But her sense of relief was short lived. His mouth was a grim slash, and his glacial, calculating gaze left her feeling trapped, as if he was a gladiator and she was a declawed, defanged lion. For a split-second, she reconsidered grabbing a weapon. Instead, she squared her stance and met him head on.
“I’ve been exploring your buildings,” she said, going on the offensive. “Seems you left some information out.”
“Your righteous anger falls flat, given that you withheld shit from me too.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about—” Suddenly, they were no longer standing in the arena. They were back in Azagoth’s library, and as he gestured to the chronoglass, her gut twisted.
“You failed to mention that you can time travel.”
Oh, shit. “It wasn’t a secret.” Not...really. The truth just complicated things. Things like trying to steal a chronoglass. “But out of curiosity, how did you find out?”
“A lot of people owe me a lot of favors,” he bit out impatiently. “Now, why did you keep this news away from me?”
She swallowed. She’d always been a horrible liar. Every angel had to go through espionage ability screening as a youth, and she’d gotten a record low score. Nothing like being notorious for being the worst at something.
“Answer me,” he demanded. “Is it because you thought you could run away? Breaking news, Angelcake, it won’t work. This device only works for an hour at a time...unless you break out of the shrowd.” He smiled, enjoying her discomfort. “Which is something you seem to be okay with.”
She inhaled sharply. “What do you know about that?”
“Does it matter? If it makes you feel any better, I don’t give a shit what crimes you committed in the past. But let’s be clear on one thing; down here, you don’t fuck with me. So tell me, are you planning to escape using the chronoglass?”
“That would be stupid. I’d be bringing Enforcers down on my head. I’d spend every minute looking over my shoulder for them. Eventually they’d find me and kill me.” She folded her arms over her chest and glared. “And don’t call me Angelcake.”
“Enforcers won’t find you if you cut off your wings.” He ran his tongue over his teeth as if savoring the uncomfortable pause. “Angelcake.”
Asshole. But the asshole was right. Any angel who cut off his or her wings became instantly undetectable to angelic senses. Any angel who would normally “feel” another angel’s presence under certain variable circumstances wouldn’t register her at all. Even face to face, an unobservant angel could very well believe the wingless angel was human.
“I’m not cutting off my wings,” she assured him. “I hate pain, and seriously, why is this such a big deal anyway?”
“It’s a big deal because you kept it from me for a reason. I want to know the reason. I don’t tolerate deception. I’d tell you to ask my last assistant about my low tolerance, but his soul is busy being tortured and buttfucked in the Inner Sanctum.” He laughed. “Buttfucked in the Sanctum. Get it?”
Apparently, the males of all species remained children no matter how old they got. “I get it. Sanctum sounds like rectum.” She rolled her eyes. “So clever.”
His smile remained, but his eyes were shards of ice. “Now, the truth. Why did you act like you barely knew what a chronoglass was while failing to tell me you could use it?” He snapped his fingers imperiously. “Let’s hear it. My patience is wearing thin.”
If he snapped his fingers again, she was going to break them. “Maybe I just wanted something for myself,” she said. “I’m in a strange place, expected to mate with a strange male, and I have nothing of my own. Not even clothes, because somehow they’ve been delayed. So maybe I wanted an hour to myself now and then, outside of here.” She glared. “Jackass.”
Even though she’d called him a jackass, the shards of ice in his gaze melted a little, just enough to dull the sharp edges. “I can...understand that.”
Holy shit, he’d bought it? Then again, it was the truth. If there had been no hope of getting out of this deal by stealing the mirror, she’d have felt exactly as she’d just said.
He stepped forward so suddenly she jumped. “Take me someplace.”
“Excuse me?”
He stepped closer, but if he thought he could intimidate her with his height, he was an idiot. She’d gone through battle training with males far taller and bigger than he was.
None of those males, however, could hold a candle to Azagoth’s lethal elegance and oozing sensuality. It was as if he had been born for killing and sex. The battle angel in her could appreciate the former. The female in her definitely appreciated the latter. And the thing that sucked was that she shouldn’t be appreciating anything about him. He wasn’t exactly an enemy, but neither was he someone she could afford to get attached to.
“Take me someplace,” he repeated.
She tipped her head back to meet his gaze. “Ask nicely.”
“Take me someplace...please.”
“You could have at least made an attempt to make it not sound like an order.”
Clenching his teeth, he ground out, “Will you please take me someplace.”
Well, it wasn’t quite what she was hoping for, but she doubted it would get any better. Besides, she was ready to get out of here for a while. “Fine,” she said. “But you should know that I’ll have full use of my powers once I’m outside your realm.”
One corner of his mouth twitched. “Should I consider that a warning?”
“Just don’t be surprised if you find yourself riding a bolt of lightning if you piss me off.”
“I’m into kinky shit, so that works.”
He gripped her palm, and she sucked in a sharp breath at the shock of awareness that shot up her arm. She stole a glance at Azagoth, but apparently he hadn’t felt a thing, because he was as snarly-faced as ever.
Well...good. They didn’t need to be having any kind of mutual “moments.”
Although, really, it was a little insulting that he didn’t react. At all.
Shoving aside her irrational annoyance, she reached deep inside for what angels in her field called the Triple T...the time travel tingle. Independent of her other, currently unusable, angelic powers, it started deep in her pelvis and spread outward, until it was as if she could actually feel time and space inside each and every cell. Now all she had to do was think of a specific time period...then a location...and there it was.
Instead of reflecting their images, the chronoglass’s surface became a window, beyond which was an ocean of drifting desert sands.
“Ready?” At Azagoth’s nod, she squeezed his hand tight and led him into the mirror.
Instantly, dry heat blasted them as their feet sank into the hot sand. Releasing Azagoth, she glanced around at the scenery. It was exactly as she’d known it would be.
Utterly desolate.
She’d dropped them in the middle of the Egyptian desert, where there was nothing but rolling dunes of sand. Only the cloudless azure sky added color to an otherwise monotonous field of beige.
Take that, Azagoth. He’d wanted to go somewhere outside of Sheoul-gra, so she’d brought him to the most boring, featureless environment she could think of.
Feeling smug, she pivoted around so she could soak in his disappointment.
Turned out, she was the one in for a letdown. Azagoth’s eyes were closed, his face tilted toward the sun.
“Egypt,” he sighed. “Damn, I miss the desert.” Inhaling deeply, he smiled.