“She was the one who got us the Nephilim blood when we first arrived,” Ash continued. “She was the one who bargained the first favor with Murmur to get him to help Mist. She’s the one who set up the second meeting with Murmur,andshe’s the one that got you that cuff for the angel.”
Belial might as well have been hewn from stone for all the reaction he gave.
“I know you’re not stupid enough to trust her on her word alone, and I doubt she’d be keen to be your errand boy anyway, so what do you have on her? How do you control her?”
Bel unclenched his jaw enough to say, “She owed me one thousand favors.”
“Onethousand?”
“We’re down to the last hundred now. It was a long time ago.”
“Well, fuck me sideways,” Meph said.
“What the hell did you give her to make her agree to owing you athousandfavors?” Ash asked.
But Bel shook his head. “None of your fucking business.”
Ash opened his mouth.
“I mean it,” Bel growled. “Don’t push me.”
“That information is irrelevant at present,” Mist said, speaking up in Bel’s defense. “We should focus on the matter at hand.”
Ash and Bel were still glaring at each other, but a moment later, Ash exhaled and dragged his hair out of his face. He spun around on the stool to face Raum again. “What happened after you saw Naiamah?”
Crisis averted, Raum continued with his story. As much as he didn’t want to talk about this with anyone but Sunshine, he knew that telling his brothers everything was the best way to get them to stop trying to kill her. He finished by explaining the dreams, how he was certain there was something in his past with Sunshine, and their resulting argument.
“So you stole her dog?” Meph said. “Low, dude.”
“I didn’t— Luna’s not her dog.”
He didn’t look convinced. “Wanna hear some wisdom?”
“No,” Ash, Raum, and Bel said simultaneously.
“Talking about shit is always better than running away like a bitch. It’s something I learned with Iris.”
Raum ground his teeth.
“Last time I did that, I ended up in Hell, and we had to go through a whole thing before we had a chance to make things right. Granted, Iris was the one that fucked up that time, but still.”
Meph looked smug about that. Made sense, since ninety percent of the time, anything that went wrong was his fault. He must have loved not being the culprit for once.
Unfortunately, he also had a point. Raum already knew he shouldn’t have left. Despite their argument, they both knew this wasn’t over between them. Not even close.
“He’s right,” Mist agreed. “I’ve also learned this the hard way.”
With a groan, Raum pulled his phone out of his pocket, only to realize he didn’t have Sunshine’s number. Did she even have a phone?
His notifications showed an unread text from an unknown number that had arrived since he’d last checked. Frowning, he opened it.
Hello, Raum, this is Sunshine. I would like to apologize for the hurtful things I said. It was not my intention to be cruel, even if I allowed my emotions to control me in the moment. I regret my words, and I ask you for the chance to explain myself properly.
I hope you understand that I don’t think any less of you because of what you are. Maybe you are right about some of the things you said about angels and Heaven. You’ve given me much to think about.
I realized I might be able to find answers about your past in the Empyrean Library, and I’ve gone back to the Realm to do some research. I will contact you when I return. I sincerely hope you answer when I call.
Sunshine had obviously never learned the art of casual texting, and it was kind of adorable reading what might as well have been a letter signed with ‘Yours Truly’ and dated two hundred years ago.
