Later that night, I sat on my bed with the windows and curtains wide open, letting a breath of cool breeze blow through my room.
Some of the smog had finally burned off or been blown away, and for the first night in days, the Nightside was finally starting to smell the way it used to, but with only a hint of jasmine this time: many of the plants and trees were still shredded. Druids had been hard at work trying to bring them back, but there was only so much they could do.
I sat cross-legged, contemplating the odd sensations my body was developing as I meditated, pouring what was left of my healing white fire into my broken wing. I was close to being able to flex it without pain, but it would be another few weeks before I could trust it to bear my weight for a long journey.
Fortunately, the nausea had seemingly dissipated overnight. Last week, the oddest smells had made me want to throw up. Now I felt perfectly fine.
I frowned, wondering what unpleasant tricks my body would be playing on me next. If Vyra were here, she’d probably be full of answers and bringing in stacks of books, but…
I pushed the thought aside. We were coming for her.
And Lucifer… a twinge of anger and pain still accompanied the thought of him, but I couldn’t blame him, either. I loved him no matter what, through thick and thin, even though I would’ve appreciated his transparency and Azazel’s suspicions on the matter.
As though my thoughts had summoned the one closest to me, a dark shadow materialized at my window.
First an enormous beak, black as though it had been dipped in pitch, entered the room, followed by a mass of feathers that gave off wisps of smoke.
The giant raven shifted forms as it entered, the feathers vanishing and becoming a black suit with gleaming raven skulls at the lapels. One of them held my feather in place.
“Azazel,” I said, half-poised to jump off the bed. But his usually violet eyes were still gleaming with an otherworldly fire, dark feathers growing from his curly hair, and the High Priestess’s words came back to me: the dreaded bloodline he was born from.
What was Azazel?
A moment later, I was off the bed, wrapping my arms around his neck and drawing him down for a kiss. He closed his eyes as his hands came up around me, blocking out the sight of the eerie flickers in his eyes.
No matter where he came from, he was still mine. I felt nothing but love and trust through the violet star permanently marked on the back of my neck.
But as I ran my hands through his hair, I felt the soft shafts of feathers. His arms still had long pinions hanging from them like sleeves.
“You’re still half-bird,” I whispered against his lips.
He opened his eyes again, peering into mine. With an intake of hissed breath, his entire form quivered under my hands, and I felt the feathers melt away.
Suddenly, I understood. He’d practically been living in the raven form since the liberation of Dis.
How long could he spend steeping in his magic before he needed to change back? Everything came with a price. Even the oracle we’d killed had asked him about looking into an abyss… and if the abyss looked into him, too.
Azazel was completely soaked in darkness, but I had no reason not to trust him. I lowered myself flat to the floor again, looking up at him.
He touched the fresh bandage on my arm. “What’s this?”
No more lying or deflecting. I’d promised them honesty and openness. “One of Mammon’s loyalists tried to kill me. Belial stopped him.” I didn’t need to regale him with the gory details, the deep, satisfied smile on Leviathan’s scarred face as he ripped all the blood from the assassin’s body, the soft spatter of blood on obsidian. “I’m perfectly fine.”
Azazel’s eyes darkened, the fires in them softening to embers. “I hope he got what he deserved.”
I suppressed a shudder. “I’d say that.”
I took Azazel’s hand and led him to the bed to sit next to me. “Have you been searching? Is there any news?”
He looked down at his hands, entwined with mine, a grim look on his face. “I’ve caught flickers of power, but it’s difficult to pinpoint. There’s so much land to cover, and other things tend to get in the way. Other Prime powers. It makes precision nearly impossible.”
I nodded as though I understood, but inside, I was screaming. “Isn’t it time we begin a search by air? It can’t be easy to miss an enormous dragon.”
Azazel glanced at me, his gaze shielded. “That’s our last resort. Give it a little more time, Melisande. Satan is not the only dangerous power out there.”
I bit my lower lip, every fiber in me longing to go out there and see for myself. Damn this broken wing.
The breeze ruffled Azazel’s dark curls, and sudden compassion came into his gaze. “It will be okay,” he said softly. “I promise. No matter where I must go, what deals I must make, I will find them for you.”
“I believe you,” I breathed. It would be okay. It had to be.
But for tonight, there were no assassins at my door, no need to fear the unknown. The questions that had been prickling at me bubbled up- where are you from, Azazel? What are you? - but I held it back.
I just wanted comfort in his arms, to know that we were still together.
He didn’t object when I began unbuttoning his collar, slipping my fingers in his shirt to stroke his silky skin.
We undressed each other quickly, and I pushed Azazel back onto the bed, my breath coming faster and sharper. He was already hard, groaning against my neck when I straddled him, his hands gripping my hips.
I settled myself with the thick head of his cock pushing against me, and slowly slid down, drawing in a gasp at the feeling of fullness. Azazel’s eyes glittered in the darkness as he ran his hands over me, delicately tracing over my injured shoulder, and sliding downwards. He ran his thumbs over my nipples in slow circles, making them harden under his touch.
I rode him in a rhythmic motion, pleasure spiking through me as my clit ground against the hard V at the base of his stomach. He moved his grip back down to my hips, grinding me against him, his own breaths coming faster.
This was all I wanted, peace with my men, the desire to be connected to all of them. Azazel might’ve been darkness incarnate, but he wrapped me in his shadows like a cocoon of safety, broke down his walls to let me in, gave me stars to light my way.
Even now his stars filled the air, reflected in his eyes.
I leaned forward to kiss him hard, his lips soft and pliable under mine, his tongue flicking into my mouth. He ran his tongue along mine and over the edge of my teeth, drew back and traced the edges of my lip before biting me gently.
The heated pressure in my abdomen built as my hips rocked, until I felt myself clench up, trembling and gasping.
He thrust in hard, drawing out the orgasm as he groaned into my mouth.
When I’d finally stopped shaking, I climbed off him and crawled onto all fours. It was the only other way that wouldn’t hurt my wing more now.
Azazel knelt behind me and curved himself over me, kissing the star on my neck and working his way down along my spine. His cock nudged against my slick pussy and pushed in, and I gasped as he began to fuck me harder, gripping my ass and pulling me back against him.
He slammed in, letting out his own groan of satisfaction when he came. I was still shaky with the aftereffects as he slid out and carefully adjusted me so I was laying down facing him, without my wing being crushed under me.