Reaver (34 page)

tightened his grip on her shoulder. The sensation of being trapped left her struggling to breathe

normally.

“But why now?” she asked, her mind racing to make sense of this. “It’s been almost five thousand

years. You didn’t get over me in that much time?” Not that she had a lot of room to talk, given that

she’d carried a torch for Yenrieth for just as long.

“Time runs differently in Heaven. You know that. It feels like yesterday, not centuries.”

He had a point. But she wasn’t going to acknowledge it. “You didn’t want me to be rescued. You

wanted me to rot in Satan’s torture chambers. How can you claim to want me if you didn’t care that I

was going to suffer and die?”

“I did care,” he said fiercely. “But leaving you there was for the greater good.”

“Funny how the
greater good
doesn’t feel so good when you’re the one with the hot poker in your

bowels.”

Raphael swallowed audibly, and she swore she saw genuine regret in his expression. “I’m sorry. I

never wanted you to suffer. But now that you’re here, I can make it up to you.”

“That’s very touching, but no.”

“No… what?” he prompted.

Was he being deliberately dense? “I won’t be your… whatever it is you want me for.”

Reaching out, he brushed a knuckle over her cheek, a gentle gesture that she might have fallen for

when she was Verrine. Now she didn’t want his attention. Now she knew he could be as cruel as he

was tender.

“Oh, I think you will,” Raphael drawled, and she broke out in gooseflesh as a sensation of

impending doom sank into her gut. “See, I’m going to make you a deal.”

She narrowed her eyes. “What kind of deal?”

“I promise to keep you safe from Satan. You’re vulnerable while you’re in the human realm. Come

with me, and he won’t be able to touch you ever again. In addition, I won’t destroy Reaver for what

he’s done.” Raphael smile was wolfish, a predator that had pinned the deer. “In exchange, you agree to

be my consort.”

The asshole thought he had her, didn’t he? She returned his smile. “Tell you what. I keep myself

safe, you don’t destroy Reaver,
and
I don’t become your consort. In exchange, I tell you where Gethel

is.”

He laughed. “We know where she is. We nabbed the demon you hitched a ride with in the

Harrowgate.” He took Harvester’s hand and squeezed as if he owned her. “So what’s it to be? A

ceremony for Reaver’s execution, or a ceremony binding us together forever?”

A thought occurred to her, a terrible, ugly thought, and she drew in a ragged breath. “This isn’t

about me, is it? This is about hurting Reaver. That’s why you wanted me to torture him.”

He smoothed his finger over her cheek, and her skin crawled. “You’re part right. I did want him to

suffer, but this isn’t about him. It really is about you. As I said, I’ve wanted you for a long time.” His

vile touch moved south, down her neck to her collarbone, where he slid his finger under the strap of

her tank top. “But if it makes you feel any better, remember when I threatened to take away your

memories of Yenrieth if you didn’t torture him?”

“Gee, no,” she gritted out. “Totally forgot.”

“You’ll have to stop with the sarcasm. I don’t like it,” he said, and yeah, she’d get right on that.

“What does any of this have to do with my memories?”

He shrugged. “I lied. I couldn’t have taken your memories,” he said, and a blast of betrayal and fury

blindsided her. Was the truth so fucking hard for people? “The blood bond with Yenrieth saved you

from the full memory wipe everyone else got. Nothing can change that. Not even an archangel.” That

last part came out with so much bitterness she could practically taste it on her own tongue.

Harvester had spent five thousand years in hell with demons so evil that even Satan contained them.

And yet, Raphael, an angel of Heaven, was one of the biggest fiends she’d ever known.

And in order to save Reaver, she was going to be forced to spend the rest of eternity with the fiend.

For a split second, the length of half a heartbeat, her inner evil rose up and considered turning

Raphael down. But she squashed the thought immediately. As jumbled as her feelings were about

Reaver right now, she was one hundred percent certain that she couldn’t see him die.

“You sick, twisted bastard,” she rasped. “I
hate
you. No matter how long we’re together, I will

despise every breath you take.”

He grinned. “Then a mating ceremony, it is.”

Twenty-Five

Reaver woke in the triage tent in Underworld General’s parking lot. Eidolon hovered next to the bed,

Ares, Thanatos, and Reseph flanking him.

“Behold,” Eidolon said. “The angel awakens.”

“I’m guessing I owe you my life.” Owing a demon anything was never ideal, but Reaver knew

Eidolon well enough to know the doctor would never abuse leverage. Reaver tried to sit, but heavy

straps held him down. “And why am I restrained?”

“Because it took five Sems, including me, to remove the aurial without killing you.” Eidolon

flipped the releases on the restraints. “You didn’t handle it well.”

No, a demon channeling power into him while he was unconscious would trigger an angelic instinct

to fight. He was lucky his body had accepted Seminus healing energy in the first place. Most angels

couldn’t be healed by demons. “Where’s Harvester? What happened?”

“She sent for us to bring you here,” Reseph said. “You almost died.”

Thanatos moved closer to the bed, his accusing gaze cutting deep. “Why did you go to Sheoul to

save her? Lorelia and Revenant claimed she was a spy.” He clenched his fists at his sides, as if

wishing Harvester’s neck was between them. “But that’s bullshit. She plotted with Pestilence to start

the Apocalypse and murder my son.”

Reseph turned a little green at the mention of Pestilence, while Ares folded his arms across his

chest, watching with assessing eyes. Of all the Horsemen, he was the one who could be the most level-

headed and would likely approve of everything Harvester did over the centuries for the sake of

victory. But he was also the one who would be the least understanding of what Reaver had done,

because Reaver had done it out of emotion, not logic.

The bed creaked as Reaver sat up, and oh, look at that. He was naked. He snatched a bed sheet and

covered his lap while Eidolon dug a set of scrubs from out of a cabinet.

“Harvester didn’t plot to do any of that,” Reaver said. “Your Watchers are right. She volunteered to

fall from Heaven in order to watch over all of you.”

“The hell she did.” Thanatos’s anger was accompanied by a whoosh of souls escaping his armor to

writhe at his feet. Their desire to kill in order to be free of his armor forever had them stretching the

limits of their invisible tethers.

Eidolon tossed Reaver the blue scrubs before turning to Than. “Put the souls away, Horseman.”

Normally, Thanatos wouldn’t be cowed by any demon, but Eidolon had proved himself time and

time again, and he’d delivered Than’s son. The scorpion tattoo on his neck writhed, its tail stabbing at

his jugular a few times before he got hold of his temper, but finally, the souls melted into his armor

again.

“It’s true,” Reaver insisted. “She’s been looking out for you since you were infants. When she fell,

she worked her way to becoming Watcher and spent her time secretly manipulating events. When

Reseph’s Seal broke, she pretended to help Pestilence, but everything she did was to help stop the

Apocalypse.”

Ares frowned. “But it was she who made sure The Aegis sent Regan to seduce Thanatos. She knew

the baby was the key to breaking Thanatos’s Seal.”

Thanatos growled at that, and the souls made an appearance again. This time Eidolon just shot him

a dirty look and the souls disappeared.

“She also knew the baby was the one and only person who could
stop
the Apocalypse,” Reaver

insisted. “It was a risk, but she had faith you’d find a way to end the Apocalypse and save your son.”

“But she tortured you. And I…” Anguish darkened Reseph’s expression. “She… and I…”

“Hey,” Reaver said softly. “We’ve been through this.” He shoved his legs into the scrubs and moved

to Reseph, who had gone pale at the memory of what he’d done to both Harvester and Reaver. “You

weren’t you, and she didn’t have a choice. Raphael ordered her to do it. And trust me, she could have

hurt me far worse than she did.” He pulled on the scrub top. “I’m not asking you to understand. Not

yet. But I
am
asking you to give her a chance.”

“She means a lot to you, doesn’t she?” Reseph asked.

“More than you know.” More than even he knew, he suspected. He had a feeling they’d uncover a

lot more layers of their relationship if he ever recovered all his memories. “Now, where is she?” Ares

and Thanatos both shot Reseph a questioning glance, and Reaver’s blood pressure bottomed out.

“
Where
?”

“I left her with Raphael,” Reseph muttered.

Raphael? Shit. What had he done with her? He looked around for his boots, found them near the

door.

“E, did Tavin make it back?” He hoped so. The poor Sem had gone through hell while in… hell.

And Reaver had managed to fuck him up even more.

“He’s fine. Except for the snake issue. I don’t suppose you can shed some light on that?”

“Not really.” Reaver jammed his feet into his boots and bent to tie them. “I don’t know what it is.

I’ll see what I can find out.”

Eidolon nodded. “I’ve got Idess on it, and I’ve got someone else I can consult with.”

Relieved, Reaver straightened. If Eidolon was on it, Tav was in good hands. “I need to go.” He

started toward the tent exit but stopped before he got there. “Where’s Limos?”

More exchanged glances. “She’s home.” Ares’s tone dripped with rare emotion, and Reaver’s gut

clenched as he remembered what Revenant had said about an accident.

Thanatos’s gaze was stricken, his pause ominous. “She lost the baby.”

“She didn’t lose it,” Ares growled. “The child was destroyed.”

Reaver’s heart skidded to a smoking halt and raw, grinding grief carved deep into his chest.
Oh,

Limos, I’m so sorry
. His throat constricted into a tube so narrow every breath was like a searing whip

of air.

“How?” he croaked.

Thanatos let loose a tirade of curses in several ancient languages. “Our new Heavenly Watcher lost

her shit. The bitch took us all down. She even killed one of Ares’s hellhounds.” He inhaled a ragged

breath. “The baby didn’t survive. We’ve been scouring the globe for Lorelia, but it looks like she’s

hiding behind archangel skirts.”

Rabid fury and ice-hot hatred shot through Reaver with an intensity he hadn’t felt since learning

Verrine had kept the secret of his children from him. Harvester was missing, was probably being held

by the archangels until they decided what to do with her, and the Watcher who had been assigned to

watch over Limos had hurt her and killed Reaver’s grandchild.

“I have to go,” Reaver ground out. “I swear to you, Lorelia will pay for what she’s done.”

“No, Reaver,” came a chorus of voices he knew too well. “It is you who will pay for what
you’ve

done.”

Suddenly, he wasn’t standing in Underworld General’s triage tent anymore.