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It wasn’t until the end that Neo finally decided to speak his mind, choosing to stay behind with me when Reese headed back to her own room. My eyebrows climbed at that, seeing as the two had once been nearly inseparable, and his jaw flexed to watch her leave.
“What’s going on with your mate?” he asked.
I blinked up at him, uncomprehending for a moment before my brow furrowed. “Huh?”
“You really haven’t noticed? The man is practically radiating sunshine and shitting rainbows.”
“Okay, first off, let’s not be disrespectful. Sariel’s been going through a lot lately.” My wolf bared her teeth when he rolled his eyes. “And second, so what if he’s in a better mood? He’s not miserable all the time, you know.”
“Aria.” Neo’s tone was patient, bordering on patronizing. “Something’s not right. His whole demeanor is off; I think—”
“I’m not doing this. There’s nothing wrong with him, Neo. Thanks for checking on him, though; I’m sure he’ll be glad to know you care.”
I brushed off the rest of what he was trying to say and turned to leave, but he shocked me by gripping my wrist.
“Don’t tell him I was asking after him.”
Thatcomes out urgent, and I give him a disgruntled look.
“Seriously, Aria,” he pressed.
I agreed just to get him to let go of me, but he still looked worried when I turned to leave.
What had gotten into him? Neo and Sariel couldn’t be considered best friends or anything, but trying to accuse him of—what? Being body snatched? That was insane.
Training flew by that evening, and I was giddy to realize that Sariel had come to watch some of it, grinning at me even though Atlan was definitely using me as a punching bag. The twins had finally deemed me fit to actually practice combat instead of the weird dances they were doing with each fighting stance, and ever since, things had become increasingly painful.
Since the Resistance had witches onsite, they did not hold back. I’d had a shattered tailbone and bruised ribs the first night, but thankfully Zuzanna had been willing to help me heal the worst of it free of charge. Some of the others made a point to uphold the old traditions about making deals for assistance, but I couldn’t recall any of them denying anyone while I was around, no matter what was offered.
“You did amazing,” Sariel complimented me when I fell into his arms, practically purring.
My wolf perked up, but then settled again, seemingly bored. It was a weird reaction to him, considering how eager she usually was to climb him like a tree, but I didn’t linger on it for long.
Or, well, I couldn’t. Heat built between my legs and zinged through me so suddenly I almost thought I’d imagined it when it faded.
“I try, but man, they don’t mess around,” I said.
He rubbed circles into my sore shoulders. I shivered, pressing a kiss to his collarbone.
“Just think of how prepared you’ll be when shit hits the fan,” he teased, and I could hear the grin in his voice. “Maybe all this work will actually be useful.”
“Or—and hear me out, here,” I started, smiling when he chuckled at my mock-seriousness, “we could hope the war stops altogether and Azazel drops dead somewhere.”
Once I said so, I found that I actually did really wish that would happen. So many lives were being wasted on this stupid war, and for what?
“I bet that could work, actually,” I continued. “Kiyomasa said the Resistance tried it once, right? If we clear out the bad eggs, I bet Barimuz and Elias would side with us. Maybe we could convince them to try coming up with a new peace treaty.”
He went rigid suddenly, but when I looked up to see whatever had set him off, he shrugged and pulled my attention back to him. “I think Barimuzisa bad egg.”
I shoved him, frowning a bit.
Maybe I was just sentimental over our bonding while he’d been possessing Neo—a pang of guilt hit me at that—but he’d seemed… well, notnicesince the demon had threatened our friends literally the last time we saw him, but he was less “evil” and more focused on the chaotic Lucifer’s bidding. Since he was a member of the Council, it was definitely worth at leasttryingto befriend and lure him to our side of things.
“He’s notthatbad,” I argued. His face was unreadable for a beat before a small smile tilted his lips. “If anything, he’s just super loyal—which is great if we could earn some of it instead of Lucifer just hoarding it all.”
At that, he outright laughed and pressed a kiss to the top of my head when I pouted up at him. “What? It’s a good idea!”
“It is,” Sariel agreed, petting my hair back from my face. “Lucifer would have to agree with us for him to vote in our favor, though, which is easier said than done. I think he’d laugh in our faces if we asked.”
