Clearly not done with him yet, Ava turned soulful eyes on Rapace. “Tell me what overset her so?”

“Her nails.” Rapace heaved a sigh and shook his head. “Our darling seraph was horrified to discover the color did not compliment her skin tones.”

Wrath suppressed the desire to bellow. His back burned where his wings were demanding to be released. He needed to retrieve Haziel and then get back to finding Eddie. But losing his shit wouldn’t work with Ava. She had legions at her beck and call, and here in her demesne, she was virtually unassailable.

“Tragic.” Ava shuddered.

“Enough,” Wrath spat. “Just get her for me, and we’ll be on our way.”

Rapace managed to look passably apologetic. “Regrettably, hell prince, that is not within my purview.”

“Then make it so,” he snapped. Ava was one thing, but her dancing princess of a demon was another entirely. He wouldn’t tolerate disrespect from that flashy popinjay.

“Oh, Wrath.” Ava giggled. “You’ve made some fairly basic mistakes here.”

He remained silent. Ava would have her say, and things would move faster if she did.

“Firstly, you mistake us for thinking we have the authority to make Haziel do anything she doesn’t want to do.” She straightened on her throne and grinned at him. “When you made her a guest of this court, you gave her control of when she leaves.” Leaning forward, she gave him a mischievous wink. “And to tell you the truth, I rather like having her here.”

He ground his molars hard enough to make his jaw ache. Ava wanted him to lose his temper, and he refused to give her the satisfaction. “She’s outstayed her welcome in hell. Ramiel has recalled her.”

“Ramiel?” She went with that annoying chin tap again and turned a mystified glance on Rapace.

Rapace cleared his throat and leaned solicitously closer to her. “Archangel. Counterbalance to Satanus. Blond, green eyes, proverbial stick up the arse.”

“Ah, yes.” Ava clapped her hands like a delighted toddler. “Now I remember.” Her face hardened. “Arrogant bastard who thinks he has the right to shift a female supernatural along the chess board of his asinine games.”

Rapace grinned at Wrath smugly. “Indeed. It seems to be an epidemic.”

“You’ve made your point.” Wrath tried reason. It seemed to work for others of his kind. “I shouldn’t have left her here. And Ramiel shouldn’t have sent her with me. Lesson learned.”

“Really?” Ava cocked her head. “You think it’s that easy?”

Rapace clicked his tongue and shook his head at him.

“Do you want to know what I think, Wrath?” Ava leaned back on her throne and made a song and dance of crossing her shapely legs over the armrest.

He’d bite. “What do you think, Ava?”

“I think you’ve only begun to learn your lesson.” She grinned, catlike and triumphant. “And I’ve only begun to have fun with you.”

Wrath paced the limits of the bedchamber a smirking Rapace had shown him to. After her last pronouncement, Ava had stood and sashayed out of her throne room. His bellow for her to get back to him and finish their conversation had fallen on deaf ears.

Rapace had left him with instructions to change for dinner. With the night now upon them, he would be better to wait until morning before he left. Demons came out with the dark, and Haziel would make a shining beacon for them. Three more demons entered in Rapace’s wake and poured him a bath, then filled it with lavender bath salts. The final insult was the pale pink satin knee breeches and shirt that had been laid on the bed for him to wear to dinner.

Ava was relishing every minute of this. Granted, he shouldn’t have abandoned Haziel here, but he’d only done so for her own good. He couldn’t have taken her into Lucifer’s demesne and kept her safe. As it had turned out, he needn’t have worried, but he hadn’t known that at the time he’d left.

He would explain all this to Haziel when he saw her. And being the extremely reasonable angel that she was, Haziel would understand precisely why he’d done what he’d done.

In the meanwhile, Ava was doing everything she could to stop that conversation from happening.

Stepping out of his bath, he wrapped a towel around his hips and walked into the bedroom. Evening light glinted off the satin of the outfit Ava had chosen for him. She really should know better than to think he would calmly submit to being dressed up like a doll for her to play with. Unfortunately, a quick survey of the room revealed that his clothes had been removed, and he was left with pale pink breeches, a towel, or naked as his options.

The image of Ava’s gloating face if she saw him in those breeches decided matters for him, and he tucked his towel firmly around his waist and sat down to wait.

A soft gong sounded through the palace, and Rapace opened the door.

Eyes sparkling with amusement, he took in Wrath’s towel. “The breeches didn’t fit?”

“I will rip your arms off and beat you with them.”

“Oh, my.” Rapace chuckled and gave him a toe to top eye fucking. “But you do look delicious like that as well. Our mistress will enjoy this ensemble even more than the pink satin.”

“And then I’m going to tear your cock and balls off and stuff them down your throat.”

Rapace chuckled and bowed. “Dinner is served.”

One day, Wrath would make Rapace regret every smirk and every drawled insult, but now was not that time. He motioned the door. “Lead on.”

Arrayed in a sparkling black gown that clung to each dip and swell of her figure, Ava greeted him in a small private dining hall. “Good evening, Wrath.” She motioned the table. “I have taken the liberty of having all your favorites prepared.”

He should have known better than to expect Haziel would attend dinner, but he masked his frustration well. “Very kind of you.”

“Have a seat.” Ava motioned a chair with an elegant wave of her hand.

Eight courses later, and Wrath had to loosen his towel and thank his foresight for not squeezing into those delicate knee breeches. Through the interminable meal, Ava kept up a flow of inconsequential chatter. Any time he attempted to bring up Haziel, Ava neatly sidestepped his enquiry and kept right on nattering nonsense.

By the time dessert was served, with an accompanying wine and all its pomp, he was ready to rip the table apart with his bare hands.

Grinning all the way, Rapace returned him to his chamber.

Wrath paced the room as his mind worked. Ava had had her fun. It was time to end the game. Somewhere in her palace, she was keeping Haziel, and he’d played nice for as long as he could. Eddie needed him, and he was wasting fucking time, time none of them had.

Haziel was of Ramiel’s host, right. And that meant he could tune into Ramiel’s energy and find her.

Opening that part of his being, Wrath searched the palace for traces of Ramiel.

A clear signature pinged across his awareness to the left and Wrath tightened his bath towel around his hips and prepared to launch into battle.

All things considered, Haziel was having a lovely time in Ava’s palace. The food was exceptional, and always available via hot and cold running demon, the company delightful, the accommodations sumptuous, and tomorrow Ava had promised to show her the rare collection of extinct species Ava had collected and preserved in her demesne.

Ava had a side hustle in preserving species that were about to go extinct on earth. Amongst her rare collection she had dodos, quaggas, and a Tasmanian tiger. According to Ava, she kept them safely breeding here until such time as earth could be trusted to respect its natural environment again.

She’d felt Wrath arrive this morning and had been expecting a visit from him. Still, she did want to see those rare animals, and Ava and she had a spa day planned for the day after that. Haziel had never had a pedicure or a hot stone massage, but she was sure she’d like them.