He raised his eyebrow, an expression that I realized I would probably be seeing often since it obviously meant he was annoyed with me. “So I am dismissed, then, Princess?”

I felt the blood rise in my cheeks. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be so high-handed. But I have to go now. Beezle might be hurt.”

“I will assist you,” he said.

I tried not to look completely astonished but I am sure that I failed. Nathaniel was never going to be my first choice for company, but it would be good to have an extra pair of hands around in case whatever threw the bomb was still hanging around. “Um, okay. Let me grab some sneakers and a coat and we can head outside. Can you, um, hide yourself when your wings are out?”

“One of the first things an angel learns is how to disguise his nature from mortals,” he said in an arrogant tone.

That snide remark made me feel more at ease. I could go back to disliking him and not have to struggle with the weird feeling of being grateful to him for healing me, and for helping me find Beezle.

I ran to my room, pulled on an overcoat and my black Converse sneakers, and then met Nathaniel by the front door. He was fixing his hair in the small mirror that hung over the table where I dumped my keys and spare cell phones.

“Come on, beautiful,” I said, rolling my eyes. “We have work to do.”

I let my wings out and winked out of sight. Nathaniel disappeared a moment later. Mortal eyes would not be able to see us, but to anything supernatural we would appear see-through, like ghosts.

We headed out the front window and started from the roof of the house down. I carefully checked every eave, every nook, every windowsill. I practically pinned my nose to the ground and crawled all around the front and back yards, calling down rabbit holes and peeking behind bushes. Nothing.

No sign of Beezle. No evidence of my attacker. Nothing.

I tried not to panic. Losing Gabriel was one thing. I had confusing, lusty feelings for him and didn’t want to see him hurt. But losing Beezle was devastating. I had never, never been without him in my whole life. He had always been there—irascible, sometimes annoying, but he was mine. He’d been like a parent to me when I was young and alone and afraid, and a constant companion as I grew older. I could not even contemplate a future without Beezle in it.

I stood in the gangway between my house and my neighbor’s and leaned against the outer wall of the building, rough brick against my check, my eyes closed. My stomach churned with anxiety. What had happened to Beezle? Who had taken him, and why? Were they hurting him? Would they ransom him?

I felt the brush of soft linen against my cheeks, and looked up to see Nathaniel standing before me. He tucked his handkerchief back in his pocket as I straightened.

“I wasn’t crying,” I said.

“Of course not,” he replied.

“I’m just worried about Beezle,” I said.

“Naturally,” he said.

There was an awkward silence, and it only highlighted the nearly impossible distance between us. Gabriel would have comforted me, and I would have welcomed his comfort. Nathaniel didn’t know what to do, and I didn’t know if I wanted him to do anything anyway. And thinking these kinds of thoughts only made me feel more alone.

“I have arranged for repairmen to come and fix your back door and your broken window,” Nathaniel said.

The door. I’d mostly forgotten about it. Gabriel and I had pushed it back into the frame as best we could and nailed it shut yesterday morning—was it only yesterday? Why did it seem like ever since I’d discovered I was Azazel’s daughter I had more and more days like this, days that seemed like lifetimes?

“How did you get out the back door when the bomb was in your hand? The door was nailed shut.”

Nathaniel shrugged. “I tore it out of the frame.”

“Ah. But it’s going to be fixed now.”

“Yes. I would not wish to take any chances with your safety.”

He said this in a way that made me look up at him, and I thought maybe there was something like tenderness in his eyes. Maybe he meant it. Maybe he really did want to keep me safe. That didn’t mean he cared about the person I really was as opposed to the person he wanted me to be. And no amount of tenderness would help me find Beezle or Gabriel. But I needed him to cooperate with me, in at least one way.

“Listen, Nathaniel,” I said. “I really do need you to keep this business about Gabriel from Azazel.”

He frowned. “Are you asking me to lie to my lord? Because the penalty for such a thing would be fierce.”

As much I didn’t like Nathaniel, I didn’t want him to be punished. And I was sure that he wouldn’t be willing to sacrifice his beautiful face for my sake. I’d have to play this carefully.

“I think that you would agree that something strange is going on here,” I said.

He said nothing, only nodded so that I would continue.

“But I would not want to alarm my father unnecessarily.”

“Surely in an event like this you would wish him to know? What if you incurred bodily injury while the . . . Gabriel was missing?”

“Well, in point of fact, I already have incurred bodily injury. And I’m okay, thanks to you.”

“And what of the regular reports that Gabriel makes to Lord Azazel?”

I had thought this one through already, and I was pretty sure that I’d come up with a good solution. “What if you made the reports for a few days?”

Nathaniel’s frown deepened. “You want me to deceive my lord by pretending to be the thrall?”

I decided to overlook his reference to Gabriel’s status just this once. This part was going to be tricky.

“No, I just want you to call in to Azazel every day like Gabriel would. But I want you to edit your reports. Edit,” I repeated, when he looked like he was going to argue. “Not lie. Just fail to mention certain information. And if Azazel is hearing from you, then surely he won’t mind if he doesn’t hear from Gabriel.”

“But in order for me to report to Lord Azazel I would have to have daily knowledge of your activities and whereabouts,” he said.

I nodded. This was the part that I really did not like. “Right, well, you would stay here for a few days.”

He looked speculatively at me. “With you?”

“In Gabriel’s apartment,” I corrected.

Nathaniel appeared to be thinking it over. I found myself unconsciously holding my breath as I waited for his decision. There was no reason for him to help me, and really no reason for him to potentially put himself on the line for Gabriel. But this was the best solution I could come up with. My hope was that Azazel would be so happy that I wanted Nathaniel to stay nearby that he wouldn’t wonder about Gabriel’s radio silence.

What are the chances of that? I thought to myself, and the voice in my head sounded a lot like Beezle’s. Azazel didn’t strike me as stupid, but I was hoping that I could pull a little sleight of hand. Maybe he wouldn’t notice what I was doing with my left hand because he was watching my right.

“Your plan is not without risk,” Nathaniel said.

I nodded.

“There is a strong possibility that my lord is already aware that the thrall is missing.”

Beezle had mentioned this, too, but as I’d thought about it, I realized that it couldn’t be true. “Wouldn’t he have contacted me, then, to make other arrangements for my safety?”

Nathaniel thought about it for a moment. “Possibly. Or possibly he is waiting to see if you will call him. It is impossible to divine my lord’s intentions.”

Great. “Well, everyone keeps telling me that I am more important than anything else to Azazel, so I am going to assume that he would have gotten me another bodyguard by now. Surely my welfare would rank above any mind games.”

“That would seem to be so, but it is not safe to assume anything with the Grigori.”

I was getting impatient with Nathaniel’s dithering. “Look, can we just assume that Azazel doesn’t know, and that if we pull this off, he will never know? Are you going to help me out or what?”

Nathaniel looked disapproving. “You are asking me to make a decision that may materially affect my well-being, for the sake of a half-blood thrall and a woman who does not particularly like me.”

I gritted my teeth. “It’s just possible that I might like you more if you help me out.”

“Very well. I will assist you. But I will want something in exchange from you at a later date.”

I looked at him warily. “Something? Could you be more specific about that something?”

“I do not know what I might need at a later date, so how can I specify?”

I thought about it for a minute. “All right. It’s a deal. But I have the right of refusal, same as you did. If I decide that the task isn’t something I want to do, then you can ask me for something else later.”

“It is a bargain, then,” he said, and he held out his hand to me.

I wondered if this was how Faust felt when Mephistopheles held out the contract. I was getting something I wanted, but what price would I pay?

I put my hand in his to shake, and instead he raised it to his lips. When his mouth touched my skin, I felt a little thrill of attraction deep in my belly, and again felt like I was somehow betraying Gabriel. I tried to pull away and his fingers tightened on mine.

“Remember, Madeline Black, you are my betrothed. There will come a day when you belong to me, body and soul. And then there will be no bargaining between us. I will be master in my own house.”

I narrowed my eyes at him and yanked my hand away, any hint of attraction doused by his attitude. “And you wonder why I dislike you.”

“You have lived too long on your own,” he said. “You will see my way is better, in time.”

I clenched my fists at my sides. I would not lose control and blast him back into the Old Testament, which was apparently where he had collected his notions of marriage. I needed him to help me now. If he wanted to believe that one day I would be a meek little miss who would cleave unto him without a word of protest, then he could have his fantasies. There was no guarantee that the marriage would actually happen in any case.