“We’ll have the Legion with us. I’ll get out of the ball before anything goes down.” I took another step closer to him, steeling my nerves. “As soon as we get inside, I’ll leave. You’ll stop the sacrifices and save a bunch of souls. And then we can part ways, just like you want.”

He winced and flicked his gaze away. “You don’t know what you’re asking to do.”

“Yes, I do.” My heart pounded as he reached out, and his fingers grazed mine. “It’s just one more fake date, Az. One more, and then all of this will be done.”

“You’ll do everything I ask you to do?” he asked insistently. “You’ll listen to me if I tell you to run?”

I nodded. “Of course.”

“Alright.” His brilliant ice-blue eyes slid shut. “We only have a few days until the ball, and you and Serena will stay here until then. It’s the best way to keep you safe. The Legion can come here for our meetings. We will develop a fail-safe plan while I find you somewhere else to live. And then we will say goodbye.”

32

The week passed in a blur. Az and I never had a moment alone. He’d moved himself out of his bedroom and into the spare, and he’d insisted Serena and I take his. Meanwhile, the living room had been transformed into a frat house for demons. A constant stream of them came and went all throughout the day and meetings lasted well into the night.

Open pizza boxes hunkered on top of the dining table. Crumpled papers spilled out of an overflowing trash can. Cans of beer formed a pyramid on the kitchen counter. Az seemed to grow more agitated by the day. His pristine palace had been overrun.

The door flew open and Phenex stomped inside wearing a wicked smile that would make most girls melt. I felt shockingly immune to it though. In the past, a guy like Phenex might have caught my attention. A dangerous bad boy with tattoos, a crooked past, and a fondness for knives. But he was nothing compared to Az.

“It’s done,” he announced as he tossed a white apron into the corner. “Got in and out easy. No one expected a goddamn thing. Idiots.”

Az had decided the only way he’d go through with our plan was if we guaranteed my safety. He’d even put the whole plot at risk to give me a way out of the ball. Phenex had posed as a caterer to get inside the building before the party. Once inside, he’d found the bathroom window and made sure it was unlocked.

“Where is it?” I asked from my perch on the edge of the dining table. Hendrix sat on my knee, cooing happily.