River

“If the angels are trying to communicate with me, it explains what happened when we were in Magnus’s cavern,” I said sometime later when I felt strong enough to talk now that we were away from the oracle.

Kobal’s body stiffened against mine as he led me around a turn in the rock tunnel. I still had no recollection of the strange dream, or whatever it was that had caused me to leap to my feet and say “The angels,” before collapsing.

“Why do you say that?” he asked.

“I’ve kept my ability to share another’s dreams shut down since I shared that one with Lucifer.” I didn’t even dare to use it to reach out to my brothers for fear I would somehow draw Lucifer in too. “The angels may have been trying to get me to open it again, or maybe they were trying to communicate with me in a different way that caused my reaction.”

“Maybe.”

“How did you know Angela had something to do with the angels when you saw her?” I asked.

“Because of her scent. The angels in here, and you, have the scent of rain or water about them. Your scent is crisp whereas the fallen angels’ has been tainted, but I detected water on her. Whatever abilities they use for the guides, they can’t disguise their scent.”

“I see.” I tilted my head back to look at him. “You don’t want me communicating with them?”

“I don’t trust any angel, fallen or not.”

I didn’t bother to remind him I was part angel and identified more with my angel side. We were both aware of that; it was what would keep me mortal after all.

“They could be trying to help,” I said.

“They could,” Hawk agreed from behind us.

“Or they could be looking to eliminate Lucifer’s line, permanently,” Magnus said. I frowned as I glanced at him over my shoulder. He stared pointedly back at me. “Even after what Caim said, are you still trying to convince yourself the angels above are all that is good and right in the world?”

“No,” I said. “I know they’re not, but we already have enough enemies; we could use some allies, and there is a chance they could be trying to help us.”

“I don’t think the angels want to kill River,” Hawk said.

“Still relying on that misplaced human faith in the angels?” Magnus inquired.

“Still resorting to that douchey demon attitude?” Hawk retorted. “And no, I’m not. I simply don’t think they want to kill her.”

“Why not?” Corson asked.

“Because if they felt it would solve everything, they would have attempted to kill her by now, but they haven’t.”

“And they have tried to protect me,” I said. “Angela tried to stop me from going into the canagh nest before Vargas and I entered it.”

“See,” Hawk said and gave Magnus a gloating look. “The angels would have let her stroll on in there without any warning if they wanted her dead.”

“There’s no way to know what the angels are trying to do. I still don’t trust them,” Magnus said. “We should have killed Caim.”

“We weren’t going to reach him before he flew away,” Bale argued.

“The fallen have always underestimated the intelligence of the demons and believed themselves above us. Let them think we believe Caim will help us,” Kobal said.

“You think he was lying about helping us?” I asked.

“Don’t you?”

“Maybe, about some things. In others, I think he told the truth, or at least parts of it. He knows we don’t trust him. If he’s playing us, he’ll report that distrust to Lucifer. If he’s not toying with us, I think we’ll find out what was true and what wasn’t soon enough.”

“That we will,” Kobal replied and pulled me to a stop before a large slab of gray rock.

His arm slid away from me when he stepped forward and bent down. Something made a clicking sound as he felt over the bottom of the rock before rising to run his hands over the top of it.

Another click filled the cavern before Kobal placed his hand in the center of the slab. The slanted Z symbol I recognized as Eiaz materialized beneath his palm on the rock. During one of the times I’d explored the numerous symbols on Kobal’s body, I remembered coming across Eiaz. He’d explained the symbol represented speed, heightened senses, and protection.

Bending again, the corded muscles across Kobal’s back bulged as he gripped the bottom of the easily five-hundred-pound rock and lifted it out of the way. My fingers itched to trace every inch of his chiseled body while I watched him work.

I bit my bottom lip and glanced away when he set the rock aside. Turning back, he held his hand out to me. A small smile played at the corners of his mouth as his skin slid into contact with mine. With his heightened sense of smell, I knew he’d sensed the direction my mind had taken.

I scowled at him, which only caused his smile to grow while he led me past the rock. My eyes widened on the austere space we entered. “What is this?” I asked.

“My chambers,” Kobal said. Releasing me, he waited for everyone else, and the hounds, to enter the cavern before lifting the slab and settling it back into place.

I’d suspected that we’d finally arrived at our destination when he’d used his marks to unlock the rock, but I hadn’t expected his chambers to be like this.

When we’d been living by the wall on Earth, Kobal’s main tent had been simply decorated with its table, sideboard, lanterns, goblets, and drinks. Books had often been on the table, waiting for him or me to pick up. His separate room had held a large bed, nightstand, mirror, armoire, and other assorted things he’d taken from houses in the nearby town. The possessions hadn’t originally been his, but he’d picked them out and made them his.

There was nothing but rocks here and a fire pit against the far wall. Even with the glow of the flames bouncing off the walls, this place was stark and lonely.

Magnus had decorated his private space in Hell. Corson was different here than he’d been on Earth, but I believed there would still be signs of his personality in his chambers, and that Bale would have something of her own if we ever saw where she lived here.

It was clear how much their time on Earth had changed Corson and the skelleins. Not so clear with Bale, but I had a feeling, if I had known her when she’d lived only in Hell, I would see changes in her now too. I doubted any of the demons saw how different they were on Earth compared to Hell. If they did, they would never admit it.

Kobal had decided that when this was done with Lucifer, he would stay on Earth with me, but I wondered if he realized how much my world had become a part of him too. Living on our plane had changed him more than I’d realized before we ever even met. The Kobal I first encountered had possessed the warmth of an ice cube; the demon who had lived here was the entire iceberg.

“How spartan,” Hawk murmured as his gaze ran over the gray rock walls and empty floor.

“No one will be able to get passed Eiaz to enter here,” Kobal said.

His footsteps rang off the black stone floor as he strode across the room. He walked behind a section of wall that blended in so seamlessly with the rocks, I hadn’t realized something lay beyond. Kobal reemerged with black and red furs tossed over his arm.

“There is water behind there for all of you to clean up with. River and I will be going into my sleeping chambers. You are to remain here. We will rest before leaving to join Morax and the others,” Kobal stated.

He handed the furs to Corson and turned to me. I didn’t have a chance to blink before he lifted me and carried me across the echoing chamber. Rounding the corner of a different set of rocks, he strode down a small hall. When none of the light from the main area pierced this hallway, I strained to see through the darkness while Kobal continued unerringly forward.

My fingers dug into his shoulders as I thought of him sleeping in this place every night. I settled my head on his shoulder, holding him closer as I inwardly wept for the lonely demon who had resided here. The only one of his kind, the one with the weight of Hell, war, and the lives of his followers on his shoulders. He was still the only one of his kind, still had the weight of war on his shoulders, but now he knew he was not alone.

He had not known that here.

He stopped before another rock and set me on my feet before it. Placing his hands on either side of my head, he kept me pinned before him. My breath came faster as his chest brushed against mine while he worked to move the rock aside. My toes curled, and my gaze drifted over his broad chest as he pushed the rock out of the way.

I didn’t turn to look at the room beyond as he lifted me and carried me across the threshold. Lowering me again, he turned to close the rock behind us. I gazed at the small room and the pile of furs tossed into the corner. Nearby was a small pool of water with a lava rock set out beside it. The fire in a pit cast shadows over the walls, but unlike the fire in the main room, I couldn’t see the flames within this pit.

“How long did you live here?” I asked.

“From my birth until I went to Earth,” he replied.

For over fifteen hundred years he’d slept here, yet there was nothing here. “Where are all of your things?”

“There’s a small room over there with some of my clothes in it.” He waved at an area across the way, and I saw that, like the larger chamber, the rocks hid what lay beyond.

“What about personal items? Magnus had goblets and furs and a whole carnival to keep him entertained.”

“I have nothing else here.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Why not?”

Cupping my face in his hand, he drew my eyes to him. “Because I sought nothing but my throne while I was here. These rooms were never my home. My home was where my throne is.”

“And now?”

“Now my home is with you,” he said simply, yet the words robbed me of my breath. “Come.”

He clasped my hand and led me across the chamber to the pool of water that was about three feet deep and five feet wide. My skin prickled with excitement over being able to scrub the sweat, stench, and dirt off me.

I untied my boots and yanked them off while Kobal worked to remove his. I went to tug the dress off before recalling the intricate buttons going up the back of it. Mewling in frustration, I nearly burned the material off me.

“Easy,” Kobal murmured as he stepped behind me.

Gathering my hair, he draped it over my shoulder before bending to kiss my nape. His warm breath on my flesh caused my pulse to skyrocket as his fingers worked to slide the buttons free. I was caught between throwing myself into his arms or leaping into the water and scrubbing myself for the next hour.

He ran a single knuckle up my spine in a massaging manner before replacing the knuckle with his thumbs. I moaned as his hands rubbed my cramped muscles. His fingers brushed the undersides of my breasts before he slid them away to push the sleeves of the dress down my shoulders.

My nipples tightened in anticipation of his touch as the dress dipped down and air rushed over my flushed skin. My breasts ached to feel his hands kneading them until I could barely stand.

“Exquisite,” he murmured in my ear.

He stepped so close that the heat of his chest branded my back. Bending over me, his body nearly enveloped mine as his mouth pressed against the marks he’d left on my shoulder. His hands pushed the dress down until the sleeves fell completely away and the top of it hung about my hips.

My body jerked and my head fell back to his shoulder when his hands settled on my stomach. They slid down, pushing the dress lower and forming a V beneath my belly button. I waited for him to slip his hands under the dress and between my thighs. Instead, his hands moved leisurely up my stomach. They brushed my breasts in a teasing manner that had my body begging for more. I couldn’t stop myself from arching toward his hands.

He chuckled before nipping at my ear. “Did you miss me inside you?”

“Yes,” I breathed.

His hands fell away, and with a tug, he pulled the dress over my hips and down my legs.

“You are mine,” he stated, and I could feel the ardor of his gaze on my back.

“And you are mine,” I reminded him as I turned my head to look at him over my shoulder.

“I’ve only ever been yours, Mah Kush-la,” he said and pulled off his pants.

The thick length of his swollen shaft stood proudly out from his body when he tossed his pants aside. The bead of precum already forming on the head of it caused me to lick my lips. I clearly recalled the taste of him, of fire and male, on my tongue.

When he stepped against me again, the heavy weight of his erection against my back caused liquid warmth to pool between my legs. My head tipped back as he lowered his mouth to kiss my forehead, nose, and briefly my lips.

His arms swept around my waist, and he carried me to the pool where he descended into the red water. A blissful sigh escaped me when the warmth of the water encompassed my cramped muscles.