Pregnant by the Prince of Lust(BL)

Seraphel

Uriel screamed at him to stop, hurling a volley of ice spikes shaped like falling stars across the room, but every last one of them dissolved into mist long before they ever came close to touching Pazuzu at all.

He was right, and the realization settled cold and heavy in my chest.

Why else would he even be here at all, surrounded by people who meant absolutely nothing to him? He had no true reason to care for any of us. It was Luceriel, and only Luceriel, who kept him tethered to this room in the first place.

According to the book of pride, back when all of this was still nothing more to me than a story I read purely for entertainment, Luceriel had always been the one being in existence capable of taming him.

"Do something, Luceriel!" I shouted at him, because watching Pazuzu choke the life out of Tobias in front of everyone felt like the wrong turn for this particular thread of the story to take, and selfishly, I found myself desperate to keep it from happening.

Not because I cared so deeply for Tobias himself, but because I needed this story to keep moving forward the way it was always meant to, with everyone eventually finding some version of a happy ending, rather than dying off one by one like fools along the way.

Luceriel gave me a frown before turning fully toward Pazuzu. He said nothing at all, only rose to his feet, and as he approached, he muttered, low and even, "Let him go."

"And what do I get in return, darling? What else could you possibly offer me for it?" Pazuzu demanded, his violet eyes brimming with something unreadable, an evil glint buried just beneath the surface of them, and I remembered, all at once, one of his defining traits from the very book that had first introduced him to me. He was, above all else, wildly and endlessly manipulative.

"What an absolutely deranged mate you have managed to secure for yourself, Luceriel," Sariel said, his voice dripping with something that sounded remarkably close to envy dressed up as disdain. "Truly, out of the seven of us, you would be the one to end up bound to a demon capable of holding an Elysium god by the throat without breaking so much as a sweat over it, all while somehow managing to look bored the entire time. Here you stand, mated to someone who would sooner strangle a god than blink, and you simply frown at him, as though this were nothing more than a minor inconvenience rather than an active threat to every single person in this room."

He let out a long, heavy sigh. "What in the world does he even want? Why does he insist on threatening to kill every last one of us before he will even consider helping?"

"Brother-in-law," Pazuzu said, testing the words with obvious delight.

"Do not you dare call me that," Sariel snapped.

"I can help every one of you get precisely what you want. Win this war. Save the human." He appeared behind Luceriel in the very same breath, pulling him back against his chest. "But you should already know by now, I do nothing at all for free. I am marrying him first. He will be my partner in this, whether the rest of you approve of it or not."

Sariel made a loud, gagging sound, as though he might genuinely be sick right there at the table. "Disgusting."

I could hardly blame him for it. Only moments earlier, Pazuzu had been squeezing the life out of Tobias in front of every one of us, and now, somehow, the entire room had already moved on to discussing wedding logistics as though nothing had happened at all.

Nobody else seemed to find that strange but me.

"Another wedding," Lumiel said flatly, still eyeing Pazuzu with open suspicion, as though half expecting him to attack someone else the moment they let their guard down again. "I suppose the real question is whether Luceriel has even agreed to any of this, or whether he simply has not found the right moment yet to refuse."

"I despise the demon prince thoroughly," Raizel admitted, fanning himself with theatrical disdain, "and I do not trust a single word out of his mouth. Though I will admit, I do rather enjoy the theatrics of it all. It has been centuries since anything this entertaining happened at one of our meetings."

"For what it is worth," I cut in, unable to help myself, "I think this is completely insane, and someone should be asking whether Luceriel even wants this." I turned toward Pazuzu directly. "What exactly do you think you are doing?"

"Marrying my mate," Pazuzu said simply.

"Is this not simply one of your usual annoying schemes?" Azriel asked, arms crossed over his chest.

Pazuzu only chuckled. "I want nothing more than for Luceriel to accept me. That is all I have ever wanted."

Every eye in the room turned toward Luceriel at once. He raised a hand, and a sudden burst of green lightning filled the entire pavilion, and by the time it faded, he was already gone, Pazuzu with him, without another word.

For a moment, nobody said anything at all.

The silence stretched out long enough that I almost expected someone to acknowledge what had just happened only minutes before, the very real threat Pazuzu still posed, sitting there unaddressed beneath all the noise about weddings and theatrics.

But then Sariel let out a short breath, and just like that, the room dissolved into scattered noise again, everyone speaking over one another as though the danger had simply resolved itself.

"Maybe we should just give them a moment alone," I suggested.

"Send whatever else needs discussing to my kingdom directly," Sariel muttered, already rising from his seat.

"I have a war to return to," Lumiel said, sword already in his hand again.

One by one, the others found their own excuses to leave, each of them murmuring something about doing their part to win the coming war, until at last only Tobias, Uriel, Azriel, and I remained in the pavilion.

"No matter what happens, I will protect our child," Azriel said, his hand resting gently over mine.

"I do not only need protection," I told him. "I intend to grow far stronger than anyone in this room currently expects me to."

Tobias spoke up next, still rubbing gingerly at his throat. "We will need help interpreting these visions properly. If Zephyrus and Anomas combine their abilities, we may uncover far more than either of them could manage alone." He paused. "And do not trust Pazuzu. Not for a single moment."

"Why not?" I asked.

He rubbed at his throat again, wincing faintly. "Because demons are never to be trusted. Not even the ones who claim to love you," he muttered, and then he was gone, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

"Everything will be fine," Uriel promised. "We will win this war."

I nodded. "Thank you, Uriel."

*At least one of them cares enough to trust me.*

Then I faced Azriel.

His crimson eyes were fixed on me, and without a word, he lifted me into his arms.

"Worry not, my love. I will make sure I protect you, no matter what it takes."