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Now I just had to walk in there with the self-assurance of someone who knew her worth, asked for what she was owed, and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Like my aunt, Cora, who’d made it into a prestigious law firm on the East Coast as one of their top attorneys.
Bracing myself, I knocked on the door, then opened it at Derdekea’s call to come in.
“My lady,” I said and bowed, then closed the door behind me.
“Ah, Chaya.” Derdekea leaned back in her chair behind her desk, which was strewn with papers and books. “I was about to call you anyway. Your new suite is ready. I can have someone pack your things and take them to your new rooms. And I wanted to talk to you about reassigning you to other tasks. Can’t have you cleaning out boxes anymore now that you’re a throne.” She winked at me.
“About that,” I said, straightening my shoulders. Radiate confidence, radiate confidence…
Derdekea raised her brows and looked at me expectantly.
Remember, you practiced this. You spent half an hour in front of the mirror rehearsing this speech. I took a deep breath and said, “I want to team a torture spot on Archangel Raphael.”
“Pardon?” Derdekea leaned forward.
Shit, shit, shit.
Come on, you’ve got this. What would Taylor do? She’d laugh it off; that was what. I just had to cosplay my best friend, pretend I was her for a spell, and I could wing this. I knew Tay well enough to know exactly how she’d act in a given moment. If I slipped her personality on like armor, I wouldn’t be Awkward Me right now. I’d be Confident Taylor, ready to take on the world.
With a chuckle—that was decidedly not self-deprecating—I threw my hair over my shoulder and said, “What I mean is, given that I was the one who rooted out the demon and held him immobile until reinforcements arrived, I deserve a spot on Archangel Raphael’s team that interrogates him.”
Derdekea leaned back again, regarding me with a glint in her eyes. “Do you now?”
I stood up straighter, clasping my hands at the small of my back in the posture of a good and eager soldier, and lifted my chin. “Yes, ma’am. Given my new rank and power, I need to be assigned new tasks anyway—like you said—and considering the talent and skill I’ve shown in apprehending the first demon trespasser in the history of Heaven, it would be a missed opportunity not to induct me into advanced strategical warfare and give me the chance to learn how to interrogate an enemy.”
“You never struck me as the ambitious sort.” She picked up a pen and played it through her fingers as she examined me. “In fact, you seemed quite content to scrape by with minimal effort all these years.”
“For lack of the right incentive.” I raised my brows. “With all due respect, I believe my talents are not best applied to intra-celestial politics, but should rather be turned to connections beyond Heaven.”
Derdekea’s lips twitched. “A diplomatic way of saying you want a career in the field of our nonexistent relations to Hell.”
“I did manage to corner a demon all on my own.”
“Yes.” She tapped the pen against her mouth. “How did you manage that?”
A bead of sweat rolled down my spine. Hidden behind my back, my fingers clenched and unclenched. “Subterfuge, my lady.”
“Elaborate.”
“He didn’t perceive me as a threat.” I waved at the length of my body. “I don’t look like a warrior. I look all cute and cuddly, and others often discount me as weak and clumsy. But when push comes to shove, I will rise to the challenge.”
Like my hellhound Vengeance, who would trip over her own feet when relaxed but would tear an attacker to shreds within seconds without missing a beat.
“He underestimated me,” I went on, “and I took advantage of that and used his hubris against him.”
“So I see.” She tilted her head. “And you think you’ve got what it takes to draw information out of someone unwilling to talk? That requires a very special skill set, not to mention being able to stomach causing someone pain. You’ll get your hands dirty.”
“He is a demon, ma’am.” I pictured Azrael suffering for abandoning his son yet again, condemning him to torture and death due to his inaction. I didn’t even have to act to produce the sneer curling my lip. “He deserves whatever pain comes his way for daring to infiltrate Heaven. If we do not defend the sanctity of our realm by any means necessary, we might as well hand our world over to those who seek to dominate it.”
“You really are this eager to drench yourself in his blood?”
I suppressed the shudder at the image she’d painted, and instead called on the anger and fear and determination swirling in my gut when I thought of Azazel chained and suffering.
“My lady,” I said with emphasis, forming the harshness of my emotions into steel to reinforce my words, “I would be wasted on internal duties like shuffling paperwork or trying to climb the ranks through winning competitions that only play-act the true conflict. You need to put my skills to use where they can make a real difference. If you get me a spot on the team that works on the demon, you will deliver Archangel Raphael an angel who is not only already in the loop about the entire affair and thus won’t pose a risk, but one who is also dedicated to enforcing the security of our realm and making sure we keep the upper hand in this cold war. I am sure our archangel will reward your initiative and the fact that you foster relevant talent in your own ranks with a keen eye on the needs and the prestige of this territory.”
Derdekea stared unblinking at me for a long, tense moment during which I tried my damnedest not to fidget and give away how nervous I really was.
Then, slowly, her grim expression turned into a smile. “Well played, Chaya. I’d be remiss if I disregarded this amount of spirit and motivation. I will speak to His Highness on your behalf.”
