Page 76 of Princess of Bael

There had to be a way to fix this. A way to save him. A way to right the scales so we could try this again.

“We…” I trailed off, unsure of where to go. Bael’s realm wouldn’t be able to help him. Ezra was an Archangel. “He needs Heaven,” I whispered to myself. “But how…?”

I glanced around, seeking a solution and finding nothing that could assist me in saving him.

This is so messed up, I thought, frantic.You were supposed to die by my hand. Now I have to save you… to… to kill you myself?It sounded more like a question than a statement in my mind, some part of me adamantly against repeating this scene.

Because it was all wrong.

It didn’t please me to see him like this. Ithurt. Maybe because I could feel his life slipping away, our bond fracturing a piece of me I’d hadn’t known existed until today.

Think, think, think!I told myself.

There had to be a way to rescue him.

I studied the dagger in his chest, my heart throbbing painfully against my ribs. I swallowed.Wrong. It wasn’t supposed to look like that. It wasn’t supposed to feel like this, either.

Fuck.

If it were anything other than a holy blade, I could rip it out of his chest and wait for him to heal. But he wouldn’t be able to mend himself back together with the magic left behind from that weapon.

Which meant it needed to be removed carefully, similar to how one would treat a mortal wound.

My throat worked as I tried futilely to figure out what to do. How to fix him. Help him.Savehim. “Damn it, Ezra. You are not dying like this.”

We were nowhere near done with this battle. And I didn’t just mean the one between us. The balance needed him.Ineeded him. I couldn’t do this alone.

Yet already I could feel the trembling of change vibrating through the realms, knocking me deliriously off-kilter. Without Ezra, the veil would fall. Not in nine years. Butnow.

I could sense it fracturing already, the waves of unease ripping through my soul and threatening to tear me apart.

Or maybe that’s the sensation of losing Ezra, I marveled, my eyes widening. “Shit!”

His skin looked too pale, his breaths were too shallow, and the blood…Hellfire…

“Towels,” I said. “I need… I need towels.” Something to apply pressure and to stabilize the blade.

Yaz handed them to me in a blink, his presence reminding me that I wasn’t alone.

“Fetch me a Portal Dweller. Or an Archdemon. Or someone who can teleport us.” Ezra needed his home realm, to be surrounded by healing energy.

But even that might not be enough.I shivered.No. I refuse to let this be the end of it.

I’d spent too many damn years fantasizing about this moment to let things go down like this.

I’m not ready for you to die. I glared at him. “You’re not dying here, Ezra.” It came out on a growl, my irritation mounting by the second. We didn’t have time to wait for a Portal Dweller—not that many were even powerful enough to reach Heaven—or someone with teleportation abilities.

Ezra was dying.

I could feel his soul tugging on mine, his breaths growing shallower by the second.

Tell me what to do, I wanted to say.Tell me how to save you!

I looked at my cuff, frantic for an option, but my portal charm only went so far. Archdemon powers manifested over tens of thousands of years, and I was still a baby among my kind.

But Ezra isn’t, I thought, studying him.He’s older than time itself.

Which meant I needed to tap into his power, to somehow find the link between us that would allow me to engage his ability to traverse time and space.