“I will not, My Lord,” Gabriel pledged, kissing God’s hand when He offered it.
God smiled. “Good. Now, go on and bring me this demon’s head.”
Gabriel bowed and stalked out of the antechamber, swinging by his quarters for his blessed spear. A unit of angels was already waiting for him when he made it to the palace’s gates and so he led them forth, hoping against all odds that they would make it in time to the Border Woods and capture the Archdemon before he’d escaped Heaven.
45
Reign lifted his gaze from the book he was reading and watched Barbatos enter the room without bothering to even knock. Reign’s demonhound trailed behind him at a lazy pace as it scanned the surroundings with one eye. The windowsill was the creature’s choice of a place for an afternoon nap, and it settled there, resting its head on its front paws.
“Reign, you should step out,” Barbatos announced, veering toward Reign’s bone desk. He perched his ass on the edge and crossed his arms, looking both concerned and exasperated. “It will be good for you. You haven’t left the Bone Palace for ages.”
Reign put the book down on the nightstand next to the bed and raked his fingers through Noah’s hair. It was longer now, reaching past Noah’s midriff, a dark brown that Reign sometimes braided. Other times, he simply stroked it like he stroked Noah’s cheeks or jawline, the sun-touched skin there no longer peeling, but now a faded red just like Reign’s.
Because Noah was changing, leaving behind everything that had comprised his life so far to become something no longer human. Something like Reign, a newkind of demon that Heaven had never touched with its filthy hands, retaining at its core all those lovely, dangerous things that made humans so exceptional.
Reign ignored Barbatos’ scowl and just gazed at Noah, taking him in. He traced Noah’s sharp claws with his fingertips, then did the same along the spikes protruding from Noah’s spine, caressing every one of them as he said his silent pleas for Noah to wake up. They were not answered, and it hurt like it hurt every day. He was sinking toward the bottom of a bottomless ocean, uncertainty and fear suffocating him on the way down. He didn’t know when, or if, Noah would wake up, his only solace to stay here and keep watch over the man he loved, hoping he’d open his eyes.
“Reign, seriously, I’m worried. This is the first time you’ve stayed in the realm for so long,” Barbatos huffed out, a whiny note in his voice.
Reign did prefer Earth. He felt equally at home there as he did here, but the human domain offered more freedom, its vastness incomprehensible compared to the limitations of Hell. Or Heaven, both of them bound to Earth while Earth itself was simply the starting point, one planet among a million others that humankind was yet to conquer. That didn’t matter now though, not with Noah still in deep slumber here in Reign’s chambers, two years after Lucifer had given him the same choice he’d given Reign before taking a half of each of their souls.
It was the price for the Demon King’s gift as well as the final offering to conclude their dealings, but to this day, Reign didn’t fully understand what the loss of half his essence even meant. It didn’t seem to hinder him in any way, it didn’t make him lesser, and it also freed him of his supposed allegiance to Lucifer. He didn’t need toremain in the demon world, but even so, he didn’t feel like abandoning it or forsaking its strange ruler.
“Fine, stay in Hell then, whatever,” Barbatos grumbled, tapping his claws against the bone surface of the desk. He hopped down and sauntered over to Reign’s bookshelf, scanning through the titles. “But you are leaving this room regardless. Asmodeus is hosting a banquet.”
Reign paused the gentle motion of his fingers, savoring the texture of the branded sigil at the nape of Noah’s neck. It was so pretty and heartbreaking in the way it mirrored Reign’s own one—an upside-down version of it that signified the binding of their souls. Two halves that made a whole.
“He’s back?”
“Yeah. Believe it or not, he actually pulled it off. I was with Lucifer and Belial when he showed up with Uriel’s soul,” Barbatos explained, shrugging with a wide grin on his face. “He caused quite the uproar because of his exotic pet.”
“I am not going,” Reign declared, done with the conversation. He didn’t care if Asmodeus was back from his ten-year-long gruesome mission; that was Lucifer’s business and could wait until later.
Until after Noah had woken up…because hewouldwake up.
“Yes, you are,” Barbatos clipped, tilting his head at the demonhound still lounging on the windowsill. “Just leave your hound to watch over Noah. It will let you know if… something changes.”
The hesitation in Barbatos’ words unleashed a prickling tension beneath Reign’s skin. Neither of them or Lucifer himself knew when or if Noah would open his eyes, his fate after accepting Hell’s blessing not somethinganyone could tamper with. Reign’s own awakening had taken seven years, but there was no guarantee that such time was universal, so all he could do was wait and hope that one day he’d see Noah’s fond smile again. That he would kiss Noah, make love to him, that Noah would forgive him and love him back.
“Besides, Asmodeusinsistedeveryone important be present and you know how grumpy he gets if things don’t go his way,” Barbatos added, raising a rather valid point.
Asmodeus certainly wasn’t known for his patience, his hot-headedness and pride regularly causing trouble. Reign didn’t know the exact details of Asmodeus’ mission, but the fact that he’d pulled it off and lived among angels for so long was certainly curious.
Reign bent down and kissed Noah’s forehead, his heart aching. He didn’t want to go, he didn’t want to leave Noah alone, but Barbatos was right—he couldn’t turn down a King’s invitation and he needed to leave his chambers. For his own good.
Reign kissed Noah’s lips next and stood up, whistling at the demonhound. It craned its head, then inclined it, blinking at Reign with one unscarred eye.
“Come,” Reign said, gesturing at the space next to Noah.
The hound didn’t hesitate, darting over to the bed. It settled at Noah’s side and placed its scaly head on Noah’s leg, showing off its sharp canines as it yawned once and relaxed. Reign gave it a pat and turned around just as Barbatos placed the book he’d been flipping through back on its shelf.
“Right. Let’s get going. We can stop by your domain and get you looking good for this grand occasion,”Barbatos said and clapped his hands. “We can meet up with Lucifer afte—Oh.”
Reign feltiteven before the hound whimpered, before Noah’s hand enveloped his wrist and froze him in place. A surge to his heart so strong it made the world spin and collapse on top of him. His lungs squeezed and his skin burned with goosebumps, his soul soaring. He closed his eyes and then snapped them open, shaking from the uncontrollable yearning the sensation of the touch unleashed within him. Tears streamed down his cheeks, but he didn’t care, couldn’t care, because his entire being lit up. He felt ready to combust as Noah’s fingers tightened around his wrist, euphoria spreading through him on a quest to take everything he had left and offer it to this man.
“Reign...”
Noah’s voice was a choked whisper, yet the most beautiful sound in the entire world. It wrapped around Reign, caressed him, destroyed every part of him and then put him back together, his body no longer at his command as he turned around in response to the man that owned Reign like no other. Hazel-brown eyes stole his breath, otherworldly now with the tint of red inside them, trembling with emotion, with need, so deep and so visceral, Reign couldn’t stand it. Couldn’t refuse it. He let it consume him, let it have him, the rightness of it forcing sobs and more tears out of him. He surrendered to it, though didn’t look away from it, the intensity of Noah’s gaze like a knife right into his chest.
