“I get that,” he said softly.“Heaven is kind of like that.People argue––angels are hotheads––but for any kind of real challenge orentertainment, youhave toget out of there.”Hesmirked, and her heart tugged again, harder.She lovedtheplayful side of him.“That’s why I know about Pandora and Dobby andShannara.Humans might be inferior creatures, but man, they know how to tell astory.”Reaching out, he trailed a finger around the shell of her ear, and sheshivered with delight.“What do you tell them about your Spock ears?”
“Nothing.Their selective cognizance renders them blind toour physiology unless we point it out or they’re already familiar with theotherworld.”
“So...do you date humans?”He made it sound like he wasasking if she dated dung beetles.
“Since I live in the human realm, humans do tend to make upthe majority of the dating pool.”
Although she had dated a werewolf once.Just once.They weregrumpy as hell.
“So that’s a yes.”There was an underlying note of,what...jealousy,maybe?...in his voice that bothflattered and annoyed her.“Are you dating someone now?”
The annoyance turned to anger, and she levered into a sit.
“I wouldn’t be here if I were, and if it bothers you, maybeyou should have asked before we fucked the first time.”
She started to swing her legs out of bed, but he capturedher wrist and held her back.
“Wait,” he said softly.“You’re right.It’s just that Ididn’t expect this to happen.I figured I’d meet you, have the gemstones withina few hours, and I’d be back in Heaven by now.”
She felt like she’d been kicked in the gut.“Back in Heaven?Soyouarean Unfallen?Don’t Unfallen haveto save the planet or perform some great heroic act or something?”
Lilliana had been clear about that.It wasn’t easy to getback into Heaven, and according to her, only a handful of Unfallen ever had.
He flinched.The barest twitch of his facial muscles, but itwas there.“I’m not Unfallen.”His voice was gruff, as if he had to force thewords out, and an uneasy feeling tightened in her chest.Where was this going?“I never lost my wings.They were bound when I was tossed out of Heaven and putintoAzagoth’sservice, but I can earn my way back ifI complete mymission.”
The uneasy feeling solidified into a knot of anxiety in herchest.“What…what is your mission?”
“To recover two of the Gems of Enoch.”His gaze locked withhers, and she wondered if he could see the alarm in her eyes as clearly as shesaw the gravity in his.“Then I can end the torture of theAzdaiglyph and throw away that damned cat-o’-nines I carry around.But I needthe gems to do it, and only you can help me,” Jedda.”
It was her turn to flinch.She couldn’t help him.It wasimpossible.
“Surely there’s another way you can earn your way back intoHeaven,” she said desperately.“I can help you with anything else.Anything.You name it.”
“It has to be the Gems of Enoch.”His voice was as rough asthe floor of a mine shaft.“One of them, at least.The Ice Diamond.I need it.”
“Why?”Immediately she regretted the question, the tightnessin her chest becoming excruciating.She truly didn’t want to know the answer.
Dark shadows flitted in Razr’s eyes as he held up his hand.The ring on his finger, the one that had previously sported what she’d believedto be a black diamond, now shone with a familiar silver-blue light.His wordsfrom back at her house when she’d asked him what he’d done to get thrown out ofHeaven screamed through her brain.
“I was part of an elite demon-slaying team.We gotcareless one day, and our carelessness cost lives and property.”
Oh, gods.Oh, no.Oh, please,no.
But no amount of pleading or denial changed what, deepinside, she knew to be the truth.
“Because its loss is why my wings were bound and my powerswere stripped.It’s why Ihave tobe flogged half todeath and why I was kicked out of Heaven.”He spoke through clenched teeth, hisvoice thick with emotion.“That gemstone is mine, and I want it back.”
Chapter Ten
Razr had fucked up.Big time.
Oh, he didn’t regret telling Jedda that the stone he’dwanted her to “find” belonged to him.She’d either cop to having it or shewouldn’t.What he regretted was that he’d let this get personal.He’d gottentoo close to her, and the crazy thing was that he didn’t even know how ithappened.Or when.
All he knew was that when she’d started talking about datinghumans, he suddenly wanted to find every one of her past lovers and put theminthe ground while he was still considered enough of afallen angel to get away with it.
And now his feelings were going to make shit real fuckingawkward if she didn’t admit to sending his Enoch gem to Scotland forsafekeeping.
After dropping the truth on her like a two-ton bomb, he lether process the news.As he showered––alone––he told himself that he hadn’tgiven her even a second to respond because he’d needed to clean up.But thetruth was that he didn’t want her to lie to him.He’d give her time to do theright thing on her own.
