Damien stood between me and the assassin angel protectively. The Elite Demon Knights scurried toward us along with the other guards that surrounded the watching masses.
Zavariel pointed the sword at Damien. “Get out of my way. You are not to stop me from my duty, my destiny.”
“How are your wings unburned? You’re receiving an extra hand from Heaven, aren’t you?” Damien asked.
You will drag me to Hell with you and burn my wings.I remembered what Zavariel had said to me, but I never thought it was literal until now. I also remembered what he’d said before that, and I swallowed.I should have just let you fall and taken your soul.That was his duty. His destiny was to kill me.
“I know what you came here for. You are never going to have her.” Damien’s voice came from a place deep within, so dark it terrified even me, the one he was trying to protect.
The sword sliced the air audibly as Zavariel waved it at Damien. “She should be the judge of that. She should make that choice.”
“Uh…what fucking choice? Do you really think I’ll choose to let you kill me than stay with Damien? Fuck no.” I snorted.
Zavariel moved an inch to catch my eyes, the pink and turquoise circles haunted yet mesmerizing still. Something crossed his face as he took in my naked body and the blood covering it. Then he smiled. That charming, hypnotizing smile I’d seen only once before. “Who said anything about killing you, Belle?”
My eyes narrowed at him. “You, and the sword in your hand. If you’re trying to lie to me again, you’re not very convincing while you hold that.”
“I never lied to you. My intention was never to kill you, Belle. I saved you at the pit, I saved you when you fell, I brought you to the light when he—”
“Enough!” Damien roared.
“What are you so frightened of, Damien? Why do you not want her to listen to the truth you twisted in your favor? Why are you so afraid of her real choice?”
“Damien twisted nothing and being here is my choice. This is my will, Zavariel. It is what I want,” I said.
He shook his head. “Because you have no knowledge of what I am willing to do for you.”
“There’s nothing you can do for me. You shouldn’t have come here.” Despite who he was or how much he hated me or how almost guilt-free I’d become, I didn’t want him harmed.
“Heaven deemed you unredeemable. They sent me here on one mission. To take your damned soul so I could keep my wings and save Heaven. Yet the only lie I have ever told was when I convinced them I was here to follow their orders.” He moved the sword, and I backed away, Damien reaching a protective arm toward me.
But Zavariel moved the sword to the back of his shoulder. “Here’s what I came here to do. What I have been prepared to do since our lips touched.” He knelt and, with one slice of his sword, chopped his left wing off.
A loud gasp gurgled in my throat as the formidable wing fell bloody on the ground, immediately turning into ambers and quickly into ash. “What the fuck?! Are you crazy?!”
He stifled a moan, but he couldn’t do the same with the pain on his face. “Perhaps, but do you not like it? You once said you loved Damien because he was not afraid to push the limits to give you what you wanted. He was ready to literally unleash Hell on earth for you, and you found that very beautiful.”
“You remember that?” I whispered in disbelief.
“Not one word, not one gesture of yours, shall I, could I ever forget.”
“You’re cutting your wings off, and you’re quoting Tolstoy for me, Zava? You must be really crazy.”
“I am falling for you, Belle. In every way possible. I am pushing the limits, I shall be your fallen light angel, and our Lightborn with your help can bring Heaven on Earth. Will that be ever enough for you?”
“For fuck’s sake. She’s already made her choice.” Damien nodded his chin at the guards. “Enough with the stomach-flipping charade. Take him.”
“Belle,” Zavariel beseeched me as he tried to shrug off the demons grabbing him by the shoulders, “it’s not too late to change your mind. You have the power to do anything. You have the right to choose, Belle. Think why Damien has never given you the chance to listen to me, why he took you before you said goodbye to your mates, why he—”
Damien smacked Zavariel with his hand, silencing him with one blow. “No more talking in the presence of the king and queen of Hell.” He stared at the guards. “Take him to the lowest dungeon we have. I shall come for him later.”
He lifted me in his arms again. “Apologies for the interruption, my queen. The ritual resumes with no more nuisances of any sorts, I promise.”
“Belle! Do not go. Do not follow Damien’s path.” Zavariel’s voice turned distant with every word as Damien sped to the throne and the demons circled around him, blocking him from me. “Remember our kiss! Remember the light! Come find me in the light, Belle! Come find me in the light!”
Chapter 31
Belle
