Page 50 of Grave Revelations (Prophecies of Angels and Demons #3)

Chapter 49

Azazel

When they’d laced their fingers together, and Azazel had shared every drop of magic with Rebecca, her soul sang to life. He’d long since stopped thinking of it as his. If anything, the half of his soul resting in his chest belonged to her, too. It was all hers, and he would give her every piece of him if she needed it.

When her seraph side had awoken, the part of him that had been wrenched free and flung into the ether all those millennia ago, awaiting the day she would come and claim it, stretched for its other half.

Warmth radiated from the center of his chest, pulsing in time with her heartbeat. After more than one hundred years, that feeling was enough to send him to his knees. But even as their unified soul sang with the rightness of joining, fear stole through him.

Unlocking her seraph side hadn’t made Rebecca immortal. She could be killed, and when the end arrived, they would find themselves on opposite sides of eternity. Still, he would do it again, sacrifice anything, even his sanctity, to ensure she found her place in Alaxia.

Her skin nearly glowed, a soft hum coursing through her veins, bursting with the new energy flowing through her. His energy. It had been restrained before, locked down to ensure he never hurt her, but now he could release it, let it flow freely. It was akin to stretching his wings wide or taking a deep breath for the first time in centuries.

When Adalaide had unlocked that side of herself, using Dina to do it, a rage such as he had never known had stolen over him. She’d robbed him of something that didn’t belong to her. Even now, it hurt to look at his sister and remember what she’d done.

She’d argued he couldn’t have been convinced to unlock his mate’s other side, and she’d been right. Two centuries without Sanura on the mortal plane had been a blessing, but not one worth the cost of his analogous umbra. For that, he would never fully forgive Dina.

Rebecca slid her gaze to his, her lashes fluttering as a shy smile crept across her face.

His soul pulsed in his chest, and he longed for nothing more than to sweep her up in his arms and hold her for eternity.

The pink creeping across her neck told him she sensed everything he thought and felt.

She held out her hand, and he took it, groaning as their joined soul purred in response to the physical contact.

Now what? she asked in his mind.

Now, we end Elizabeth.

She shivered, and he was momentarily overwhelmed as her terror, pain, and agony from the night in the cave assaulted him in a rush.

He squeezed her fingers, pulling her close, and she leaned into him, her skin warm against his cool chest.

Now that her seraph side had been awoken, she could see his clothes for the illusion they were. Could see all the things magic did around her, but unlike the night he’d rescued her from Elizabeth’s dungeon, she didn’t balk in disgust now.

Rebecca’s terrified thoughts calmed as their soul hummed contentedly.

Azazel leaned down, brushing his lips over the soft edge of her ear.

“I will be with you,” he said. “No one can harm you with me at your back.”

True. Cares for me. Will protect me .

He smiled, running his mouth over the lobe of her ear, and stopped just below it, pressing his lips to the thrumming pulse beating under her fair skin. Desire, potent and feral, surged through him, and she gasped, tipping her head back, her sapphire eyes searching his.

Rebecca’s gaze darkened as she felt everything he did, her stare dropping to his lips.

His arms tightened around her.

A throat cleared behind him as Dina stepped into the room, and Azazel growled: “Not now, sister.”

“I wish I could give you this time with your mate, truly, but I fear we do not have it to spare.”

Rebecca put her hands to his chest, pressing back.

Mine.

Her breathy laugh made an ache deep inside him flare to life.

I’m not going anywhere, but Jophiel is right there, she reminded him.

I don’t care.

Pink bloomed along her collarbone, shooting up her neck, and he wanted to run his tongue over her heated skin. Pink darkened to crimson as she heard the thoughts tripping through his mind.

Dina cleared her throat once more. “I really must insist.”

Azazel sighed, loosening his arms, and Rebecca slid away from him, attempting to smooth her wild curls. The red staining her neck had crept onto her cheeks, contrasting beautifully with her bright, sparkling eyes.

“The apocalypse is here,” Dina said, her words dousing their flames.