Total pages in book: 56
Estimated words: 52578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 263(@200wpm)___ 210(@250wpm)___ 175(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 263(@200wpm)___ 210(@250wpm)___ 175(@300wpm)
As if sensing my gaze, he lifts his eyes to mine. There’s nothing of the man I’ve come to know so well, of the bargainer I love, there. Only emptiness.
Ramanu steps forward and raises their voice enough to be heard over those gathered. “The challenge has been issued, accepted, and completed. Brosh is dead. Azazel is victorious!”
This time, the cheers are loud enough to shake the very city.
Lenora squeezes my shoulder. “That’s about enough of that. Let’s get out of here.”
“Yeah,” I say numbly. It’s not even the death that’s rocked me this time. It’s the implication. Brosh is dead. Azazel managed to do it honorably, which removes the threat against me, once and for all. That means I can go back to my life. I can go home.
Too bad home has started to feel a whole lot like a magical castle and a giant bargainer who holds my heart.
CHAPTER 20
EVE
Azazel finds me in my room barely an hour later. He’s taken the time to shower, which I both appreciate and resent. My emotions make no sense, not even to me, so I do my best to hold them in and wait for him to speak first.
He doesn’t make me wait long. “I need you to sign this.” He pulls a short stack of papers from his jacket and sets them on the table. A pen appears shortly after.
It’s happening. The thing I wanted so desperately for so long. I didn’t expect it to feel so hollow. “Just like that.”
“I gave you my word, Eve.” He keeps his tone carefully distant. As if I truly am just another contract to him. I know it’s a lie, that it’s just to protect himself, but it hurts more than I expect.
I don’t even read the papers before I scrawl my name in the appropriate spot and toss the pen aside. “Are you happy?”
“Are you?”
I refuse to cry, no matter how my throat clenches or my eyes burn. But I can’t meet his gaze either. “I don’t know how to feel, Azazel.” I swallow as best I can. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Brosh never had a chance of beating me,” he says softly. “He doesn’t have the experience or the patience. He was a fool to threaten you, and even more of a fool to come here to challenge me.” He reaches out and brushes my hair back from my face. “But you’re safe, so it was worth the cost.”
I can’t speak. I can’t even think. “What now?”
“Now, I take you home.”
I don’t expect him to mean right this second, but the room swirls around me in a sickening way that I recognize from the night he brought me here. I open my mouth to tell him to wait, to just give me a moment, but everything goes dark before I can utter a single word.
I wake up in darkness . . . except not true darkness. For the first time in months, I hear horns honking and the normal night sounds of the city. My city. I sit up so fast, my head spins. “Azazel!”
There’s no answer. Why would there be? I’m back in my apartment with its cool-blue walls, thick carpet underfoot, and silly little treasures that I can’t help but collect. Alone. I shiver. This space—my space—has never felt so barren before.
A vibrating sound makes me jump halfway out of my skin before I recognize my phone, lit up on my nightstand. Right. We have phones here. I fumble for it, the pressure in my chest loosening a fraction when I see Pope’s name on the screen. “Pope?”
“Where the fuck have you been?” There’s nothing of Pope’s customary smooth tone in the question. In fact, they sound downright haggard. “It’s been days, Eve. I get an SOS call from you, but when my guy gets into the hotel room, there’s no one there. I’ve had my people searching high and low for you. I thought you were dead.” Their voice breaks on the last word.
“I’m sorry.” I press my free hand to my forehead. “It’s, uh, a long story involving some light kidnapping.”
“Light kidnapping.” Their tone goes low and dangerous. “Is he there with you right now?”
“No,” I whisper. “I don’t think I’ll ever see Azazel again.” Somehow, during all the frustration and fury, it never felt real that Azazel would be removed from my life entirely.
I didn’t even get to say goodbye.
Pope takes a deep breath, and when they speak again, they sound more like themselves. “I’m on my way. Do I need to bring a doctor with me?”
“No. I’m okay. Shaken up, but otherwise fine.” Except for the gaping hole in my chest where my heart used to be.
Pope doesn’t believe me, and I don’t blame them. When they walk into my apartment an hour later, I can actually see the toll of the last few days. It’s there in their bloodshot dark-brown eyes, in the way their normally lustrous medium-brown skin has gone waxy. Their locs are pulled up away from their face, but even those don’t have as much bounce as I’m used to. Pope walks directly to me and pulls me into a hug that threatens to crush my ribs to dust. “I was so fucking worried about you.”