Eddie did and comforting heat flooded from his palm into her. Her eyelids felt too heavy to open and she kept them closed.

Her bed dipped, and Cronus moved, and then Shade was there, holding her with her head against his chest. His hand stroking her spine. “Sleep, Eddie. we will be right here until you wake. Nothing will get past the hounds and me.”

Wrath poured as much of his power as he dared into Eddie’s frail body. What he discovered through their connection threatened to break him in two. Eddie’s lifeforce had been dangerously depleted, and whatever had happened to her while she was taken from them had attacked her mind, body, and spirit. He wanted to rage at the world that had hurt his precious child.

“Enough,” Shade whispered from his place holding Eddie. “We don’t want to do more damage trying to help her.”

It took everything in him to remove his hand from Eddie. “I could do more if I had Ramiel’s balancing power.”

Eddie’s eyes were closed, and a faint flush covered her gaunt cheeks. Fury pounded through him, and his wings sprung from his back.

“Don’t.” Shade shook his head. “Take that out of here.”

Dee sat in an armchair beside Eddie’s bed, the odd tear still trickling down her cheek.

He needed to get out of here until he could control his wrath.

Haziel was standing in the hallway outside Eddie’s room. “How is she?”

“Not good.” Being near her made him feel less like breaking the world. “She needs healing, and I’m not sure how long it will take. I need to…”

“I know.” Haziel touched his hand. “Go and burn off some emotion. Shade and Dee will not leave her, and the hounds are here.” She gave him her gorgeous smile. “And I will not leave until you return.”

He didn’t know why he trusted her like he did, but he found himself nodding. “When I find them…”

“You will do what needs to be done.” Haziel’s green eyes filled with the same fury he felt. “But for now, your anger may do more harm than good.” She motioned the door to the theatre. “Stretch your wings. Find your balance, restore your healing energy, and then return here and help her.”

He nodded. “How is your wing?”

“Don’t worry about me.” Her sweetness touched a place deep inside him. “My wing is great.”

She actually drew a smile from him. “I thought you couldn’t lie.”

“Not technically a lie because five of them are great and one is a mite sore, but it will be fine.” She cupped his cheek with her hand. “You took good care of me, and you will take even better care of your daughter.”

Haziel closed the back door behind Wrath and released the sigh she’d been holding. The summons for the gathering had reached them as they were leaving Shade’s palace, and shortly on its heels had come the news that Shade had found Eddie.

They’d flown at full speed for the hell gate, with her forcing her injured wing to keep working. Wrath’s healing had worked, and other than some residual stiffness now, she was going to be fine.

“That was a big sigh.” Ramiel emerged from the greenroom.

The theatre company had all left for the night. She didn’t know what they thought of the new beings drifting around the theatre, or even what explanation had been given for their presence.

“Ramiel.”

He looked as beautiful as ever. His green eyes, almost the same shade as her own, glowed as he looked at her. The ever-present soft white light surrounded him like his own full body halo.

Ramiel motioned to the door she had shut. “You seem to be getting along famously with our bad-tempered hell prince.”

“We get on fine.” She felt suddenly guilty for all that had happened between her and Wrath. She prayed Ramiel wouldn’t ask the sort of questions that would force an honest answer from her.

He stroked his smooth chin and tilted his head. “Fine? From what I saw, you and Wrath are getting along a whole lot more than fine.”

If it had been any other being, she would have thought he was jealous, but despite every opportunity she’d given him, Ramiel had never shown that sort of interest in her. “Well, yes.” Heat flooded her cheeks. There were words she could use that were not a lie. “We have spent some time together. He has taken good care of me while we were in hell.”

“He abandoned you in Mammon’s demesne.” Ramiel folded his arms over his muscular chest. “I insisted that he fetch you back.”

“Ava.” The correction came automatically. “She doesn’t answer to Mammon and prefers Ava.”

As sure as she was that Ramiel would have been angry about her being left with Ava, she wasn’t sure he was telling her the entire truth. Or not the truth she would love to believe. Her heart whispered that if he had insisted Wrath fetch her, it wouldn’t have been out of fondness—not the sort of fondness she craved from him.

Like all archangels, Ramiel was stunning, even down to the small imperfections that stopped him from being too beautiful. In Ramiel’s case, a small bump marred the bridge of his strong nose. His biceps wore a few small scars that he’d gotten from sword fights. The flaws only made him better looking, but her heart did not miss a beat like it did when she looked at Wrath’s brutal beauty.

He studied her face. “You look different.”

“I injured my wing.” She longed for a mirror to see what Ramiel was talking about.

“And Wrath healed it for you?”

“Yes.” Guilt flooded through her again. Ramiel would be horrified by what had transpired between her and Wrath. He would see it as a form of betrayal. She was a terrible seraph to entertain feelings for a being who was the arch nemesis of the angel she had always claimed to love. She needed to change the subject. “They need your help with her.” She pointed to the ceiling that separated them from Eddie’s room. “Your power is so similar to Wrath’s, but gentler and more inclined to peace than war.” As she spoke her enthusiasm for her idea grew. “If you worked with her sire, she would heal faster and better.”

Ramiel pursed his perfectly formed lips. “You’re right. I could help her.”

“Will you?” Hope rang painfully clearly in her voice.

Ramiel stepped closer to her. He took her braid and wrapped it tenderly around his fist. He seemed to be studying the individual strands of her hair. “I rather think that depends on you.”

“I don’t understand.” She’d seen Ramiel in many different moods, but this was a new one for her, and she felt adrift as she tried to navigate it. Perhaps it was her own guilt about the secrets between them that made her view him differently. She had never kept secrets from Ramiel. Until now.

“You see, Haziel. I know you.” He tugged on her hair and brought her closer to him. Heat radiated from his hard body, but it didn’t make her want to press into him like it did with Wrath. She didn’t know what to make of that but the look in Ramiel’s eyes kept her frozen; half speculative, and cunning. “You cannot lie to me, so if I ask you a direct question you will be forced to give me the answer.”

“Please don’t ask it,” she whispered, her heart in her throat.

“And that, in itself, is an answer.” He looked at her with profound disappointment, dropping her braid as he stepped back. “There is more between you and Wrath,” he said. “And you are dangerously close to him.” He shrugged. “I blame myself for sending you on a mission with him. I didn’t think, however, you would be foolish enough to fall for a lout like him.”

Haziel burned to defend Wrath, but Ramiel’s unreadable mood kept her silent. She had fallen for Wrath, that much was true. But she had no idea how far or how deep.

“I will help the Nephilim.” Ramiel sighed and stepped back. “And in return you will leave this theatre on a mission for me, and not tell Wrath that you have gone.”

“Why?” She tried to glean the answer from his eyes. “Lucifer is still missing. The rebel demon hordes are growing. Our work in hell is not complete.”

“Yours is.” His eyes went emerald hard. “You will put distance between yourself and Wrath. You will go and investigate the stirring of the horsemen. And in exchange, I will help with his daughter.”

Haziel gaped at him. She had never seen Ramiel’s cunning streak turned against her. It felt like a kick to her chest. She was momentarily robbed of breath. “Why are you doing this?”