Page 167 of Princess of Bael

“It worked,” Yaz murmured.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Yeah, it did.”

Until Archangel Mietek had tainted my cuff, anyway.

Ezra had been so angry with that revelation, his possessive energy singeing my soul and branding me as his to protect.

I missed that feeling.

I missedhim.

Three months in Hell was only about six hours on Earth. So while it felt like an eternity for me, it wasn’t that long for him.

And since he’d traveled up to Heaven, it was even less time.

Maybe minutes rather than months.

Not for the first time, I found myself despising how time worked between the realms.

“Maybe we should pay Prince Ashmedai a visit to ask for another cuff.” I could at least use it to ascend to Earth. Of course, Yaz could help me with that, too.Still…“After all the shit Prince Ashmedai’s pulled, it’s the least he could do. Perhaps he’ll even add a feature that’ll let me jump up to Heaven.”

Yaz ran his fingers through his overgrown hair, his lips twisting. “I already asked and he said no.”

My eyes widened. “You asked Prince Ashmedai for another cuff?”

He nodded. “I can’t help you ascend all the way up. So I asked if he could.”

“And… what did he say exactly?”

“That you need to learn to do it on your own.” He shrugged. “He also said you no longer need the protection of the cuff because you have Ezra.”

“When was this? When did you see Prince Ashmedai?” And how did my father not know?Or does he know and not care?

“While I was researching the cuff.”

“And he just let you into his realm to discuss it?” I asked incredulously.

He gave me an indiscernible look. “One of Ashmedai’s Royal Guards is an old friend.”

“What kind of old friend?”

“The kind that I don’t want to talk about,” he replied, his voice holding a longing note to it. Then he cleared his throat to wave it all away. “Anyway, I came up to provide the update. And to tell you that your father wants you to join him for dinner.”

My head fell back on a groan. “Of course he does.” He’d been demanding family dinners several times a week, saying something about wanting to enjoy our time while we have it.

And his version ofenjoying our timewas all about testing my new powers.

“Fine,” I said. It wasn’t like I had anything better to do since a visit to Prince Ashmedai’s realm with Yaz appeared to be off the table.

“I’ll leave you to prepare, then,” Yaz murmured, bowing. “But my offer to buzz you up to Earth still stands.”

I smiled. “I know.” He’d made it shortly after I’d woken up. However, there wasn’t much point in jumping up there with Ezra being in Heaven.

A part of me also wanted to see if he’d actually come for me down here like he’d threatened.

And my soul recognized the need to be down here for balance.

I’d expelled an enormous amount of energy to heal the veil, more than I could even conceptualize. This was the best place for me to heal and recharge.