“Um, yeah.”
“Shit. I hope we don’t run into any teachers.” She made a face. “I should quit anyway. The cleaning lady who smuggled them in for me got fired last week. I’m almost out of cigs.”
“They will kill you,” Gabi said in her deadpan voice, not looking up from the book.
Elena gave a nervous whinny that reminded Kal of Durian and herded Kal out the door. “We’ll bring you something back, Gab!”
Chapter 18
Cathrynne
She woke in an armchair, pulse galloping, the fiery afterimage imprinted on her eyes. It was the same dream as before. A faceless angel falling through blackness, wings trailing flame like twin comets.
“Cat.” Gavriel shifted on the bed, sheets rustling as he murmured her name.
She leaned forward, stiff from hours of sitting vigil, and found his hand. It was ice cold. That alone told her something was very wrong.
“I’m here,” she said.
Gavriel’s green-gold eyes opened, dulled by whatever ailed him. The planes of his face looked more severe, shadows pooling in the hollows of his cheeks.
“How do you feel this morning?” she asked anxiously. “Worse?”
“Weak,” he admitted, the single word clearly costing him effort. His mouth twitched into what might have been a smile. “But better now.”
For days he had been like this, burning with cold, unable to eat more than a mouthful. They wrapped him in blankets, though he often threw them off in restless sleep. Other than the wasting, he had no other symptoms.
A knock made her tense, though she expected this visitor. Yarl had gone himself to the Angel Tower to fetch her.
“Enter,” Cathrynne called, releasing Gavriel’s hand.
The door opened and she tried to hide her surprise. She thought all archangels must be tall and imposing like Gavriel and his darkly handsome brother Raziel of Iskatar.
But the archangel of Satu Jos was small and youthful. She had waist-length snowy hair and alabaster skin. Her wings were also snowy white, making her sapphire eyes appear even more luminous in the dim light. Despite her petite stature, Haniel glided across the room with the grace of a being both ancient and powerful.
“Sister,” Gavriel said, his voice stronger than it had been moments ago.
Pride, Cathrynne suspected.
Haniel’s face betrayed nothing as she approached the bed. “Your secretary tells me you have not improved.”
A seraphim healer had come from the Angel Tower the day before. She had found nothing wrong with him.
“I despise being ill,” Gavriel muttered.
“You should have stayed with me,” Haniel chided. “This manor you rented looks like a harem.” Her gaze flicked briefly to Cathrynne. “It is beneath you, brother.”
“Are you saying the décor is lethal?” Gavriel asked with a bit of his old spirit. “I’ll grant that the gilt and marble is excessive, but the Sundland Room has rather grown on me.”
It was the least lavish room in the house, with austere antique furnishings and wallpaper with a faded motif of snowflakes.
“You jest, but I am entirely serious.” Haniel’s cool gaze turned to Cathrynne again, settling this time. “Leave us, cypher. I will examine him myself.”
Cathrynne decided that she did not like Haniel. And she was reluctant to leave Gavriel alone with anyone, even his sister.
Gavriel looked between them as the tension built. “Let Cypher Rowan stay,” he said in a placating tone. “I don’t mind. It is her job to guard me.”
Haniel’s lips tightened in displeasure. “As you wish.” She moved to the opposite side of the bed and laid a palm against his forehead. She lifted the lids of his eyes, listened intently to his heart, and manipulated different parts of his wings.
