll be sure to remember that while I’m being torn limb from limb in an archduke’s dungeon for all eternity.”
He grimaces and I wave a hand.
“Fear not. I’m letting Cole go. The night of the show. Tell Lucy. Assure her that I won’t let anything happen to him.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’ll tell my liege lord that I failed. Or that Cole’s not our ideal victim.” I smile wanly. “I might have one good lie left in me. One that might save my arse.”
But even as I speak it, I know nothing will pacify Asmodai. I’ll pay for my weakness. It’s the only thing I can be certain of.
Casziel is watching me. “What about Cole?”
“The Twins might come back when I’m gone. I’ll warn him against them and—”
“No, Ambri,” he says gravely. “What is going to become of Cole if you vanish out of his life?”
I frown, confused. “He’ll have all the fame and success he’s ever dreamt of.”
“And a broken heart.”
“Over me? Hardly. His work will sustain him. Success is a potent magnet. Adoring fans and admirers will flock to him. Other artists will clamor to be near him. He’ll find someone else on whom to shower his bottomless care and compassion.”
“You make it sound easier than I suspect it will be, when he loves you as he does.”
