“You fucked her, didn’t you,” he breathed as he let himself fall back onto his ass. “Devina.”
As the packed earth provided him with a seat that was about as comfy as a paddle, he passed a hand over his eyes.
With a grim voice, he continued, “She took herself out of Erika because you fucked her. You didn’t want to, but you did anyway, and now you feel dirty and used and stained on the inside—”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You don’t have to.”
After a long moment, Lassiter shook his head. “You’ve got it wrong, actually. Well, part of it.”
“Tell me.” Then Balz added, “I won’t tell anyone else.”
There was another long silence. Then the angel said, “Devina had to ruin true love to get what she ultimately wanted. It was part of a spell she took from the Book. She’d intended the couple to be you and Erika. And you’re right… I did what I did to get her out of you both. She refused to hold up her side of the bargain, however. When the Creator found out, He made her keep her promise to leave you two in peace.”
“Well… shit.” But then Balz frowned. “Wait a minute. She didn’t ruin our love, though. You said she needed that for this spell thing, right?”
“It all worked out, didn’t it? You and Erika are fine. You have your happily ever after.”
Balz closed his eyes. The stroke he’d suffered still caused moments of confusion, and something wasn’t adding up—but the angel was right. He loved his Erika and was so grateful that they had both survived the possessions.
He re-focused on the angel. There was something… still not adding up. Devina did not quit anything until she got what she wanted.
“How did you know I was here?” Lassiter asked.
“Just a lucky guess. You haven’t been home and you aren’t answering your phone. V went up to the Sanctuary to find you and you weren’t there. None of the Chosen have seen you. I thought to myself, where would he go for some privacy? I figured you’d know about this place and use it.”
“I could have been somewhere outside of Caldwell, you know.”
“But you weren’t. You aren’t”
There was a long silence. And then Balz said hoarsely, “Thank you for saving us.”
“I told you. It was the Creator, not me.” Lassiter smiled in a dead way. “At least if I had been the one who rescued you both it would have been a little easier to live with.”
This was still not making sense. But one thing was clear.
Balz narrowed his eyes. “I’m going to kill that bitch—”
Now the angel’s head whipped up and his stare focused in a hard way. “No. You don’t go anywhere near that demon. Are we clear? You fucking leave this right where it is. I gave up my own shot at love for nothing, as it turned out, but you’ve got yours as long as you don’t wake up dead from being a fucking hero.”
A wash of cold emotion hit Balz’s head and ran down his entire body. “What did you say…”
Lassiter slashed a hand through the air, like he regretted saying too much. “Nothing. I didn’t say a goddamn thing. Just know that when it comes to that demon, I don’t have anything else I can trade with. I’m out of sacrifices, not that mine helped anyone but her. So stay the fuck away from her.”
Balz put his palms forward. “Okay. Okay, I’ll leave it alone.”
“Tell the brothers and the bastards, too.”
“Now that I can’t do. You know that. For one, they’ll know I found you. For another, like they listen to anybody? Except maybe Wrath, and even that’s iffy from time to time.”
“Goddamn hotheads. They’ll fight with anything.”
“They’ll defend the race against anything, you mean.”
Lassiter shook his head. “Well, whatever, they’ll have to fight her without my interference going forward. I’m not supposed to help. It’s against the Creator’s rules. And I’ve done all I can.”
With that, Lassiter retreated into himself once again, his head lowering, his back curving so he could hunch over his legs, his body stilling into statue-land again.
When Balz eventually got up, he felt a little dizzy, but it was from emotion, not because of anything medical. And he wasn’t sure what the angel was going to do as he sat down on the bedding platform.
Lassiter didn’t respond. Didn’t seem to even notice.
Wrapping an arm around a set of big shoulders, Balz pulled the angel into him. That the male capitulated with the urging was a surprise—and then Balz was holding the savior of the race and staring off into the candlelit interior of the hideaway. When his vision blurred, he closed his eyes.
How do you reconcile both gratitude and grief, he wondered.
“Thank you,” he said softly. “I’m going to love her with everything I’m worth, for the rest of my life, and I owe it all to you.”