Entice: An Ignite Novella Read Free Page A

anyone, really. She spends far too much time surrounded by books that she’s forgotten how to carry herself around the living.”
    “I am not the ignorant one,” I spit back at him. “I’m fully aware of respectful conduct. But I only choose to practice such behavior around those I respect.”
    Azael jumps to his feet with a string of curses directed at me and a warning to behave. Lucifer, though, doesn’t seem offended. In fact, he seems amused.
    “Such courage,” he says in a voice that sounds like a prolonged sigh. “However misplaced it might be.”
    “Call it what you will,” I say, refusing to break eye contact with him.
    “Sir, again, I must apologize—”
    Lucifer raises a hand to silence him. “That’s enough. I admire audacity. I can even tolerate it”—he pauses and cuts a warning glance at me—“to an extent.”
    “Yes, sir,” Azael nods.
    I say nothing out loud. Instead, I chose to yell at Azael in my mind. Don’t call him sir .
    I will call him sir, and I swear, if you don’t start showing some respect, I’ll string you up myself. He might tolerate your contempt, but I won’t.
    “How admirable...Azael, is it?” Lucifer cuts in.
    “Yes, sir.”
    He nods. “Your loyalty to me, even in its infancy, is strong. You stand up for me to your sister, even in private. A rare quality.”
    Private? I ask Az.
    Our thoughts—
    “Yes,”—Lucifer waves away our invisible conversation—“I can hear your silent exchanges. You might want to keep that in mind in the future.”
    He watches me carefully, but I steel myself against him. He doesn’t scare me; he’s just another angel who thinks he could rule the world. The only difference is that he’s tried to do something about it—acted upon his arrogance.
    I’m still not calling you sir , I think. Azael’s face grows dark next to me, but again, Lucifer is unruffled.
    “As is your prerogative, Penemuel.” My name in his voice sends a sharp shiver up my spine, and I never want to hear him speak it again.
    His calm nettles me, and I find myself wanting to see how far I can push him, how much it takes for his smooth surface to crack. But Azael, his posture rigid and formal next to me, stops me short. I bite my tongue, knowing that if I continue to be insubordinate, I won’t be the only one to pay. Azael will lose his hopes of a promotion, of a place at Lucifer’s side. As much as it makes me sick to do it, I swallow my contempt and mirror Lucifer’s calm.
    I build a wall of indifference, stone by stone, and paint it over with a thick coat of civility. I even force the shape of a smile across my face. Azael lets out the breath he was holding and his shoulders slump, relieved to have me behaving as he sees fit. Lucifer’s eyes spark, and I realize he sees through my pretense entirely. I’m not surprised.
    He extends a hand to Azael, purposefully ignoring me. “Azael,” he says, gesturing for him to follow, “I recognize a talent within you. You have certain...attributes that will make you powerful in Hell. Today is only the first step. Tell me about your trade in Heaven. What is it that you did?”
    Together, they walk away toward Michael, and even though he’s only a few feet in front of me, I feel that I’ve lost Azael. He’s turned his back to me, and it takes everything in me to not reach out and drag him away from Lucifer. I stuff my hands into my pockets and keep them there like stones.
    “I worked with souls, sir. With new angels and with the prototypes of human souls. I was in training as a reaper when the war broke out.”
    “Souls,” Lucifer repeats, spiraling his tongue around the word. “So you understand the process of detachment.”
    Azael nods.
    “Of splicing the soul from the vessel?” Lucifer clarifies.
    Again, Azael nods. “Yes, sir.”
    They stop above Michael’s body. “Show me,” Lucifer orders. “With him.” With one sharp hand, he gestures to his fallen brother, as if he was nothing more than a