Anal mausoleum? Power blasts wouldn’t satisfy his anger. They were going to have this out the blood and flesh way. He threw a right. “She failed her end first.”
Raphael grunted as the punch snapped his head to the side, then followed with a gut punch. “It was never about that stupid blood oath.”
“Yes, it was.” Lucifer wheezed and smashed his left into Raphael’s pretty fucking nose.
“No.” Raphael landed an upper cut. “It.” Another body blow. “Wasn’t.”
Lucifer’s feet left the floor as Raphael connected beneath the chin. His back hit the table, and wineglasses and canapés took flight. He spat blood. “Of course it was.”
“Stay down,” Raphael yelled. “This is facile and infantile.”
But strangely satisfying. Lucifer located an unbroken flagon of wine and chugged it. “You shouldn’t have brought her here. She doesn’t belong.”
Raphael gave him a hard look before coming to sit near him with his back to the chaise. “You know Bianca better than any of us. She was determined.”
Having been the regular recipient of Bianca’s determination, it only seemed fair to hand the flagon over. “Why?”
“You’ll have to ask her for the real reason.” Wincing around a split lip, Raphael took a swig. “I can only tell you the reason she gave me.”
Lucifer snatched the flagon back. “Which is?”
“You still need to find Leona.” Raphael clicked his fingers for the wine. “And you did promise Emma, which has nothing to do with your blood oath to Bianca.”
Raphael had him there, and Lucifer handed the wine over. “I’m aware of that. I was following a lead on Ashe before I was summoned. If I find Ashe, I should find Leona.”
Raphael scoffed, sipped, and handed the wine back. “Bullshit.”
“Fuck you.” Lucifer finished the wine and hunted for another. He didn’t care for this heart-to-heart.
“Ashe may not be with Leona.” Raphael dusted off a blini and ate it. “The only reliable way to find that witch is tracking her through the crystal.”
Lucifer had never said his plan was perfect. It was a plan that got him off the earth plane, however, and away from a vexing witch who made him feel like he didn’t measure up.
Hell’s fucking teeth! She’d taken Weaz-adj as her lover. The bar couldn’t get any lower.
“You need to talk to Bianca.” Raphael hauled himself to his feet. “And while you’re doing that, it would be useful to remember that saying humans have about pride.”
Lucifer didn’t have the energy to follow him. “Which is?”
Raphael sauntered out of the salon. “That it comes before a fall.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
The knock at her door surprised Bianca. Narcissa had set her up with everything she could possibly need, including a change of clothes once she was done wallowing in the opulent marble tub.
Between the elegant bedroom and the palatial bathroom, she would have been dead set on lobbying for them spending the night if it hadn’t been for Leona.
The lily scent from the fragrant salts Narcissa had tossed in her bath lingered on her skin. Slipping on a black silk bathrobe, she answered the door. “Lucifer?”
One arm raised against the doorjamb he opened his mouth and shut it again. His frown vanished as his gaze meandered to her toes and back again.
A flush followed the path his eyes had taken. She tamped it down because he still hadn’t agreed to honor his promise to her, and they had to settle the business between them first.
First? Oh no, she had no business getting flushed and flustered by a being who defined bad idea. Finding her best bad ass tone, she said, “Can I help you?”
“Hmm.” He caressed his bottom lip with his thumb. “I came here to argue, but I seem to have lost the urge.”
Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Not. Nope. No way. He couldn’t show up at her bedroom door, pulling the classic door lean and looking delicious enough to devour, and make her melt. He probably practiced that hot and heavy smolder in the mirror.
Peeling herself away from the door, she marched into the room and folded her arms. She meant business, and he needed to get that through his arrogant skull. “So, let’s argue.” She added a foot tap. “But you owe me, so I don’t see how you expect to win.”
“Oh, haglette.” He sauntered after her, his black gaze taking great big bites of her. “I always win.”
“Stop that.” They had vital stuff to settle, and him giving her the bedroom eyes wasn’t going to work. “Stop looking at me like that.”
He smirked. “Fire your first shot.”
“What?” Her brain had taken a side trip into shutdown.
“You want to argue.” He stopped with his shoes nudging her bare toes. “Give me your first verbal volley.”
Her robe was way too thin for this encounter, and she was way too naked beneath it. She needed a metal breastplate to conceal her interested nipples. “You owe me.”
“Really?” he drawled. That deep rasp didn’t sound like they were on the same page. Not even reading the same book.
“You promised me and Emma you would find Leona.”
“You’re right.” He picked up the tie to her robe and held it between his thumb and forefinger “And I intend to keep that promise.”
“But—” Wait! He’d agreed with her. Bianca didn’t have to fight, and she lowered her guard slightly. “Well. That’s good then.”
“However.” He tugged gently on the tie. “I will be doing so on my own.”
She slapped his fingers away. “You need me and the crystal to find her.”
“No, I don’t.” He curled a tendril of hair that had escaped from her messy bun around his forefinger. “I told you when we first met that I work alone.”
“That’s bullshit.” She jerked her head away from his hand. “You’ve been looking for Ashe for months and found nothing. The closest you got was with me and the crystals.”
Some of the slumberous warmth fled his expression. “I could have new information.”
“Do you?” She’d never considered that.
“Not yet.” He shoved that dangerous, distracting hand in his pocket. “But Zeb and Levi will have intelligence for me any day now. And they will give me exactly what I need.”
“In other words, you’ve got nothing.” Bianca tightened the robe tie. Leona’s life hung by a thread while Lucifer sulked. “The crystal and a more powerful tracking spell are still your best bet. And I am your way of using both. You’re too proud to admit it.”
