The bell rang again, louder. My mate’s eyes flew wide, golden light spilling all over the room. She smiled when I told her my name. I gathered her into my arms, laughing with joy and weeping with the relief of all those years of agony.
I tried to kiss her perfect lips, but she moved her face to one side, as our friends gathered around. I tried not to show my surprise. There would be time for that later, I knew.
“Bring her into the Assembly Hall. I’ll be right behind you. Ask Arabella to save a dance for me!” Mikhail said, calling behind him for Azazel to close up the Hall.
By the time he joined us again, however, it was apparent there would be no dancing. Not even an hour had passed when the skin on Arabella’s chest began cracking, peeling away, the feather I had placed there shifting, loosening.
“Gavriel?” she whimpered. And then, before I could stop it—not that I could—the feather floated free. It dropped to the floor with a deafening clang that sounded like an enormous gate closing.
She had slept, and never awoken again. But I’d remained faithful to her memory and to our future. Even when every other High Angeli besides me and Mik left Sanctuary, most of them sacrificing themselves to help shore up the failing Great Gate. Even when it became clear that Mikhail would never have a mate, and that I might never see Arabella’s eyes open again… I had stayed true to her.
The centuries of monotony and struggle had hardened me, turning my heart into a statue as lifeless as Arabella was now. Until today, when I’d been drawn somehow to that filthy, foul-mouthed Novice.
Although she wasn’t actually foul-mouthed. She used those made-up curses instead, for attention possibly. Everything about her was slightly ridiculous, even her nickname. Feather. Such a fragile name for someone who was so thickly coated in smut. It was possible just her presence in Sanctuary could shift the balance here. Did it even matter?
The end loomed over everything. The Great Gate that connected Sanctuary to the other realms was close to failing; any pressure on it from Earth’s side would spell out the rapid, inevitable end of Sanctuary. And once Sanctuary fell… I shook the grim thought away, and began pacing.
There was something I wasn’t seeing, something connected to this deceitful, disrespectful murderer.Sexy Judgy Voice Guyindeed. Had she no concept of the importance of names?
Names.
I blinked. Of course, why hadn’t I seen it?Mikhail!
In a moment, he appeared at the hidden doorway that led to his Hall. As usual, an aura of shame lingered around his eyes when he glanced in Arabella’s direction. “Has she moved?” Mik’s tone betrayed a hint of optimism; he’d probably assumed I’d noticed a change and summoned him.
“No. I’m sorry, I didn’t think. We can go outside.”
“You called me. What do you need?” The dark circles beneath his eyes were more pronounced, his shine dimmed with exhaustion. What had he been doing?
“That Novice. The… smutty one.”
His dark, bright eyes gleamed with a hint of humor. “I knew which one.”
“Have you been able to learn her name?” He’d taken her into his workshop again that afternoon. “Did you find her naming mark?”
“Not yet. I looked everywhere, but there’s so much smut…”
Yes, far too much. And it obscured her true name? My suspicions at her being some sort of spy resurfaced. “How could she hide it?” I resumed my pacing, wondering what use the Abyss could have for a small, weak Novice like her. She seemed helpless, and even in my thoughts, I wanted to protect her for some reason. That alone made me suspicious of her; why would those strange green eyes haunt me as they had since she’d glared at me in the Assembly Hall? Why could I not stop feeling both revulsion and a strange desire to spend time with her, uncover all her secrets,knowher?
“She couldn’t hide it from me. Gav, I’m certain she has no mark.” Our eyes met.
“Azazel? He’s been gone for centuries.” There was no way he could have anything to do with a soul so young, one who had only been to Earth once. I’d felt the truth of that answer in my bones. And I would have noted her if she’d ever been in Sanctuary before. No one could meet that soul and forget her.
Instead of answering, Mik shrugged. “I did learn something this morning. A part of her name, at least.”
I smiled. With even a partial name, I could investigate in the Hall of Records and find where this Protector had been sent, track her movements through her earthly life and discover just how badly unbalanced her choices had been. Trace her back to her origin.
“What was it?”
To my surprise, he didn’t answer at once. When he did, there was frustration in his tone. “I would prefer not to say. When she spoke, the naming chime was very soft. As if she had more than… Well. I’ll keep searching.” I waited, but he didn’t speak again. His eyes landed on Arabella, and he frowned as if something new had occurred to him, but he kept silent.
“Could she befromthe Abyss?” I mused aloud.
“No. She has no artifice,” Mikhail responded at last. “She’s filthy but seems honest.” He let out a strange half-laugh. “Maybe too honest.” I found myself smiling as well, remembering the fiasco in the Assembly Hall.
For some reason another thought intruded.Sexy Voice Guy.She’d commented on my… sexiness. I knew I was physically appealing to other High Angeli at least, but no one had made that sort of remark about me, or to me, for many centuries. I was the leader of Sanctuary, not some sex symbol. But she had entertained some incredibly lascivious thoughts about my voice alone. She’d never even seen my face, I realized. What would she think of me? Would she find my physical form attractive as well? I hadn’t thought of how I looked when I chose this form so long ago. After she saw me, would she still want me to—what had she said?—tie her up and play punishment games?
I glanced at Arabella again, guilt and longing battling in my mind. She was the only one whose regard I should ever consider important. Would she have wanted me to do such things, if we had ever had a chance to be together? For some reason, thinking of Arabella in that way felt wrong. My stomach churned with unease and what might be embarrassment.
