Chapter 171: I will not allow it
Seraphel
Hearing about Luceriel’s vision made my heart begin racing so fast that I could barely believe what was happening around me.
How could it be true?
My hands moved on their own, settling protectively over my stomach, rubbing slow circles there before I even realized I had moved at all.
When I finally looked up, every single eye in the room had already turned toward me.
Azriel broke the silence first. "How could that be? Draca is the one who is evil. Why should my mate suffer for the sins of those who tried to harm us in the first place?"
"Remember what Castiel told you," Uriel said, cutting in gently. "Blood shall rise against blood, and kin shall fall beneath kin’s own hand. From the wreckage, new alliances shall be forged, not by choice but by necessity. A single light shall stand where all else has gone dark, and that darkness shall spread until it swallows even the horizon. Terror shall reign unchallenged over the land, until the final hour comes to pass, and in that hour, the world shall either be unmade, or remade entire." He let the words settle before continuing. "We have to consider that Luceriel’s vision may simply be another piece of the very same prophecy, so..."
I slammed my hands down against the table, hard enough that every head in the room snapped toward me at once.
"The human seems to be having a rather difficult time taking all of this in," Pazuzu observed, clearing his throat.
Azriel stretched a hand toward him, and with a simple flick of his fingers, a thin band of crimson light sealed itself tightly across Pazuzu’s mouth, silencing him mid-sentence. ’’stop talking.’’
"There is no way I would ever side with Draca against my own child," I said, my voice climbing higher than I meant it to. "How could any of you even imagine such a thing would happen? It will never happen. Never." I nearly screamed the last word, but caught myself the moment Azriel laid his hand gently over mine, rubbing slow, steady circles into my skin.
I let out a long breath and lowered my head. After everything that had already happened, learning through yet another prophecy that the very child I was meant to bring into this world might one day help bring about its ruin was simply too much to carry all at once, and I hated how utterly powerless it made me feel.
Tears welled before I could stop them, spilling over as I finally lifted my head and dragged the back of my hand roughly across my eyes.
"I have done everything I was told to do," I said, my voice cracking apart around the words. "I have done everything right, and it still feels as though I am being punished for it regardless."
Azriel was there in an instant, gathering me carefully against his chest, one hand smoothing slow, steady circles across my back as he pressed a lingering kiss to the crown of my head. "Nothing is going to happen to either of you," he murmured against my hair. "I will not allow it. I swear that to you."
I buried my face against his robe, unable to look at any of them a moment longer.
Everything felt as though it were collapsing around me all at once, and I hated how small it made me feel. I was not weak. I refused to believe that of myself, not even now.
And yet this entire story, the very plot I had once read for nothing more than entertainment back in my old life, was steadily doing everything it could to convince me otherwise.
The room fell silent again, until Pazuzu finally spoke up. "I understand the human’s distress, though I must say, crying seems such a pitiful thing to indulge in."
I lifted my head to stare at him, startled, wondering how he had managed to break free of the seal Azriel had placed over his mouth only moments earlier, and more than that, how he was even standing upright at all, when the very last I had seen of him, he was still bound tightly to a chair.
"How are you even on your feet right now?" I demanded.
He only offered a slow, unbothered smile in response, and I sighed, already answering my own question before he could bother to.
What was I even asking? He was the Prince of the Demon Realm himself. Of course a few vines and a sliver of borrowed light were never going to hold him for long.
"I am glad you understand that much, at least," Pazuzu said, inclining his head toward me.
"Get away from my mate," Azriel warned, stepping closer, his voice low.
Pazuzu only chuckled. "Oh, do shut your mouth, dear cousin. I have no intention of harming your precious little mate. I only wish to offer the lot of you some advice."
"We have no need for your useless advice," Sariel said coldly.
"I intend to fight the demons myself, with everything I have," Lumiel added, tightening his grip on the hilt of his sword.
"As long as the seven of us stand together," Taizel said, "there is nothing we cannot overcome."
Pazuzu laughed.
"Fools. All of you." He said it slowly, savoring every word, before laughter spilled freely out of him. "Do you truly believe the seven of you, however united, stand even the smallest chance against the Demon King himself? He commands seven Lords of his own beneath him, each one powerful enough to level an entire kingdom without effort. Do you honestly believe you could do anything to him at all? He is my father. I know him far better than any of you ever could."
"And you could just as easily be working for him," Tobias said, teeth gritted. "You tore Elysium apart for a reason, and yet here you stand, acting as though you have accomplished something noble. Did you truly believe none of us would realize you were behind it all along? What if this entire scheme, every piece of it, is simply meant to lure the Demon King awake?"
Pazuzu chuckled, and in the blink of an eye, he had Tobias hoisted from his chair, fingers wrapped tight around his throat. "What do you think? I care nothing for any of your lives. I never have. If you imagine for even a moment that I wish to help any of you, you are gravely mistaken. I care only for my mate, because the bond shared between the seven Sins runs deep enough that this prophecy will reach him regardless, whether he wills it or not. I could end your worthless life this very instant, especially given how little a pathetic god of Elysium’s life means to me."
His grip tightened further, the color draining rapidly from Tobias’s face beneath it.