“You’re here, aren’t you?”
I swallowed hard. “Who are you?”
“My friends call me Roth. Sometimes my enemies do too.”
I glanced around the garden. “Whereare you?”
His chuckle was deep and tinged with sadness. “Are you sure you want to know, Laila?”
“You know my name.” I took a step toward the sound of his voice.
“Of course I do,” he said softly. “I’m here for you.”
“Here in this garden or here in Heaven?”
“Both, I suppose.”
I didn’t understand. I wasn’t special. More than that, I’d never left God’s court. There was no way Roth could know me or even knowofme. I was positive he’d never visited the palace in my lifetime.
“Why?” I asked.
“I wish I could explain everything, but I can’t right now.”
Following the sound of his voice, I brushed back vines of pink flowers and he was right there. My gaze roved over him. I lived surrounded by more people than I could count, but none of them had ever fascinated me the way Roth did. Something about him drew me in like a moth to a flame.
His light eyes bored into mine, unreadable and intense.
“What are you?” I asked, curiosity winning out over manners. My best guess would be an angel, but I’d never seen an angel who came into the palace without their wings out. It also didn’t really explain the ambassador title.
“Lost,” he answered.
“That’s not really an answer.”
He laughed without any real humor. “It’s the truth though. I’ve been a few different things in my life, and none of them feel like they fit me anymore.”
“What are you really doing in Heaven?” I hadn’t detected any untruths when he told me he was here for me, but there had to be more to the story. A partial truth was hardly better than a lie.
“I already told you. I can’t explain it all. You have to trust me when I say that I would if I could.” There was so much remorse in his eyes it almost hurt to look at him. I didn’t understand why, but there was no mistaking that Roth was in pain—the deep emotional kind.
“Why can’t you explain?”
He swallowed. “Because I have orders I can’t disobey.”
I nodded. I didn’t have to like it, but I knew he was telling the truth. I also knew that even if he couldn’t explain everything, he was here for a reason, and God had to have approved of his stay since he was still here, waiting for me.
“So now that I’m here, what do you want from me?”
He looked up at the canopy of petals above our heads. “This was always one of my favorite places. I loved this garden.”
“You’ve been here before.”
“A very long time ago, yes.” A flash of regret crossed his features. “But then I made some very foolish choices and my right to visit this garden was revoked.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It was my own fault. I made the same mistake as Adam and Eve did in Eden. I knew better, and I didn’t listen.”
I frowned. “How did you make the same mistake as Adam and Eve? We don’t have any trees we’re forbidden to eat from.”
