Sulfur hit my nostrils, and tears streaked his face. “I almost had to watch you die again.”
Fucking Viktor. He’d pay for this too.
“I didn’t die then.” I wiped the hot tears away with my thumbs. “I’m right here. I’m not leaving you again. Now, did I break the blood oath by destroying the collar?”
“Yes. King Zelek found me weeping in your ashes,” he told me, and I tensed. “He punished me for failing to save you.”
I swallowed a lump that had formed in my throat. “The only thing to leave a scar on a demon is—”
“A Garnet Blade embedded with Torbernite. The only thing that can kill us. Your father has a small dagger he keeps with him at all times. He slit my throat and watched me gasp for air. He called a healer at the last minute and then made me do a blood oath to help bring you back with conditions.” He let out a shaky breath. “I wished for death this entire time until we succeeded in the ritual.”
My stomach dropped.How the fuck could my father do that to him?
“My beloved, it’s all right. I have you with me now. Everything I’ve endured was worth it.” He leaned forward and caught a tear on his tongue. I didn’t realize I was crying.
I was going to give my father a piece of my mind the next time I saw him.
Letting Aziel wrap me up in his arms, I snuggled close. My death fucked a lot of things up, but it affected Aziel more than anyone else. I would make damn sure I would heal the damage my father and Gabriel had done to him.
FIVE
I hadn’t seen Dad since Aziel told me what had happened when I died, which was good for him, because I was still royally pissed off. He may not have approved of me breaking off the engagement to Gabriel to be with my guard, but it was my fucking choice.
The best choice, obviously. Gabriel killed me, and Aziel stayed loyal.
What more could a girl want?
“Aim high, Poppy,” Blaise snarked with a wink.
“Stop violating my mind.” I grabbed a metal heart paperweight off my desk and threw it at him.
He caught it with ease and tossed it back. “I can’t help it. I want to know everything about you. Besides, I thought you loved it when I violated you.”
The cool paperweight was heavy in my hands. My heart swelled, and heat rushed to my cheeks. “I’m not denying that.”
Fucking heartthrob of a vampire.
He threw his head back and cackled. The glow from the walls illuminated his sharp jawline perfectly. I wanted to run my lips over it and have a replay of what happened yesterday.
“I can arrange that,” he purred, sending another hot jolt of desire deep into my lower abdomen.
“Stop teasing my beloved.” Aziel pushed Blaise’s shoulder, almost making him fall out of the swivel chair.
“Bloody hell, mate.” Blaise adjusted himself in the seat, shooting daggers at Aziel. “Don’t be jealous that I finally got my time with her.”
“Stop distracting her,” Kai chastised them both, handing me another file of reports.
His red hair fell into his eyes, and I reached up to sweep it away as I took the file. Kai licked his bottom lip in return.
“I’m not,” Aziel and Blaise muttered simultaneously.
“You are.” Thaddeus glared at them.
Blaise ducked his head down, and Aziel rolled his eyes.
We were in my old office going through a shit ton of information Mortala had found out about Viktor, and it was exhausting. Mortala was thorough as fuck, and we had been at it for a good five hours. The words on the papers were blurring together.
The first full day in Hell was boring, and all I wanted was to show the guys around and spend time with them. I’d remembered my identity a fucking day ago, and I was already put to work.
