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With a cry of primal rage and the need to protect Fay, I threw myself against Seth, pinning him with a knife against the now closed elevator door. His fingers locked around my wrists as my hands pressed the blade against his windpipe.
"Azazel," his eyes beseeched me to let go.
My nostrils flared as we struggled. Me trying to push the blade into his skin, him holding my hands at bay.
I leaned my full weight into him. I should have ended him right then. But somehow, the idea saddened me. I didn't understand why, but even through the haze of my rage, I understood that he wasn't attacking me. He could have kicked out, struggled more; instead, his eyes connected with mine and he defensively pushed against my knife arm. Our chests were so close they touched, and that's when I felt it.
Ka-thump.
I blinked in surprise.
Ka-thump.
Seth told Behlial earlier that he and Lilith had bonded, but I hadn't fully appreciated what that meant for him. I should have, because it was the same for me when my heart began to beat the minute I held Fay.
Ka-thump.
Astounded, I leaned back and stared at him.
It didn't take much strength on his part to push my hands away from him. I had never been as vulnerable to anybody as I was to him in that moment. Stunned might have been the closest word to describing my emotions.
We had been raised as brothers, even though in reality we weren't related, but for the first time in my over three hundred years of life, I felt as if he were my true brother.
Both our hearts were beating.
"You bonded," I said, astonished.
His palm reached out for my chest, lying flat against it, and the tiniest smile curved his lips. "So have you."
We stared at each other.
"I don't want to kill you, Seth," I gave words to my emotions. Emotions that had haunted me most of my life. Some of mybrothers, I would have gladly dispatched, and some, like Seth, I deeply cared for thanks to Ishtar, who had always insisted we were brothers and should honor one another.
Seth laughed. "Well, the feeling is mutual."
He regarded me shrewdly, as if he had a plan on how to avoid our inevitable fate.
"There is another way, Azazel."
Was there?
How could there be?
This same kind of quest had played out so many times, nobody counted them any longer. The result was always the same: seven princes fought, one prince survived, theAsphodelreturned to Elysian to unload Nayphyllyms and Tainted, took on a new round of nobles, only to reenact the same quest all over again.
"Some of us are planning to overthrow Behlial," Seth confided, staring at me as if he could read deep within my soul to find out if I would betray his plan.
"Who is with you?"
"So far, Marduk and Grigori." Seth kept looking at me intently.
With Nergal and Balaam dead, that only left Abaddon and me, and after Abaddon's latest stunt, I doubted Behlial would allow him to live much longer. Behlial was as incensed as I had ever seen him. I rubbed my chin. I liked those odds.
"What about the guards?"
Seth made a dismissive gesture with his hand. "Some of them are on our side, the others will be dealt with."
"The guards are well trained," I cautioned, "and they have the gargoyles."
