Azrael’s head tips back with laughter. “Relax,macho man.You couldn’t get any more masculine if you tried.”
My lip curls as I drape an arm around his neck. “This is the worst.”
Violette giggles, watching us with nothing short of adoration.
Azrael’s chuckle dies on a grunt as his arms curve around my back, behind my knees, and lift me into the air. “Fuck, I need to get my magic back. You weigh as much as a drakonati.”
My mind flickers back to the female who flew past us. The memory still makes me feel uneasy, but before I linger any more on it, Azrael’s wings give a few powerful flaps, and we’re lifted into the air.
Violette’s wings lift her effortlessly into the air beside us, despite her exhaustion. I can’t help but be a little awed. Even if I am being carried bridal-style in Azrael’s arms. It’s the first timeI’ve seen her fly, and I realize then that I would do, and give, anything to give her more moments like this.
To fly andbe free.
“How’re we doing,princess?”
Azrael’s words snap me out of my reverie, and I give a derisive snort of laughter.
He chuckles as we both recall our shared euphoria in the forest. His lips press against the top of my head as his arms tighten around me, and despite it being such a wildly foreign sensation to receive affection this way, my heart squeezes nonetheless.
As does my tail, that’s wrapped around his upper thigh.
We landwithin walking distance of an inn that’s hidden somewhere among the trees on the mountainside. While I can’tseethe inn just yet, I can certainly hear it. The sun has just barely begun to set, and already music roars from it. My nerdy little heart thumps excitedly in my chest in anticipation of entering an actual tavern. One that is, I imagine, filled with various beings I’ve only read about or seen in films.
When we finally round the bend in the winding dirt road, there is a group of what I can only assume are... demons? Although they don’t look particularly malevolent, they merely have horns, pointed ears, fascinating shades of blue or purple skin, and sinuous wings. As we get closer, I can see super-fine threads of light decorating their skin, and I have to force myself not to stare.
My gaze snaps to Azrael as he mutters a curse.
“What’s wrong?”
He keeps his head deliberately turned away from them, facing Violette, so I casually pick up my pace to block their view of him. In my peripheral view, I see one of them tilt his head and narrow his eyes in our direction.
Azrael keeps his face angled away from the crowd as we enter the tavern. Thankfully, the live group of musicians has the majority of the crowd facing the stage. Violette leads us towards the bar. The bartender—a male orc—approaches us. His eyes dart from Violette to me, and then Azrael, whose head is craned so far down it makes my neck hurt just looking at him.
“Lodging?”
Violette heaves a sigh of relief, like a warm bed can’t come fast enough.“Please.”
VIOLETTE
Fuck, I’m exhausted. And beyond relieved to finally have proper lodging. Azrael blessedly sweeps me off my aching feet to carry me up the stairs as Levi leads us towards our room for the night. As reality hits, fear coils around my heart, like a serpent, its prey.
When we leave here, we’ll be leaping into dangerous and bloody waters.
I still don’t want to face my father, but it’s an inevitability I’ve delayed for too long, and now that I finally have my two males with me—whether or not we share a traditionalsoulbond—our souls are inarguably linked in some precious way that will forever inspire my thanks and praise to Akash.
Cradled in Azrael’s arms, toes curled in my boots, Azrael’s nose grazes my dirty brow. “Want me to run you a bath, seraphim?”
With my face buried in Azrael’s broad chest, I take solace in his scent. The distinct metal-on-metal sound of a key sliding into a lock, followed by the creaking of door hinges, triggers an immense rush of relief that we will soon be able to bathe and sleep in a proper bed.
Five days we bathed in ice-cold river water.
Four days of foraging and sustaining ourselves off of almost nothing but berries because we weren’t allowed to kill anything.
It honestly feels like it’s been an eternity since I’ve eaten a bloody complex carbohydrate.
Four nights we slept on the ground; three of which were spent on ice-cold snow.
Fuck me, it is not merely a possibility, but a certainty that I am going to ugly cry tears of joy when I finally sink into a hot bath.