Ramiel’s balancing power strained against the overwhelming waves of rage.
She threw her power toward Wrath’s, and it roped into a dark, gleaming pathway. Then wrath shot down their power bond and transmuted into the earth.
“Heaven’s balls.” Ramiel winced. “That fucker is strong.”
Haziel gave a stilted chuckle. “Damn, but I had no idea how bad this would feel.”
“Concentrate, Eddie.” Shade’s voice brought her back to the task at hand. “They’re holding it. Repair the seal.”
Eddie withdrew her power from Wrath’s. There was a breathless moment before the merge stabilized again.
“Steady,” Shade murmured. “Let the merge do its job. Find the cracks, like you did before.”
The dissonance in the seal almost made her vomit, but she submerged into it. A spiderweb of cracks presented itself. The thing was barely holding together, and this was the strongest of the seals. Eddie didn’t know where to start, and she panicked.
“Slow and steady,” Shade whispered. “Like you did before. Pick a place to start and begin there.”
Eddie picked a smaller crack and eased her power into it. The seal was so fragile she dared not go too fast or risk too much power. The crack closed, but a hairline fracture remained.
That was the best she could do for now.
She picked another crack tangentially linked to the first. This one was bigger, and it took her longer to achieve a similar result. On to another.
Sweat streamed down her face, and she was vaguely aware of Shade wiping it away.
Wrath muttered a litany of ever fouler swear words.
The merge was holding, but it was growing slacker like an overextended elastic band.
Eddie moved from crack to crack.
As she worked, there was an infinitesimal easing in the torrent spewing from the seal.
“Thank fuck,” Vexia whispered as Eddie completed the repair on a larger crack.
The merge tightened as the barrage eased.
Yet another crack.
And another.
Eddie kept going, not thinking, working her way across the fragmented surface of the seal.
The repaired cracks looked like scratches on the surface now. Much better, but not healed, and they would weaken quickly.
Exhaustion nagged her to quit, but Eddie kept going. She clung to the steady stream of encouragement coming from Shade.
“You’re doing it, Eddie,” he said. “You’re almost there.”
The final crack sealed, and the seal rung almost true. She took her hands from the seal and her knees gave way.
Too tired to do it gently, Eddie dropped the merge and collapsed against Shade.
Ramiel’s knees hit the floor with a crack. He caught Haziel as she almost fell face first on the stone floor.
Vexia folded in a faint, and Wrath dropped to a crouch. His head hung like it had become too heavy to lift.
Raphael’s concerned face hovered over her. “Eddie, are you okay?”
“I think so,” she croaked.
Lucifer had moved to Vexia and was helping her into a sitting position.
He and Raphael had been unable to help her this time, as it wasn’t their seal, but they were on hand now with water and warm towels.
“How does it feel?” Lucifer draped a warm towel over Wrath’s nape.
Wrath raised his head. A slow grin spread over his face. “It’ll hold.”
With a smile for Eddie, he crawled over to Haziel and pulled her into his arms.
“You did it.” Shade wrapped his arms around her. “You fucking did it.”
“Can I get you anything?” Raphael said from where he was hovering around Ramiel.
“Food.” Eddie was suddenly starving. “And then some sleep.”
“Thank fuck that’s over,” Wrath murmured into Haziel’s hair.
Eddie straightened. “For now,” she said. “Some food and rest, and then I have another two seals to repair.”
Shade opened his mouth to object, but she gave him a quelling look. “We have Raphael here to help with Lucifer’s. Send for Sophia, and we’ll do yours as well.”
“Eddie.” Shade shook his head. “You can’t go through this three times.”
“I have to.” She’d survived this repair, and she would get through the other two. “Three strong seals is a fuck of a lot better than one.”
Chapter Forty-Two
On Sophia’s return from hell, Bianca got the news that Eddie had managed to patch first the wrath seal, and then the lust and pride seals. They weren’t fixed, but they would hold.
Sophia beamed at her, happy to celebrate a small victory. “We’ve bought ourselves some time.”
“That’s great,” Bianca said and meant it. A small gap in the unrelenting pressure was welcome, but she’d run out of joy. Carmen was having a tough time with Christen’s death and needed all Bianca’s love and support. Her sister’s grief should’ve pushed Lucifer out of her mind, been enough distraction for her to grasp the inescapable reality that he was no longer part of her life, and that was a good thing. Bianca should’ve been concentrating on Carmen.
Instead, she’d come to the depressing conclusion that she missed Lucifer more than ever, which meant that she was an even bigger idiot than she thought she was. With Carmen inconsolable over her loss, Bianca buried her feelings deep and got on with life. She would get over Lucifer, because she had to.
