Stepping closer to them, Shade put his arm around Eddie’s shoulder. “Come on, Eddie. Lillian is threatening not to perform tonight, and you know you don’t want me to get her to do it my way.”
“Okay.” Eddie stepped back with a sniff and a nod. She jabbed her forefinger at Wrath. “Soon.”
“Soon,” he said.
He watched, his expression unguarded as Eddie and Shade left the room and climbed the stairs up to the theatre.
“He will take care of her.” Sophia stuffed her maudlin thoughts back in their box. She had been waiting for a moment alone with Wrath. Love shouldn’t be squandered or left untended. Love required the courage to risk self in its pursuit. If only she’d use her own wisdom.
Wrath growled. “He had better.” His expression hardened. “In the meantime, I will see what I can discover about who leads this rebellion. The demons have been taking advantage of our ignorance, but that is over now.”
Sophia pitied any demon who crossed Wrath in his present state of mind. “Try to leave some of them alive.”
He barked a reluctant laugh. “You are staying on this plane?”
“Shade is here.” Sophia shrugged. “And for as long as he is, I must remain.”
Wrath cleared his throat. “You will watch her too.”
“Of course.” If she hadn’t known he would probably toss her across the basement, Sophia might have hugged him. He definitely looked like a being in need of a hug. Humans had that right about the hugs and the comfort. “While you are in hell, Shade and I will see what we can discover on this plane. My fellow archangels are looking into repairing the seals, Lucifer is hunting Ashe, and we will keep an eye on all of that too.”
“And those fucking guardians.” Wrath’s eyes sparked red. “If they so much as breathe in her direction, I want to know.”
“You’ll be the first to know.” Which wasn’t strictly true, so she amended. “Well, one of the first.” Because if the guardians moved against Dee or Eddie, she and Shade would not hesitate to remind them of the power of the immortals. That was another situation that had gone too long unchecked and unmanaged. But that was not the reason she’d lingered to speak to Wrath, and she got to it now. “Haziel is almost recovered.”
Wrath stiffened but nodded. “Good.”
“You know.” She had to proceed with utmost caution. This was Wrath she was dealing with. “You could always request to visit her.”
Jerking his head back, he stared at her. “Go to Ramiel’s demesne?”
“You’ve been there before,” she said.
Wrath narrowed his eyes and studied her. “What are you not saying?”
For an archangel who was renowned for her diplomacy, Sophia found herself floundering. “Just because a hell prince and an angel have never been together before, does not mean it cannot happen.”
“You know better than that.” Wrath scowled at her.
“I know that it has never happened in the past.” Sophia spoke quickly before he lost patience with her, and she went basement air surfing. “But there has also never been a living Nephilim, and the horsemen have also never stirred this strongly before. We have also never had a demon rebellion before.”
He scoffed. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Everything.” The cold look on his face was irritating her. “We are in uncharted territory now. Shade will stay here with Eddie, and the gathering has agreed to that. Why should Shade and Eddie be the only beings entitled to their happy ending?”
For a long, tense moment, she was sure Wrath was going to attack her, and then his shoulders slumped. “Even if that was true, you forget one pertinent fact.”
“What?”
“She went with him.” Wrath’s voice dropped to a low, tortured rumble. “I offered her sanctuary, and she chose him.”
The Wrath she had known for time beyond counting would never have been able to show his weakness like he did now. She risked her wings and put a hand on his forearm. “I don’t think that means what you think it means.”
He stiffened and glared at her offending hand on his person. “Speak plainly.”
“I saw Haziel’s face when she was with you. I was there in that moment, and I don’t think she went by choice.”
Wrath’s expression grew thunderous. “You are saying Ramiel forced her?”
“I am saying that matters are not always as they seem. And that you should not let your experience with Rosabella cloud your judgment when it comes to Haziel.”
Something painfully akin to hope flared in Wrath’s eyes and then disappeared behind his habitual ire. “Even if what you say is true, it merely proves that she will always be bound to Ramiel.”
“Ramiel is not all bad,” she said.
Wrath growled.
“Grant you, he behaved like a complete prick sending Haziel to the horsemen, but I believe it’s more a case of him behaving badly than a case of him being an unmitigated asshole.”
“Beg to differ.” Wrath shifted away from her light touch. “He will never let her go. Even if what you say about a different set of rules governing this time holds, it all means nothing, because Ramiel will never let her go.”
Sophia held his furious stare. “How do you know if you don’t ask?”
“I’m not going to ask.” He crowded her back. “Because even if I did, she went with him. She looked me in the face and chose him.” His voice dropped to a low growl. “You say I should not allow my experience with Rosabella to cloud my judgment. I would argue that I would be a fool not to. Two beings I have offered my heart to, and two beings have walked away. The trouble is not our rules, or even Ramiel and his possible motives.” He pounded his chest. “The problem is the heart I offer is a corrupt and vile thing that is worth nothing.”
He stepped through the hell gate before she could even shake her head in denial.
“Oh, Wrath.” Sophia sighed and walked back up the stairs to the theatre. Her own loneliness pressed down on her. Had she not also wondered if the reason Shade had chosen Eddie was because he had seen some flaw within her? She wanted to laugh at herself. The advice she had given Wrath was useless because she clearly was not using it herself.
