“A few hours, maybe.” I’m honestly not sure. I was pretty out of it after we had sex, and then I waited for more than a few minutes for Sol to come back to the bedroom before outrage gave me the strength to go hunt him down. For all the good it did me; our argument gave Azazel the ammunition he needs to call the contract into question.
Azazel moves to the door, presenting me with his back. “Time is of the essence. The pendant can prevent pregnancy as long as the process hasn’t reached a certain point.”
I blink at his back. “It’s a magical Plan B.”
“Something to that extent.” He glances at me and frowns. “The robe, Briar.”
I want to disobey out of sheer fury, but the fact remains that this must be the first step in digging Sol and I out of this mess. “I will come with you, but then you will listen to me.”
He sighs and turns back to face the door. “Very well.”
I drop the blanket and pull on the robe. It’s a thick material that is soft and warm, and after belting it at my waist, it covers me even better than the blanket did. “I’m ready.”
Azazel opens the door and allows me to precede him into the hall. It’s a different hall than last time; my door is no longer at a dead end but now stretches a great distance in either direction. He turns right and leaves me to follow.
I curse him silently the entire time. Each step causes my anger to rise. I forget that Azazel is a demon, that he’s nearly as large as Sol, that he is very much responsible for my being a widow the first time around. We turn a corner, and my fury bubbles right out of my lips in the form of a screech. “It’s none of your business!”
The demon turns to me with an exasperated mutter that the translation spell doesn’t quite convert. “You are under my care. Your safety is my responsibility.”
I catch movement out of the corner of my eye, but I’m too focused on Azazel to care if we have an audience or not. “You’re a nosy-ass demon who needs to let two adults have a conversation without you sweeping in and kidnapping me.”
“I didn’t kidnap you!” he roars.
I should be scared. I should be peeing my pants right now because not only am I in the middle of a confrontation, but it’s with someone who could disembowel me with one swipe of his black claws. Instead, I’m roaring right back at him. “Your ridiculous contract didn’t get triggered by what happened between us and you know it! I did not agree to come back here with you! I was having a discussion with my husband, not your high-handed demon ass!”
Azazel snarls in my face. His features haven’t shifted, but they seem less human-like all of a sudden. “Get your ass in that room right now, and secure a replacement pendant. I’ll deal with you when you’re reasonable again. Calm down.”
Everything goes staticky and strange. It almost feels like the top of my head explodes. Surely that’s the only explanation for me launching myself at Azazel, fingers curled like claws. “You bastard!”
I never make contact.
Arms hook around my waist, jerking me back against a broad chest. I don’t stop to wonder who grabbed me. I am not thinking about anything but ripping Azazel’s horns right off his head and beating him to death with them. “Take me back! Take me back right fucking now!”
“That’s about enough of that,” a familiar voice says.
Ramanu.
They toss me over their shoulder. “I’ve got this covered, Azazel. It didn’t require your direct interference.”
“Take care of it,” Azazel snaps. Heavy footsteps stalk away from us, but I can’t see anything except Ramanu’s round ass in my face.
“Put me down!”
“I don’t think I will.” They take a few steps, and then we’re leaving the hallway and entering through a door I’m nearly certain wasn’t there a few seconds ago.
I try to still my racing heart, determined to burst for the door the second Ramanu sets me down. There was a way through this place to Sol’s keep before. Surely it still exists. I just need to find it. It will mean evading Ramanu and Azazel, but I don’t care. I will not let things end with Sol.
Not like this.
Not without even getting a chance to say goodbye.
Ramanu drops me, none too gently, into a chair. They’re there with a hand when I try to pop to my feet. I slam into their palm and drop back into the chair with a curse. “Let me go!”
“I know how little humans like to be told to calm down.” They root around in a cabinet with one hand while the majority of their attention seems to be on me. “But the fact remains that I’m not letting you out of this room until you can walk nicely without trying to assault our leader.”