Saer met her eyes and drank in their sincerity, the dangerous truths they shared.His heart swelled and broke all at once.How had she become his everything?
His.
He would protect what was his, at all costs.
Lucifer wouldn’t allow their connection.Their very attraction to one another put Neyu in danger, just as it had on the first day of their creation.Saer still recalled the terror shooting through him when their maker wrapped Its fingers around her neck when they’d known one another for minutes, much less years.
If that happened today…
Neyu shook her head a fraction while resolve crept into Saer’s gaze.“Don’t,” she whispered.
Saer took her hand from her breastbone and kissed her palm, then squeezed it as he held her gaze.She deserved that at least.“I’ll return to the Hells and tell our maker that I arrived in an area without humans, so I’ve returned to relocate.”And if It asked about Neyu, he’d lie and say he didn’t know where she’d gone.
“Saer—”
“From there, I’ll travel to another part of the surface.Somewhere away from here.”
Pain slashed across her gaze, strangled by heartache.Saltwater pooled in her eyes, steaming off the corners.“I don’t agree to this.”
The muscles in Saer’s abdomen flexed as he sat and moved Neyu with him, curling his hands to frame her jawline so he could meet her glistening stare.“We made a vow, Neyuukhan.”
Somehow, she managed to look both fractured and fierce all at once.“We could be unstoppable.”
Against all but one, he knew.
Saer leaned forward and indulged himself with one last kiss from her lips.Remnants of her tears fell down the demoness’s cheeks, their saltiness bitter on his tongue.
Amidst their kiss, he allowed Hellsfire to take him, and him alone, back to the Hells.
13
Luciferseemedeagerforwhatever bounty Saer might have brought from his latest excursion to the surface.He knelt and explained that he’d searched for humans to harvest, but found none and returned as soon as possible to go elsewhere.
He lied.
But he didn’t flinch.Even when Lucifer scrutinized him for so long with a heated stare that his insides felt like they melted.
Which was why, when Hellsfire erupted behind him, Saer held his breath and bowed his head.
Relief and disappointment mixed to hear Errshek and Kalia bickering at his back—and not Neyu following him.
“—the Hells are we supposed to work as a team when you won’t do anything!”Envy stomped out of the fireball.Saer tipped his head to witness as Errshek whirled on the littlest sister.“Everyone else is bound to have brought back hundreds of souls by now, andyou’regoing to be the reason we get punished.”
Kalia rolled her eyes.The sigh she released held enough weight that it pulled her to the ground in a lazy kneel.
Errshek rushed to follow suit, as if just remembering where they stood.
“Father,” Kalia said.“Errshek refuses to work with me.”
Envy gawped and snapped his focus to her.“Are you serious?”
“Deadly.”Sloth’s snide drawl carried the bitterness of dandelion greens.
“Ineversaid that.”Turning back to their maker, Errshek’s whine grated through the chamber.“I never said that!”
“Lower your eyes, Errsheken.”Lucifer’s command rumbled through the chamber, and Errshek cowed, bowing his head until his forehead brushed the stone ground.
The exchange brought a derisive spasm to the corner of Saer’s lips.
