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Relief filled her, and she phased Harris to her side as she gently touched down back to Earth.

With the wolf’s teeth removed, the djinn could safely return to the astral plane. She watched as it passed through every physical obstruction on its path back to earth until it completely melted into the ground.

Worn out by the pathetically limited magic she’d just used, she bent over to catch her breath, every muscle aching with the strain, her neck raw and stinging.

Harris was gagging beside her, trying to rid himself of whatever sensation the plan had put in his mouth and Rowan might have asked what it had felt like, but in the next moment Master Japhet phased in with Axel, forming a protective barrier between them and a new wave of bodies as they caught their breath.

Aqua popped in, her eyes wide. “Consort, allow me to heal your wound.”

Rowan sat still as Aqua pulled out a roll of bandages from the pack on her hip.

The water dragon murmured an incantation over the dressing as another water dragon removed Rowan’s neck and arm pieces.

Rowan unclipped the chain from her neck and wrapped it around her wrist, a swell of magic acted up in that moment, trying its best to get past her own barriers so fast and so hard it was a moment of terror where she thought she might drown.

She still had a long way to go to recover, but she was certain what she’d just done hadn’t made her case any worse.

The rage of the fight continued around them as Aqua applied the bandages. A cooling sensation remained under their wraps even after she finished.

“Alright doc, am I clear to continue fighting?”

Aqua gave a reluctant nod of her head before bowing. “Stay safe, Consort.” Then she phased out.

Rowan unsheathed her sword and tilted her head towards Harris, who shot her a wolfish grin before transforming and joining a bear shifter in subduing yet another citizen.

Chapter 32

Alessandro’s dragon swam through a pool of bloodlust. The being that kept on regenerating kept him there.

The magic that the overtaken body of Antoni Barros wielded was familiar.

Alessandro now knew what the source of the power was, and also why it had such a strong interest in his mate.

The curse wasn’t quite god-level, but it was so close that Alessandro should have registered its existence before it exposed itself. Tainted, but undeniably angelic.

Though rare, the few ‘spars’—if that’s what one wanted to call the all-out brawls—he and Lucifer had indulged in through their friendship had included magic.

They had always ended in a draw. Though Alessandro had a significantly higher magical aptitude, Lucifer was more creative than Alessandro could ever hope to be.

It was a trait that had passed down to his great-granddaughter.

The wild concept was still settling in his brain as he whittled the being down.

He had removed layers and layers of the witch’s flesh from the source, which he now knew was a cursed weapon of an archangel.

Those parts he tore away were working on mending off to the side. Barros was in a stomach-turning but much more recognizable heap.

Lucifer had always been open about the issues he had with his siblings.

One had remained a gaping wound in the fallen angel’s heart even centuries after her death.

Anytime he spoke of Uzziel, the archangel of faith, it had led to a night of debauchery that Lilith always blamed Alessandro for.

Uzziel had been one of the few angels who hadn’t taken either Michael’s or Lucifer’s side in the angelic war.

Since their creation, Uzziel had followed Michael through training, work and play time. Many thought the two had become codependent to an eyebrow raising degree. As such, it had been a shock for everyone, including Lucifer himself, when Michael’s shadow made her neutrality in the matter clear.

Uzzielhadgrown close to Lucifer during overlapping assignments on Earth, but her time with the fallen archangel was nothing compared to what she had spent with Michael.