“It’s a nice night,” he said.
“Yes,” I smiled, shaking off my weird mood and surveying the beauty of the night-blooming garden. “It is.”
* * *
SAMAEL
“He’s here,” Agaliarept murmured behind me.
I nodded, my gaze still on the city below us as we stood in my penthouse. My fists clenched and unclenched with the need to find my little witch. With the need to hold her close.
I could barely speak, my rage battling with a wild sorrow that spread through my chest. My power was unsteady, and it took every ounce of my willpower to hold on to it, to prevent my fury from breaking free.
If I leveled this city, Danica would be grief stricken when I finally got her back.
And Iwouldget her back.
I could feel Agaliarept hesitating behind me.
“Speak,” I ordered.
“It may be a good idea to leave the city. If your power breaks free…”
I slowly turned. To his credit, he met my eyes. But whatever he saw there made the blood slowly drain from his face.
I suspected I knew what he was seeing. The few times I’d caught sight of my reflection, my eyes had been dead.
My little witch was all alone in the underworld. With my greatest enemy. Lucifer knew if he killed her, he would be protecting himself from the threat she represented.
That fucking prophecy.
I cursed it once more. Without the prophecy, there would be a much greater chance of Danica staying alive. Lucifer may be playing with Danica now, but the moment his granddaughter proved to be too much trouble, he would slaughter her without a second thought.
“Samael?”
I was staring into the distance, still mentally reaching for my witchling. I glanced back at Agaliarept, who was closely studying my face. What had he asked me?
“No,” I said. “I will not leave this city. This is Danica’s home.”
Ag narrowed his eyes. “We can all feel your power. If it breaks loose, the loss of life will be unimaginable.”
I took a single step closer. “Are you insinuating that I do not have enough control?”
He gave me a look that said the way I was acting spoke for itself.
“I apologize,” I gritted out.
“Accepted.” He sighed, and I realized he looked exhausted. My people were pushing themselves to their limits to find any hint of what Danica was facing in the underworld.
Ag was still talking and I forced myself to focus. “No one could blame you if your control did falter, Samael. The fact that you can’t contact her…”
Grief welled, tightening my throat. Distantly, I could feel blood slipping from my palms as my claws cut into the skin. There should be nothing that could prevent me from speaking to my little witch through our bond. I suspected Lucifer had harnessed the underworld’s power in order to do such a thing.
My witchling was alone, without her ability to even speak to me. She must be so scared.
The tower shook. Agaliarept sent me a telling look, and I took a deep breath. Then I strode toward the door as he stepped aside.
The seelie king stood in my penthouse, surrounded by guards. He dared to nod at me, as ifIwere beneath him.
