Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 40759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 204(@200wpm)___ 163(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 204(@200wpm)___ 163(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
“Yes,” Leith said with tears in his eyes.
“Yes,” Ryan whispered.
Gabriel looked at Simon and Julian, and suddenly they were gone. He passed his hand in front of Leith and Ryan, and then they were clad just as the other Cherubim were, except in silver instead of gold.
“You will remain with Evangeline,” he told them, then to Evangeline, “Mammon, the great celestial builder, has bridged the sea and sent riders across. We couldn’t stop them, and now they are here. We cannot let them pass.”
Evangeline was reeling with the news, it was evident in her catch of breath and the way she instinctively reached for Leith and grabbed his hand, her eyes full of terror. “How, my lord?”
“These things take eons, but evil is patient, yes?”
She nodded.
“Now, go to the gate, take your charges, keep them fed, and make sure they drink. Their divinity is not as great as yours. Remember that.”
Before they could go, Gabriel addressed Raphael. “Do you want him home, or with his friends, or with you at the front line?”
Raphael was torn, I could see it on his face.
“I’ll stay with you,” I said, taking hold of his hand, knowing it was insanity even as the words left my lips. He couldn’t protect me and fight; that was madness. But we couldn’t be parted. I was terrified I’d never see him again.
“He has to remain at my side,” Raphael replied, but he sounded unsure.
“How?” Gabriel asked. “He barely endured fighting racer demons over that dimensional rift. If the witch ever got a hold of him, he wouldn’t survive. And if he dies, since he’s holding your grace, then you die too? It’s absurd. He may be a warder, but he’s not even as strong as his friends.”
Beats of time went by and Gabriel’s words echoed in my head. How did he know all those things about me and about the past?
“What witch?” Raphael asked woodenly.
“Explain about the grace,” I ordered my mate.
But he put up his hand to quiet me as he prodded the archangel Gabriel. “Speak.”
Gabriel stared at him, and Raphael held his gaze.
“We don’t have time for this.” Gabriel clipped the words, turning away.
Raphael moved so fast, beside me one moment, in front of Gabriel the next, bringing him up short, facing him. “There is always time to discuss treachery.”
Gabriel laughed. “Treachery? You’re deluded.”
“Tell me now,” Raphael demanded. “Tell us all now.”
Gabriel shook his head, still smiling.
“Now, or I’ll leave the way I came.”
Gabriel’s gaze went cold and hard. “You would leave now?”
“I left because of lies. You don’t think I’ll do it again?”
“You left because of him!” Gabriel roared, pointing at Anahel. “You left because you kept him from falling, from following The Morning Star, and then you argued that just because he’d sinned in his heart didn’t mean anything, but we all knew better.”
Raphael shrugged. “Michael didn’t see it your way.”
“Michael…he banished you here, to the third heaven, but only for a time.”
“Is that what you heard?”
“It’s what he said,” he thundered at Raphael. “He said you were to cool your blood here, but he didn’t say you had to stay forever. It wasn’t a life sentence.”
“Oh no? Are you so certain?”
“You know him better than that.”
“Those were strange times, after the fall. Nothing made sense.”
“And so you left,” Gabriel rasped, and I could hear the hurt in his voice.
Raphael squinted at Gabriel. “Michael said, ‘An angel has to rule there, and so I’m sending you.’ Those were his exact words. You weren’t there. You don’t know. The important part is he never said an archangel had to rule the third heaven. I know. I paid attention.”
“So you stayed a day.”
“I did. I stayed from sunup to sundown, and that, after everything else, was too long.”
“And then Anahel stepped in.”
“And has done an amazing job,” Raphael defended his friend, who bowed at the compliment. “Has he not?”
“No one is saying he has not, but by Michael’s word, it was supposed to be you here.”
“Again, that’s not what he conveyed,” Raphael countered. “But we’re getting off-track. Explain how you know about the witch Moira that’s been plaguing our clutch.”
He shook his head.
“You’re bound to the truth, so tell me.”
Gabriel suddenly reached out and put his hands on Raphael’s shoulders. “Michael only ever listens to you, and he’s bound to this war with Lucifer, to continual, endless strife. You and I both know it’s not necessary. We need only be separated, angel and demon, not fighting. There doesn’t need to be conflict or struggle, only vigilance, only guarded borders. We needed you to talk to him, to get through to him, to make him see, but you were gone.”
Raphael remained quiet, just listening.
“And then we couldn’t find you, and Remiel went to investigate the account of a kyrie, of all things, killing a demon lord.”
“Of course,” Raphael said, sounding resigned. “He would have questions.”