Her Wicked Angel (Her Angel Romance Series Book 6) (Reading Sample) - Felicity Heaton (rm book recommendations txt) 📗

breathing hard as his stomach rebelled again and the terrible weakness returned.

“I made a vow to deal with you if you ever left Hell,” Apollyon said, his voice pure darkness and malevolence. “I will do just that.”

“No,” Liora barked and when Asmodeus looked over his shoulder, he found her standing between him and his twin, her arms outstretched and blocking Apollyon’s way to him. “Please… he’s sick.”

The petite blonde Asmodeus knew to be Serenity appeared in the doorway behind Apollyon, a cream satin robe covering her slender frame. She finished tying the belt to keep it closed and frowned at him and then Liora.

Apollyon straightened and advanced a step.

Liora tensed.

Asmodeus growled and bared his fangs.

If the male dared to lay a finger on her, he would use the last of his strength to protect her. He would not let the bastard harm her.

Apollyon’s blue gaze shifted from Liora, to him and then back again.

“Explain why you have brought this creature to me.” Malice dripped from Apollyon’s deep voice and Asmodeus hated how alike they sounded even though they had been raised in different realms.

“Do not tell him.” Asmodeus pushed away from the wall before him, turned to face his enemy, and leaned against the other wall beside him, using it for support and hating that he needed to.

Liora looked over her shoulder at him and he knew she wasn’t going to obey that order. Foolish woman. She might believe that telling Apollyon and her cousin why he was here would help them trust him, but in reality it would do the opposite. Apollyon would want to remove his head.

She drew in a deep breath, lowered her hands and flexed her fingers at her sides. Her palms faced him and a tiny flicker of black, red and purple magic twirled in her hands, hidden from Apollyon and Serenity.

She would fight for him?

He pushed himself up until he was standing with only his right palm against the wall, and slowly straightened to tower behind her, eyelevel with Apollyon.

“The Devil sent him to take me to Hell, but he isn’t going to do that.” Liora’s voice didn’t wobble in the slightest and pride filled his heart. His little witch wasn’t afraid of Apollyon or her cousin. She would fight them if it came to it. “He wants to help me.”

“You believe him?” Serenity’s French accent strongly laced her English. “You are a fool… he is lying.”

“She is right, Liora. What reason do you have to trust his word? He is evil, despicable, and I have seen what he is capable of… he will deceive you given the chance. It will sweeten the satisfaction he will feel when he hands you over to his master.” Apollyon glared over her head at him and Asmodeus stared right back, his anger rising as each vicious word about him left Apollyon’s lips.

“If he is evil and despicable and takes pleasure from doing horrible things… then you are too… because all of that comes from you.” Liora tipped her chin up and squared her shoulders and Asmodeus grinned behind her, enjoying the brief flicker of shock in Apollyon’s eyes.

“Liora,” Serenity snapped and Liora held her left hand out to silence her.

“Stay out of this, Cousin.” Liora lowered her hand. “You want to know why I can trust him? He killed a nasty looking fallen angel to protect me when the Devil sent him to take me to Hell.”

Apollyon’s blue gaze shot to him. “Is this true?”

Asmodeus didn’t answer him. He lowered his gaze to the back of Liora’s head and fought off another wave of sickness. It was stronger this time and the room wavered so badly that he feared he would pass out.

When everything stopped whirling, Liora was before him, her hands against his bare chest, supporting him. The concern in her hazel eyes touched him deeply and his black eyebrows furrowed. He didn’t deserve such a tender, caring female.

“Please, Apollyon… he’s sick and I don’t know what’s wrong with him.” Liora looked over her shoulder at the dark angel. “I didn’t know who else to bring him to.”

She hadn’t meant to betray him. She had brought him here because she had feared for him and had thought that Apollyon would know how to treat him, and she had known how he would react to it. That was why she had asked him to trust her.

Apollyon heaved a sigh, sent his armour and wings away, replacing them with the black loose bottoms he had worn before, and padded barefoot across the wooden floor to him.

Liora stepped aside.

Asmodeus bit back a growl when Apollyon roughly inspected him, checking his eyes, mouth, and throat and prodding his bare stomach.

Apollyon shoved him back against the wall. “He is hungry.”

The male stalked from the room, passing Serenity and heading into a dark area beyond an opening opposite Asmodeus. He returned with a clear plastic pack with some brown crescent-shaped items in it and threw it hard at Asmodeus. It hit him square in the face and dropped to the floor before he could catch it. Asmodeus growled at him.

Liora bent and picked up the pack of brown things, and frowned at them and then at him, and then at Apollyon.

“Hungry? Who doesn’t know when they’re hungry?” She looked back at him, an incredulous look on her face that he hated because it made him feel stupid.

He cast his gaze down to his boots and growled under his breath at her.

“Asmodeus has never left Hell. In Hell, he would never feel hunger or thirst, and would never feel the need to sleep. In the mortal world, he will.” Apollyon scoffed and Asmodeus looked up at him through his lashes, narrowed his gaze on him and snarled.

Apollyon grinned at him and Asmodeus wanted to rip it from his face. He was mocking him and making him feel like a fool, and he was doing it on purpose.

Asmodeus didn’t want to look like an idiot in front of Liora.

He didn’t want her to think he was weaker than Apollyon and less intelligent.

A shadow of Apollyon.

“Why are you really here, Wretch? You might fool her, but you do not fool me. You are up to something and, in this world, I am king and you are nothing more than the court jester. Answer me, or I end you here and now.” Apollyon’s derisive tone cranked Asmodeus’s anger into the red.

Asmodeus shoved away from the wall and came to face him, using all of his remaining strength to keep upright, refusing to allow his twin to mock him in front of Liora and refusing to show any weakness.

“I don’t have to explain myself to you,” he snapped and squared up to Apollyon, staring straight into his blue eyes. “If I wished it, I would be king of this realm and you would kneel at my feet. Remember that.”

Apollyon smiled and Asmodeus sensed the rise in his power. It swept over him, too much for him to handle in his weakened state, pressing down on him and making his knees threaten to give out. He would not allow it. He would not have Apollyon make a fool of him.

He would not unwillingly go to his knees.

“I will remember it… and I will remind you of it in a few minutes time when you pass out because you were hungry and thought you were sick.” Apollyon’s smile widened into a vicious grin. “I will drag you back to Hell where you belong.”

Asmodeus stepped back, edging towards a closed door that had many locks.

He glanced at Liora. She stared at him, disbelief still colouring her expression, mocking him as much as Apollyon’s words had been. Serenity stood a short distance behind her, her expression dark and threatening. His head turned again, spinning and sending him stumbling backwards. He was too weak to fight Apollyon and he wouldn’t stand here and let the male mock him and make a fool of him. He was no court jester. He was king.

King of Demons.

A king without a queen.

His gaze drifted to Liora and the look she still wore cut him to the bone. She thought him a fool. They all did. His fangs descended again and darkness rose within him, obliterating and crushing the weakness, the softer emotions he had foolishly allowed to take control of him because he had wanted her affection and attention. He didn’t need a queen.

“Burn in Hell,” Asmodeus barked, turned and grabbed the door handle. He yanked it open, breaking the locks, and stormed out of the apartment and down the dimly lit staircase.

“Asmodeus,” Liora called after him but he didn’t slow.

He didn’t need her.

He didn’t need anyone.

Chapter 6

Liora was madder than the March Hare.

She turned away from the staircase, stalked back into the pale spacious apartment, and glared at Apollyon.

“Have you been with him the whole day and night?” Apollyon said in his usual dark commanding tone that demanded an answer and she continued to stare at him, funnelling her fury into it so he could sense how angry she was with him. “Serenity has been worried sick… and you have been out with that wretch!”

“Don’t call him that!” Liora’s power curled around her fingers before she had even uttered a command to call it forth.

It swirled black and purple with flashes of red, a sign of her growing rage, and left her feeling invincible. If she wanted, she could put Apollyon on his backside before he could even attempt to defend himself. Serenity would be angry with her if she did such a thing though.

Liora found she didn’t care, but she wasn’t in the habit of making enemies of her friends.

She tamped down her anger and dialled back her power until magic lazily circled her hands, there if she needed it but not liable to spin out of control and harm her friends without her really desiring it. Whenever she lost her temper, her magic had a tendency to act without her consent. It was the danger of being in possession of such strong power, and something she’d had to live with ever since her parents had died and she had gained their magic on top of hers.

She drew in a slow deep breath to calm it further, bringing it firmly under her control, and exhaled, releasing her tension with it.

“He has a name, Apollyon,” she said in a low voice. “He is not a creature or a wretch or something despicable. He has feelings.”

“There is evil in him. Great evil. I could feel it. Can you not feel it too?” Serenity whispered and Liora looked her way and then back at Apollyon where he stood closer to her.

“You’re right. There is evil in him, but there is also good. I have felt it.” She waited for Apollyon to say something but he remained quiet.

She stared at him, seeing the similarities between him and Asmodeus, but also the differences. It wasn’t just their eye colour and hairstyle that set them apart. It was everything and nothing at the same time. They weren’t as different as Apollyon wanted to believe, and he had shown that tonight. He wasn’t as good as he acted. Asmodeus wasn’t as evil as he acted.

“You’ve felt it too, haven’t you?” Liora took a step towards Apollyon.