Heaven and Hellsbane by Paige Cuccaro

eyes looking from Eli to me and back again. “You think we took that lad’s head back there? Done in his magister? Truly? Have ya lost yer bleedin’ gourds?”
    “The girl from the alley said it was an illorum and a demon who attacked her and her magister,” I said. “And here you are.”
    Liam held his hands out to his sides. “Do ya see any bloody angelic swords on me? We’ve been tracking the pair same as you.”
    “Why?” I asked.
    “Because the pricks killed me magister. That’s why.”
    That got Eli’s attention. He stepped back. “What was his name? When did this happen?”
    There were thousands of magisters, each one as focused on his illorum as Eli. It was just too easy to lose track of each other, too easy not to notice when one of them went missing even with their angelic connection. I could see how the news had come as a shock to Eli.
    “No more than a fortnight ago,” Liam said.
    I stiffened. “Before the attack on Maion?”
    “Aye. Me magister’s name was Rehel, and despite wantin’ to keep me under his thumb, he was a right fine bloke. Didn’t deserve what they done to him.”
    “You saw it?” I asked.
    Liam looked at me, pain glistening in his small green eyes. “Aye, I saw them take his hand half a click before they used his own blessed sword to take his head. And there wasn’t a bleedin’ thing I could do to stop it.”
    “Lies,” Eli said, sword still in hand, his other fisted tight. “What kind of illorum stands by and watches his magister slaughtered?”
    “The kind that’s battling for his own buggered life, that’s what,” he said. “The demon you’re lookin’ for ’tis wicked fast and meaner than hellfire. Killed the poor gom Rehel had been trainin’.”
    “He had taken on a new illorum?” I knew magisters often brought in a second or third trainee, especially when the first was particularly experienced. That’s how it’d worked for Eli, Tommy, and me. And then Tommy had been killed. Eli had yet to volunteer to take on a new trainee.
    “Aye. Not more than a month marked,” Liam said. “If Amon hadn’t tackled the bloody demon battling me, I’d be a head shorter me self.”
    “Amon was there?” Eli’s cold stare shifted to the demon behind Liam. “So he is involved with the attacks.”
    “No, ya eejit,” Liam said. “He was passin’ by is all. But he’d be a right prick to walk on while two of his brother’s bastards were ripped from the mortal coil.”
    “No. He’d just be what he is, a demon,” Eli said, his gaze never leaving the tall blond behind Liam.
    “Why’d you help him?” I asked Amon. “Why would a demon help save an illorum?”
    Amon’s gaze shifted from Eli to me, his expression softening. “The abyss is a cold, maddening place devoid of all light. It’s not meant to kill its inhabitants but to damage, to punish, to slowly strip away all that made us what we were. Our beauty is the first to be destroyed, then our compassion, and finally our minds. I was not a prisoner long enough to forget my heart.”
    “How long were you in there?” I asked.
    “Five years.” Eli’s tone was flat.
    Amon looked to the angel and then lowered his gaze. “Less than that. My savior was banished twenty-two months ago. I have been free for some time.”
    Liam poked a finger at Eli’s chest, glaring up at him. “And he’ll stay that way as long as me lungs draw breath.”
    Eli looked down at the brassy redhead, fighting the smile ghosting across his lips. He snorted, then sobered. “Trusting a demon may be the very thing that costs you that last breath.”
    “So why were you there when Liam’s magister was attacked?” I asked, refocusing the conversation. “You expect us to believe you were just passing by? Really?”
    “Aye, that’s right,” Liam said. “And a lucky coincidence was all it was.”
    The tall man glanced at his pint-size love and back to me, his cheeks flushing. “No. It wasn’t a coincidence. I had been…watching