Chapter 167: Bleeding for Him
Luceriel’s POV
The last thing Luceriel wanted, after learning Pazuzu was his fated mate, was for his brothers to discover it before he could tell them himself.
It would be a huge blow to his pride and the last thing he wanted was them finding out that the one who he loathed the most was his mate.
That was why he had vanished for months, why he let no one learn where he had gone, hidden away quietly in his mountains where none could find him. He had watched Seraphel’s training from a distance the entire time, especially whenever Paziel was near him.
Not once had he been caught.
Now, another light had arrived, and though he could tell at once, by its aura, that it belonged to neither Azriel nor Sariel, a small mercy, or the whole matter would have unraveled into chaos far sooner than he intended, there was still something deeply unsettling about it.
It was not an especially powerful aura, and yet it carried a cold, watchful edge that set every instinct in him on alert.
Something sharp enough that, for one brief moment, he forgot Pazuzu still lay sprawled on top of him entirely.
His heart began to race, an unfamiliar thread of fear coiling tight through his chest as the aura pressed down around them, growing heavier with every passing second.
And in the very same instant, Luceriel and Pazuzu spoke the same word together, low and disbelieving.
"Elysium."
Pazuzu released his hold on him at once, lunging toward the source of the light. He raised his fingers, and blades of shadow tore free from them, slashing across the room toward whoever stood at its source.
But his attack was met head-on by a crackling bolt of black lightning, the two forces colliding in a violent flash halfway across the pavilion, and in its wake a storm of rose petals swirled inward, filling the room until they surrounded them on every side.
"I thought I had already rid myself of every last Elysium pest. Who in the abyss are you?" Pazuzu demanded.
"I knew I smelled demons the instant I stepped through," a painfully familiar voice announced, dry and faintly amused.
"Tobias," Luceriel muttered, rising quickly to his feet and smoothing the front of his robes, as though that alone could undo whatever the two of them had just witnessed.
He had long, golden hair pulled back into a high ponytail, two intricate braids framing either side of his face. He wore elegant, flowing white robes cut in a style that closely mirrored Elysium’s own celestial fashion, the silk embroidered along the hem and collar with fine, crossing sword patterns.
And beside him stood someone Luceriel had not laid eyes on in months, someone he had feared, more than he would ever admit aloud, that he might never see again.
Uriel.
His dark hair was brushed loosely back, his brown eyes fixed steadily on Luceriel from within the folds of a matching white robe, the same robe Tobias wore, as though the two of them had vanished together and returned together in kind.
"Brother," Uriel said slowly, his gaze sliding from Luceriel to Pazuzu and back again. "What is a high... the Demon Prince doing in your kingdom?" He rubbed at his eyes as though the very sight of it exhausted him.
Luceriel said nothing at first, staring between Uriel and Tobias, until movement caught his eye. Tobias’s palm crackled with dark energy again, and another bolt of black lightning tore across the room, aimed straight at Pazuzu.
Pazuzu dodged it easily, twisting aside before firing a volley of jagged purple spikes back toward Tobias, who threw up a shimmering barrier just in time to catch them.
The spikes shattered harmlessly against it, and a blade seemed to materialize in Tobias’s hand from nowhere, catching the light as he leveled it toward Pazuzu.
"You attacked my realm and left it in ruins," Tobias snarled, advancing a step. "Die, demon."
Pazuzu only laughed, dissolving into a plume of violet smoke before the blade could ever reach him, reappearing an instant later directly in front of Tobias, spikes already gathered and ready to strike.
"And which one are you again?" Pazuzu asked, tilting his head at him with mock curiosity. "Had I known there were other pests still hiding from Elysium, I would have hunted them down and finished them off, same as I did the rest."
Before either of them could land a killing blow, an overwhelming wash of crimson light exploded into the room, so bright Luceriel had to shield his eyes against it. He caught the scent in the air before he even saw him.
Red lillies. It was Azriel.
Thick red vines burst from the light, coiling around Pazuzu’s wrists and ankles in an instant, wrenching him backward and slamming him hard onto the ground.
And at that moment, Luceriel understood.
Azriel already knew exactly who Pazuzu was.
Once the light died down, Azriel stepped through it, gently setting Seraphel on his feet before turning to face Luceriel.
Luceriel stared back at him, eyes wide, as though he had seen a ghost, but Azriel only walked past him, frowning, until he stood directly over Pazuzu.
"Pazuzu," Azriel said softly.
Luceriel felt his heart race at the sound of that name, and he couldn’t help but wonder how Azriel had recovered memories that had been erased from him entirely, how he had ever come to learn the truth.
Pazuzu grinned wickedly up at him, and in the next instant he was back on his feet, the vines vanishing from his body as though they had never been there at all. He let out a low, dark chuckle. "Well then. It seems you have found me out. I confess, I am rather impressed that your memories recovered so quickly."
"Die, demon!" Tobias’s voice rang out through the pavilion again as he appeared behind Pazuzu in a burst of speed, blade already swinging.
Luceriel moved on instinct, appearing between them in a flash and catching the blade barehanded before it could land.
"What is this? Why are you stopping me from killing this demon? Why?"Tobias demanded.