Entice: An Ignite Novella Read Online Free PDF Page B

I’ll spin myself into the monster I should be, let Azael reflect his own image in mine.
    Because I have no choice. I never really did.

Chapter 6
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    A ZAEL HAS NEVER BEEN PATIENT , so I’m not surprised when he rushes down the corridor and cuts me off with a scowl on his face.
    “And where were you?” he asks, joining me as I make my way back to our dormitory.
    He doesn’t see the redness of my eyes, isn’t aware of the hours I lost trying to put myself together again, puzzling myself into a new image. A darker Pen, more twisted. The five thousand twenty-five lives I took weigh heavy on my shoulders. The war lives on within me, but I paste on a smile.
    “I thought you would have heard. I had a meeting with your— our— new boss.” I pick up my pace, curling around corners fast enough that Az has to jog to keep up.
    My phrasing doesn’t slip past him unnoticed. Our boss. He grins. “Lucifer wanted to see you? For what?”
    To threaten me, to degrade me into submission. I chew on the words I want to spit out and swallow them like acid that churns in my stomach and burns under my skin. “He said I’m joining you on some new assignment.”
    He stops and grabs my wrist, spinning me toward him. “Eden?”
    I pull my hand free and continue walking. “He wouldn’t say. All he told me was that it was top priority. I’m assuming you’ll fill me in.”
    “Pen,” Azael huffs, trying to keep up. “Slow down, will you?”
    When I reach the door to our room, I notice it’s open a crack. I stop and hold out my hand to Azael, silencing him. I press myself up against the cold, rocky wall and pull out the dagger from my belt. Az slides up next to me on the wall, brandishing his own weapon, and nods.
    Who’s inside? he asks.
    I peek through the crack and see a shadow shift across the room, long and thin. I can’t see. You didn’t let anyone—?
    Why would I let someone in our room?
    A few seconds pass, and I hear the clinking sound of the vials in Azael’s nightstand roll into one another.
    They’re touching my stuff! He goes to push around me, but I hold him back with my arm, pinning him against the wall.
    Shut up and wait a second. I lean closer to the door, training my ears to pick up the muffled sound of shuffling footsteps. There’s a soft padding of rubber soles on ice just on the other side of the door, and I hold up three fingers for Az. Ready?
    He nods and tightens his grip on his scythe.
    I spin my blade around in my palm, readjusting my hold, and lower one finger, then two. Now!
    Together, we throw our weight into the door, knocking over whomever waits on the other side for us. They go sliding across the ground and slam into the wall at the foot of Azael’s bed.
    As I charge forward, I notice it’s a man with dark, unkempt hair, dressed plainly in black clothes. Before he can even raise his head to see us, we descend on him. I pin down his chest with my knee, shifting my weight into his ribs and holding my dagger to his throat as Azael steps on his arms, stopping them from scrabbling for purchase of something he could use as a weapon.
    “Name?” Azael demands.
    The man stops moving and lets out an annoyed sigh. “Could you let me sit up?”
    “Give us a name and we’ll consider it,” I answer him, glancing at Azael.
    “I see you two will be even more difficult than I was made aware.” The man tosses his head back, throwing the hair away from his face.
    He’s younger than I would have guessed him to be, based on his height and posture. He has a mess of scruff across his narrow, pointed jaw and high cheekbones that give his face a sunken look. I notice his bright violet eyes and remember I’m staring back at him with similar ones. Violent violet—the hue of the damned.
    “My name is Gusion,” he finally answers, “and I would very much appreciate it if you let me go already.”
    I shrug at Azael and he shakes his head.
    “Doesn’t ring a bell, champ,” Azael hisses