“Stop,” Bianca shouted.
Sophia and the seraphim turned to look behind them, weapons still in hand.
And there was his haglette, marching down the corridor in her top to toe black, big boots clomping, and purple eyes flashing. “What the fuck are you doing?”
She was perfect.
Relief at seeing her was only slightly stronger than the relief of not having to fight eight seraphim and Sophia. He smiled. “Haglette.”
“Don’t call me—”
“Yes, I know.” He sidestepped Sophia and approached Bianca. Now that he was finally speaking to her, his words tangled in his mind. His carefully rehearsed speech vaporized, and he stood and stared at her. “I can’t stop calling you haglette, because that’s how you are in my mind—wicked, glorious, and mine.”
She folded her arms and glowered at him. “Since when?”
“Since always.” Before he ruined his chance and grabbed her, he tucked his hands into his pockets. “I’ve been a fucking idiot.”
“Which particular time?” Up came her stubborn chin.
“Every time I pretended you weren’t important to me. Every time I was too scared to let you in. Every time I didn’t throw myself at your feet and tell you how much you mean to me.”
She snorted. “You wouldn’t throw yourself at my feet. It would get your shirt wrinkled and dirty.”
“Try me.” He didn’t even check the floor before he spoke. Much. A quick glance didn’t count.
“Bianca.” He dropped to his knees. “This is me, pride, on my knees in front of you, begging you for a chance to make it up to you. To undo all my mistakes.”
“You rejected me.” Her voice trembled. “More than once.”
“You terrified me.” Sophia and her seraphim were catching every word, but so be it. If that was what it took, then that was what needed to happen. “You snatched all my preconceived ideas about myself and who I was and destroyed them. You made me crave something I didn’t believe I was worthy of having.”
“That’s good,” a seraph murmured to his buddy.
His friend sniffed. “I preferred the pride humbling himself bit.”
“Ooh,” whispered a third. “That was a classic.”
Bianca sniffled. “I don’t trust you. You hurt me.”
“I’m so sorry.” Her tears ripped into him, sharper than any heaven-wrought blade. “I wish I could take back every stupid thing I said to you, but I can’t. I can only beg you to forgive me and give me a chance to do better.”
“How much better?” She took a tissue Sophia handed her and blew her nose.
“Better enough to be worthy of you.” He took her hand and pressed it to his cheek. “You’re the best part of me, haglette. Even if you never feel the same about me, you’ll always be the best part of me.”
Raphael spoke from behind them, “I thought I was the best part of you.”
“A chance, haglette.” Lucifer pressed a kiss to her palm. “One more chance.”
“I heard the sex was bad,” another seraph said.
“The sex was fine,” Bianca said and gave a watery giggle. “Actually, the sex was great.”
He knew it. “Will you give me that chance?”
“I’m human.” Bianca’s gaze bored into him. “And a witch, and neither of those things is going to change.”
“And I would be lucky to have you.” And he would keep her for as long as she let him.
Bianca dragged in a shaky breath. “What if you turn into an asshole again?”
“I’ll try my best not to.” The moment was too important for empty promises. “But I am who I am, and I can’t promise not to slide into pride from time to time. I can only try every day to be worth the risk.”
Bianca studied him, indecision all over her beautiful face. “I’m scared.”
“Me too.” He wanted to hold her but resisted. “But I’m not asking for anything more than a chance.”
Sophia moved next to Bianca. “This decision is yours. If you say no, we’ll happily kick his ass.”
“And I’ll help them,” Raphael said.
A slow grin spread over Bianca face. “That would be a pity, because it’s such a nice ass.”
“And it’s all yours.” Lucifer grinned back. “If you want it.” He got to his feet and took both of her hands in his. “As is the idiot attached to it.”
She took a deep breath, flushed, and nodded. “Okay.”
“Okay?” The staggering implications of those two syllables made him dizzy. “You’ll give me a chance?”
Her smile vanished into a frown. “Don’t fuck it up.”
“Never.” He tugged her into his arms. “And maybe once you learn to trust me again, we can work our way up to some more mediocre sex.”
She giggled. “Sounds perfect.”
Epilogue
Indolex was on his way. Ashe could feel the fucker like a growing power tempest.
Belle was an important enough captive that Indolex wanted to make sure he got his hands on her before anything could go wrong.
Go wrong like Ashe making a run for it with Belle. It wouldn’t work. Nothing would. Indolex would find them before an hour had passed. If Ashe let Belle go, Indolex would kill him, kill those Ashe had sold his soul to protect, and capture Bella anyway.
No, he had to wait for Indolex to come and get her. At least this way, there was an outside chance of him staying close to Belle, maybe preventing Indolex’s smarmy guard demons from taking out centuries of resentment on her.
Ashe had never been this close to her before. At the one or two gatherings he’d attended as Lucifer’s second where she’d been present, she’d always stayed on the periphery.
