“I do, My Lord.” He furrowed his brows, his stare sweeping the building behind me, then returning to me. “The trail grew cold the night they dumped the child at the orphanage. I’ve scoured everyone and everything that might have had a chance for contact. It’s as if they blinked out of existence.”
“Hmm.” I paced back and forth a few steps on the sidewalk. Birds tweeted from the cypress trees standing like sentinels lining the pathway. “What about prior to their vanishing act? Were you able to dig up anything?”
“Yes.” Malachi nodded, shrugging his shoulders. “It seems the mother died.”
“Died?” I stopped and turned my focus to the apartment again. Someone pulled up the blinds in the front window. “Was it a natural death?”
All I could see through the glass, even with my enhanced vision, were brown curls cascading over a shoulder. My heart raced.
“I…I’m not sure.”
I snapped my eyes back to Malachi. “You’re notsure?” My wings flared outward. Shadows crept along the sidewalk toward Malachi’s boots.
He bowed deeply. “It hasn’t been easy gathering—”
“I will have no excuses. You are a Chosen—myChosen—and I will know everything about that family.” Rage simmered in my blood at Malachi’s half-hearted effort to find the information I sought. I placed a palm over his bent head and stroked the hair. “I thought I’d made that clear the last time we spoke.” My voice, low and deadly, cut through the air as easily as my shadowy ether.
His shoulders gave a slight tremor under my touch. “What’s so special about this girl?” He lifted his stare to mine and a hint of defiance flashed deep in their depths.
The fury building in my blood erupted.
I yanked a fistful of his hair and dragged him to a tree trunk, slamming his spine against the bark. “Your job is to seek answers for me, not ask questions of me. Do I need to delegate this task to Cain?” My fingers wrapped around his throat as the dark power slid up his face to caress and singe his cheeks.
“No, Lord,” he rasped. “I apologize.”
I was on edge and taking it out on Malachi. He’d done what I’d asked, even if I felt he could’ve tried harder.
Relaxing my hold, I pulled the ether back into my bones and tugged on my bracers, then adjusted the form-fitting armor covering my chest.
Why did I feel the need to armor myself when I decided to check on Anna?
Malachi choked and grabbed his neck.
“Go. I am tired of waiting for your answers. I expect to have the entire story when next you return, or I will find a new second-in-command. Understand?”
“Lucian.” Malachi stood and stepped closer, his eyes level with mine as he looked at me. “I only want to please you.” Sunlight glinted off the three rubies adorning his black collar, indicating his rank as my Second General.
First General had never been filled, though I knew I’d see Cain in the position eventually.Father and son reunited at last.
Now toe-to-toe, I inclined my head. “Then give me the answers I seek about the girl and her family.”
His eyelids narrowed a fraction and he swallowed. A car passed on the road, reminding me we stood on the plane of Earth, and even though we couldn’t be seen by human eyes, there was one human who could easily sense me if she happened to step outside.
“It will be as you say, My Prince.” Malachi stepped backward and bowed, then with a flap of his wings, lifted into the air.
“Malachi?”
He hovered above me, his eyebrows upraised. “Yes?”
“If you lay one finger on Anna, I will strip your wings from your back, then I’ll make you mortal. Do you understand?”
The breeze from his wings soared past my face as he frowned. He opened his mouth as if to say something, then shook his head, obviously thinking better of whatever he’d wanted to say or ask.
“I will not touch her.”
“Good.” I waved a hand. “Now get out of my sight.”
As much as I would’ve liked to return to my realm, I couldn’t fight the temptation to see the woman who had ensnared my heart.
