“Master? Where do I put it?” Azazel’s presence annoyed me almost as much as my mistake.
“I don’t care,” I told him, circling Arabella’s plinth. “It was meant to be a part of this Construct, but there’s no place for it.” A burst of anger had my wings flaring wide. “How can there be no place for it?”
I wasn’t asking, but my Apprentice answered. “Maybe… Maybe this Construct is unique?”
“Every Construct is unique,” I snapped. “And this one is perfect.” I held up the naming chime and took a careful breath, speaking Arabella’s name, and cementing it to her form: “Arabella, The Beautiful One, Mate to Gavriel the Lightbearer.” The chime rang out with an almost deafening boom. Azazel cringed beside me, muttering something and shivering like a frightened dog. His eyes were rolled back, the whites flashing, his muscles lax, except for the tight grip he had on the mistake.
If I hadn’t seen my old friend Rafe have visions many times, I would have suspected something similar was happening to this Angelus. But whatever Azazel saw when his eyes rolled back weren’t the coherent glimpses of possible futures Rafe had shared with Gav and me. They were the mutterings of a broken mind.
I waited until Azazel shook off the seizure and focused on me. He held up his hand, like I’d never answered him. “Master, what do I do with it?”
I wrapped the bell in my fist and spoke clearly. “I told you, I don’t care what happens to it. Gavriel is coming, and we need to be done here. Throw it back into the Well.”
“Un-unmake it?” The fool was cradling the thing to his chest as if I had asked him to suffocate a puppy.
“Yes,” I commanded. “I told you, it’s nothing. It’s a little scrap from Arabella, but it’s useless! It doesn’t belong here.” I set the naming chime down, wondering at the strange, soft humming that came from it. “Throw it away.”
Then Gavriel was near, and I called for him. “Well, are you going to stay outside forever? Don’t you want to meet your mate?”
The doors closed behind me moments later, as I followed Gavriel and Arabella to the celebration.
And left Azazel to destroy our realm.
CHAPTER30
Feather
Mikhail had only just stopped telling his story when the most violent tremor we’d had shook the room. Tools went flying, and I was afraid I’d get hit, but he wrapped me in his thick, soft wings, taking the damage for me.
That was a theme, wasn’t it? He took the damage for all of us in Sanctuary. And he’d hurt himself for me… because he believed he owed me for his mistake all those years ago.
Even thinking the word made me wince. I was a mistake. His mistake. He’d thrown me away, or tried to. And when he realized what that had done to me, what I was in his mind because of it… he’d given me the only thing he had left to give.
His hope for a real, equal, worthy partner.
I could cry for the shame of it, but I didn’t want him to see me. I was already so embarrassed—I’d told him Ilovedhim, for crying out loud! He hadn’t said it back, not that I’d expected him to. I’d thought the way he touched me meant something… but that gentleness could be how he touched any woman lucky enough to come that close.
It could be that the feather he’d given me had forced those feelings on him. He’d hinted at it, but it wasn’t like I could ask… not without being mortified. He wouldn’t admit it anyway; he was so careful to try not to hurt me.
I’ll ask Sunny, maybe she’ll know.
I had only just made that decision when Mikhail unwrapped his wings. “I have to go—Gavriel’s calling me. Some Protectors are injured. The Assembly will be held in an hour’s time.”
“I’m not invited,” I said, numbly. “The Guides don’t want me here.”
“The Guides can go and—” He began using every single curse word I’d ever heard to describe some extremely anatomically implausible positions for the Guides to assume. I almost smiled. Mikhail gripped my arms gently and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I don’t want to leave you, but I must do my work. Know this: you are welcome anywhere I am… if you’ll have me. You are mine if you still choose me. My mate for eternity. Understand?” I sort of nodded, and he told me which Hall to meet him in, then was gone in a rush of wings.
Numb. That’s how I felt. Like my heart had been frozen. I tied the overlarge robe tighter around my waist and slipped out the small door, ignoring the Protectors and Guides who flew overhead on their way to the largest Assembly Hall. My room was empty; Sunny had already left to join the others, I assumed.
I lay on my bed until I thought an hour had passed, then trudged to the main Assembly Hall. When I arrived at the door, though, the Guide there—the one from my first day in group therapy—stopped me. “You are not invited,” they said.
“Is Mikhail inside yet? He said—”
“The High Angelus Mikhail is inside. But you were not given an invitation. You do not belong here,” they repeated, shutting the door in my face.
“Fucker,” I whispered, feeling a ping of smut land on my arm. “Fudger,” I repeated, and ran for the closest way to the secret system of hallways I’d found. “Hey, pretty lady.” I blew a kiss to Arabella as I ran past. The air in this room was warmer than the rest of Sanctuary, and I was glad someone was taking care of her.
I slipped into the secret hallway, and tried to remember which way led to the main Assembly Hall. After only a few wrong turns, I found it. I opened the door the tiniest crack, staying well behind the sheer white curtain that lined the wall as in most of the other Halls, and listened to the argument that raged inside.
