Even though I knew this was an act, my body obviously hadn’t gotten the memo because it reacted to his proximity like a moth to a flame by leaning into him.

Conah gripped me tighter, punishingly, reminding me what role I needed to play.

I gasped and pulled away from him. “Please,” I pleaded with the demons at the table.

According to Conah, most demon males were instinctually programmed to protect females. Yeah, they could be chauvinistic at times, but females were prized, and the reasoning was that these rogues that worked for Mammon wouldn’t be able to turn their backs on a demon female in need.

Sure enough, two of them pushed back their seats and stood. “Let go of her,” one of them said.

The other pulled out a dagger. “Or we’ll make you.”

Conah gave me a squeeze as if to say, it’s on now, and then he released me and stepped around me to face the demons.

“Oh?” he said. “You think you can take what’s mine?” He drew his sword, obsidian and gleaming, and then grabbed my arm and tugged me behind him. “Come and get it.”

This was the part I didn’t like. The part where Conah took on six demons. But this was where part two of the plan came into play.

As the demons attacked Conah, I turned, grabbed a clay jug, and slammed it into another patron’s head. He was huge, red-eyed, and pissed, and as he leaped to his feet with a growl, I shoved him into the table behind him. It started a ripple effect, and suddenly, everyone was on their feet, and the place was one big brawl.

I rushed to the door and flung it open. “Fight!”

I caught sight of movement by the carriage parked a few meters away, and then demons were rushing toward the tavern.

I backed up, eyes scanning the room, which was now in an uproar, to spot Conah blade to blade with one of Mammon’s demons. I ducked through the fray, dodging fists to reach him. I came up between the two guys and punched the demon in the face.

His head whipped back, and Conah grabbed him and hauled him toward the exit. Shit, the other demons were pouring in. I shoved Conah against the wall. Pressing him to it while the rest of Mammon’s men joined the brawl.

Fuck, it was as if the aggression was contagious, or maybe these demons just needed a reason, any reason, to kick ass.

The demon I’d punched groaned, coming to.

“Shit,” Conah said. “Move.”

We dragged the demon out of the tavern and into the night.

Keon was by one of the carriages, the one with no windows and huge wheels.

“I can’t get in,” he said. “My daggers won’t cut it.”

My scythe flared to life as I strode toward the contraption. We had minutes, if that, before the demons realized the brawl was a distraction.

My blade arced toward the carriage, but before I could slice it open, the wall cracked outward and blinding light seared my eyes. I blinked away the dots in time to see Azazel climb out of the aperture.

I rushed toward him, and he swept me up into his arms, crushing me against him with a sigh. I wanted to stay there in his arms, but there was no time.

I pulled away. “We need to move.”

Mal took my hand, and we broke into a run, away from the tavern and across the road, headed for the tree line for cover. Keon and Conah lugged the demon who was barely semi-conscious. I think Conah may have punched him again.

We hit the tree line and kept going for long minutes. Mal tugged me along, his grip tight. I wanted to stop and hug him. To tell them both how fucking relieved I was to have them back, but we weren’t out of the woods yet, pun intended.

“Can you fly?” Keon asked Azazel.

“I think the drug is mostly out of our systems, but I wouldn’t risk a flight.”

“This run should help metabolize,” Mal said.

“There’s a barn a quarter of a mile up ahead,” Keon said. “We can regroup there.”

We picked up the pace. I had my guys back, now all I needed to do was keep them safe.

Chapter Sixteen

The barn was isolated and abandoned, but it kept out the worst of the chill, and the acres of land around it meant that the demon’s screams wouldn’t be heard by anyone but us. I stood by the doors as Keon worked on Mammon’s man, unable to watch him slice and remove talons.

“Are you all right?” Mal asked, joining me by the doors to look out at the night.

I leaned my head against his shoulder. “I’m fine. What about you?”

“Better for seeing you.” He slipped his arm around my waist. “For a moment there, I thought we were fucked. That I’d never see you again.”

My mind drifted to Limbo, to my sacrifice. “You have no idea.”

“Huh?” He nudged me to look at him. “What happened in Limbo?”

“Tons.” I filled him in on the weird nature of the place, on the man, and on how Uriel had been captivated by the music. I told him about Keon and how he’d tried to kill me and what I’d done to bring him out of his trance.

“You kissed him.” Mal’s jaw tightened.

I licked my lips. “It felt…right.”

He searched my face. “Fee…not him. Please tell me you don’t have feelings for that creature.”

I wanted to tell him exactly that, but the words wouldn’t come. I shook my head. “Look, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that the power is free. It was the man all along.” I recounted what the divine power had told me. “So, the end of the worlds has been postponed.”

Mal touched my face. “You offered your life?”

Ah, yeah, I’d glossed over that part, hoping he wouldn’t dwell.

“Fee…”

I shrugged.

He looked pained. “When will you learn how much your life means to us? Did you even stop to consider what your loss would do to us?”

“I did. I considered it all, and I couldn’t sentence another soul to burn. It just isn’t who I am.”

He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me to his chest. “I fucking love you, Fee. More than I’ve ever loved anyone or anything. Please, don’t put yourself in the line of fire like that again.”

His tone was calm, but his heart was thundering against my cheek.

I slipped my hands up his back and clasped him to me. My breasts were squished against his hard torso. The contact was warming and soothing, and for a moment, I allowed myself to imagine we were back at quarters and everything was in order—no looming war, no quest for a queen, nothing but the regular grind.

Keon’s victim’s shrill scream of pain pierced my head.

I pulled sharply away from Mal, stomach churning as the scream tapered off into a gurgle. “How can he do it? Hurt someone so coldly?”

“He’s not Lilith’s Blade for nothing,” Mal said.

But I’d seen the vulnerable side of him, the soft side, the side that could save a life, not take it. “It’s just so brutal. He’s so brutal.”

“I have something,” Keon said from behind us. His tone was even and cold.

I looked at his blood-spattered face. He leaned his head to the side and regarded me evenly.

“He’s a grunt. Doesn’t know details but had a location. Something he overheard.” He dragged his attention from me to Mal. “The pit.”

“Fuck.” Mal blew out an angry breath.

“What? Wait…Weren’t the circles called the pit?”

“Maybe as a nickname a long time ago,” Mal said. “But the real pit is several hundred miles north from the keep. It’s a no-man’s land. Nothing survives there, and the air is toxic.”

“Sounds like the perfect place to hide out.”

Azazel and Conah joined us.

“We never considered it as an option,” Conah said. “Not many daemons or demons can process the air there.”

“Mammon obviously can,” Mal said.

“Lilith would be able to,” Keon said.

“And he could have the others on Limarax,” Conah said.

“Oh, shit,” Mal added.

“What’s Limarax?”

“A rare herb that can counter the effects of the toxic elements in the air,” Conah explained. “We’ll need to harvest and create a tincture.”

“How long?” Azazel asked.

“From what I recall, it can take a week to steep; that, coupled with the time it would take to locate and harvest…probably ten days to two weeks.”

Two weeks? “We can’t do nothing for two weeks.” I looked from Conah to Keon. “Mammon has Lilith. He could attack Imperium at any time.”

“We don’t have a choice,” Conah said. “We need the tincture to go after her.”

“I might not need it,” Azazel said.

Mal rolled his eyes. “You’re not a one-man army, Az. We need to play this smart.”

Azazel made a sound of exasperation. “Fortify the city and find plans of the pit.”

“I’ll get on it,” Conah said. “You should get back to quarters. Rest up, and I’ll send a phoenix when the tincture is ready.”

Azazel’s jaw clenched. “I’m not sure I can fly just yet.”

“Me either,” Mal said.

“I have a group of men stationed east of here,” Conah replied. “I’ll bring them to us. That should give the drug time to work its way out of your bloodstream, and then we’ll have an escort out of here.”

“You can’t go alone,” Mal said. “Mammon’s men are out there. They’re probably looking for us.”

“I’ll go with him,” Keon offered, wiping his bloody hands on his pants. He caught my eye. “I’ll take my brutalness with me.”

Oh, shit. “Keon, I didn’t mean—”

“Yes. Yes, you did.” He shrugged. “But I’m fine with that. It’s who I am. You’d do well to remember that.” He turned and headed for the door. “I’ll deal with the body when I get back.”