“I really hope I don’t have to kill you one day,” Keon said so softly I almost didn’t catch it.

My eyes stung with the threat of tears. “Me too.”

Conah steered me out of the room and closed the door. “I’m sorry,” he said.

My head whipped up.

His smile was sad. “I know what it feels like to not get what your heart craves. But you will get through it. You have Azazel, Mal, Grayson, Hunter and Uri.” He took my hand. “And you have a friend in me.”

“Thank you, Conah.”

“Thank me by keeping that kiss to yourself.”

The truth was important, but sometimes it was best to keep your mouth shut.

“Go find Az, I’ll take care of Keon. I need him to help me find the second part of the map. The sooner we do, the sooner we can find Lilith.”

It was time to put the heart issues to one side. I’d come to the Underealm for a purpose, and it was time to fulfil it.

I was brushing out my damp hair at the dresser in my room when Azazel joined me. He sat on the bed and locked gazes with my reflection.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

About Keon, about what he’d done. Guilt tied a knot in my stomach. “No. Azazel, I’m sorry for putting you in that position.” I swiveled in my seat so we were face to face. “It won’t happen again. I’ll stay away from him.”

I had to.

Azazel left the bed to crouch at my feet. “Do you remember what we planned? Our wedding?”

I cupped his face. “I do.”

“I want that as soon as this is over. I want it.”

I tipped his face up to mine and kissed him softly on the lips. “I want it too.”

Azazel tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear and stood. “Good. Because our journey to that point starts now.”

I looked up at him wide-eyed. “You found the other part of the map.”

His expression is somber. “We did. And we leave within the hour.”

“But the tincture? I thought it would take a week to steep.”

“Apparently Keon brought us back a ready-made stash, so we’re good to go.” He strode to the door. “Dress for the cold. We meet on the grand pinnacle.”

He left me with adrenaline coursing through my veins and a quiver in my belly.

It was time.

It was finally time to get Lilith back.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Fee

Mal, Azazel, Keon and Samael stood in the center of the foyer leading to the grand pinnacle. Keon and Azazel were on opposite sides, faces turned away from each other. Those two would need to talk soon. Clear the air. I wondered once again why Keon wouldn’t just tell Azazel who he was to him. Why hide it? But now Samael was back, if he revealed his true heritage, it would damage Lilith’s relationship with the fallen celestial.

It was unfair.

Lilith needed to fess the fuck up.

“Daughter,” Samael held out his arms to me.

He was dressed in black and silver, his hair brushed and braided. He looked powerful and in control. He looked almost…happy. Happy to see me.

Warmth bloomed in my chest, acceptance and love, and my feet carried me straight into arms. It was like being enveloped by a mountain, held securely and brushed by soft wings.

“You will fly with me.” His voice was a rumble of authority.

I usually flew with Azazel or Mal, but the fact Samael wanted me close by intensified the warmth in my chest.

He finally released me and stroked to the top of my head with one huge hand. My eyes fluttered closed at the contact and a kernel of love for him unfurled in my chest as if it had always been there, waiting. The missing piece I hadn’t even known was lingering inside me was suddenly whole.

Samael’s mercury eyes flared, and his smile widened. “There you are, my blossom.”

I looked up at him in wonder. “What just happened?”

“I found you.” He tapped his sternum with a finger. “Here. And now that I have, we can leave.”

I tore my gaze from his to Azazel who was watching Samael with a fascinated expression of his own. I guess even though he’d grown up with Samael around, most of that time had been spent with Samael in a delirium. My gaze dropped to Azazel’s shoulders, padded with armor, and then his silver and black tunic, similar to Samael’s. Mal was dressed in the same kind of outfit.

I touched the tunic that had been laid out for me. The metal woven into it was armor, but so malleable and soft that unless the imp who’d insisted on dressing me had explained what it was, I wouldn’t have known.

Samael lightly touched my cheek, and I focused my attention on him.

“Are you ready for what’s to come?” he asked.

“As ready as I’ll ever be. Is it just us going?”

Samael nodded gravely. “There is only enough tincture for a handful of us. You and your Dominus companions are our most powerful demons.” He said the word your with meaning and a twinkle in his eye, letting me know that he was aware of my relationship with Azazel and Mal. “And Keon’s stealth skill as Lilith’s blade is unmatched. He will be a valuable asset once we infiltrate the fortress.”

An asset? Yeah, I didn’t miss how he described the daemon, and I didn’t miss the flinching of Keon’s eyes either. Once again, my heart went out to him.

He held out his hand to me. “Come. I’ll keep you safe. You have my word.”

I slipped my tiny hand into his huge one, and for a moment it was as if I was a child and he the grownup, which I guess, considering our relationship and the years between us, I was.

Mal hoisted a backpack on his front and Azazel did the same, and then Keon pushed open the doors and the night sky twinkled at us. It was time to fly.

We stopped to rest four hours later. I was pretty sure Samael could have flown for several hours more, but the rest of us where flagging. Flying without wings might sound like it was easy but it involved so much extra concentration. I wasn’t the strongest flyer, and Samael ended up having to carry me for the last half hour, hence the decision to stop and rest.

The tavern we landed outside was fancier than any I’d ever been to. A proper brick and mortar affair with a red roof and twin chimneys that puffed smoke. Elegant carriages were parked outside, and gleaming drakes pawed at the ground and flexed their wings.

The front of the tavern was all glass, and the interior was lit up with amber light. Demons sat eating and drinking at round tables. It looked more like a fancy restaurant than a tavern.

Samael rubbed his hands together. “I can’t believe this place is still here. I remember the pastries and ale here to be particularly delicious.”

He led the way to the door, and we all followed. All except Keon. He hung back, lingering outside the halo of light cast by the tavern.

I stopped to wait for him. “Keon?”

“It’s fine,” Samael said. “Keon will be fine out here. We’ll send him some food and drink.”

Keon’s expression was deliberately blank.

“What?” I looked up at Samael quizzically.

“Fee, he can’t come in,” Mal said softly.

“Why the hell not?”

And then I saw the sign by the door. Written in neat script NO DAEMONS.

“Are you serious?” I looked from Samael to Azazel and then to Mal. “You’re going to leave him out here like a…like a dog?”

Samael frowned, clearly displeased by my outburst, but even though everything inside me said to shut my mouth, to just do as told and please him, the moral part of me, the part that hated injustice was stronger.

“This is bullshit. He’s a person just like us, and he should be allowed to go in and eat with us.”

“That isn’t how it always works,” Azazel said softly. “I know it’s unfair, but those are the rules of this establishment.”

I could feel Samael’s gaze on me, but I ignored him and focused on Azazel. “Yeah. Then fuck this establishment. They’re not getting my coin. If Keon stays out here, then so do I.”

I crossed my arms and lifted my chin.

A soft chuckle, melodious and achingly beautiful drifted into the air.

My head swiveled in Samael’s direction. He was laughing at me. Like what the hell?

“Oh, blossom,” he said finally, hand on chest. “You are so much like your mother. Fiery and concerned with justice above all else, and so tiny yet fierce.” He sobered. “And you are right. If Keon cannot come in, then none of us shall go in. Wait here.”

He ducked through the doorway and vanished inside.

I couldn’t look at my guys, afraid they were judging me and annoyed that they’d been okay about leaving Keon outside.

“You’re angry with us,” Azazel said.

Seriously? “Yes, I’m angry. How can you think this is okay?”

“I don’t. But we need food and rest, and this is the only tavern for miles.” He frowned. “But I see now that maybe this practice should be stopped. Forbidden.”

Mal sighed. “I’m sorry, Fee. I’m sorry if we disappointed you.”

My anger melted like the final frost of winter under a spring sun. “It’s okay. I get it. Things are different here, but this practice needs to change.”

“I’ll make sure it does,” Azazel said.

Mal draped his arm around me and pulled me against his side. “Damn it, Fee I think I love you more in this moment than any other.”

Azazel had his gaze fixed over my head on Keon. “Keon, come join us,” he said. “You belong with us.”

My heart contracted with love for my soulmate, because I knew how hard this was for him, this acceptance of Keon after what had happened between us, between them. But the olive branch had been offered.

It was up to Keon to take it.

I wanted to look over my shoulder at the daemon and will him over with my eyes, but this was a moment between him and Azazel. I couldn’t be a part of it.

Gravel crunched and then Keon was standing beside me, so close I could have reached out and twined my fingers with his.