Chapter Two
A taxi curved through the lush green hills of the Irish countryside.
Treycore gazed at the baby-blue sky over the hills, but he wasn’t thinking about his surroundings. He was thinking about a mortal—a very special mortal who’d sacrificed his life to save him.
For months, he’d hunted, scoured the world, searching for an immortal who would take him to the realm where his villainous ex had taken this generous creature. It was not easy to find those who knew the way through the realms. There were many laws that prevented immortals from crossing into realms other than those they came from.
Though Treycore had acted as a spy for the Almighty, he had been granted a permit to enter the realm as a guard, to watch and ensure that the Leader did not attempt to usurp his authority on the planet. Of course, the Almighty had actually sent him to violate the Council’s restrictions regarding conspiring against the mortal realm. He wanted Treycore and those like him to help assist in its demise. Little had the Almighty known, Treycore acted as double agent for the Leader, exchanging intel from the Almighty’s allies to His enemies.
A few months earlier, his cover had been blown, when the Raze, one of the Almighty’s private gangs, discovered the moles in their midst and attempted to assassinate him and the other Leader’s Allies.
It seemed such a long time since he’d set out on his quest, since he’d begun his search for his mortal lover.
He’d searched high and low for assistance to enter Hell, and though many wished to assist him, none knew the way. Most of his allies were higherlings, who could only access portals to Heaven. But he was informed of one higherling who could assist. She was the last higherling anyone thought he would reach out to.
The taxi pulled up a winding pebble drive, which led to a castle in the distance. This was where his only hope dwelled.
When he’d learned of her residence, it had come as a great surprise. This higherling had been one of the Almighty’s greatest prizes. She’d reigned alongside the elite in Heaven, as Treycore once had. But now, to know she had been placed in isolation on Earth, to be forgotten, saddened him. It reminded him of how much things had changed from the early days, yet he couldn’t divorce himself from the fact that those days had not been so great for all.
The driver parked before the castle, its towers of cracking stone reaching as high as mortals of primitive times could build them. Treycore paid the driver, who said something indiscernible, perhaps a greeting or an insult. He was too focused on his mission to care.
As he headed to the main entrance, a cool wind rushed through the blond locks that dropped into his gaze. It pressed the tips against his eye so he had to brush his hair to the side.
He should have considered his appearance before heading out, especially before meeting with this particular higherling, but since he’d begun his mission, he’d given little thought to how he looked. He just had to save Kid, the mortal boy whom he’d hardly known, but who had sold his life to Treycore’s villainous ex, Vera, to prevent her from hurting Treycore. Why he made that decision confounded Treycore. He knew how he felt about Kid. His feelings had been so strong—more intense than anything he’d felt over the course of his incredible history of love affairs. He hadn’t understood why he’d felt that way, and he’d cursed himself for feeling so blindly infatuated with this creature he barely knew. But despite his resentment of those sensations within him, he couldn’t deny that they existed. After Kid had given his own life to protect Treycore when Vera had threatened his life, he had to believe that Kid felt the same for him. Even if he didn’t, he still wouldn’t let Vera keep him in her vile clutches.
That meant he had to follow this path that led him to what seemed now a distant memory. Before his life with Vera, he’d had another lover, who through her work with the Council had access to portals between the realms. As much as he didn’t want to approach her, considering their tumultuous end, if he was to rescue this incredible boy, he would have to sacrifice his pride and request her help.
As he approached the castle entrance, he wondered: Would she let him in? Would she attack him? Considering what he’d discovered about her reason for being locked in isolation, he feared the worst.
Two impressive metal doors with vines etched around their frame guarded the construction, which judging by the cracked and fallen stones around it, had not been kept up properly.
A higherling such as her deserves better.
He pushed on the door, which was unlocked, and allowed himself inside.
The entry was bare. It made him wonder if he’d been misled about his ex-lover’s whereabouts. White light from overhanging chandeliers illuminated a long hallway. He followed it to a series of rooms, stuffed with piles of magazines and stacks of books, which seemed to be mini-mazes in each room. They were logical possessions of a higherling who had worked as peacekeeper for the Council, as she had been charged with understanding mortal culture. Now that she no longer worked for them, he wondered why she kept them and why they hadn’t been better organized.
As he came to a door at the end of the main hallway, he pressed it open.
Motionless doves were strung all about the room. Mounted on the walls, lying in piles beside a table with needles and thread. Treycore could only assume she’d taken taxidermy up as a hobby.
A soft sound caught his attention—a tune he recognized that took him back eons.
He abandoned the room of lifeless doves and followed the melody.
It led him through another hallway, to a large room. On the opposite wall, French doors opened onto a patio, and just beyond the patio, bright green grass filled acres of land that went on and on. It was a lovely sight, but it certainly couldn’t rival the sights his ex-lover had been accustomed to in Heaven.
The melody came from outside, which didn’t surprise Treycore, as this was where she’d spent most of her time in the golden days of Heaven.
When he stepped out of the castle, he saw, standing next to a large cage, the source of this pleasant sound. Her white gown pooled onto the grass, fanning out around her. As she poured feed from a brown paper bag into a tray in a cage before her, she continued humming.
Treycore descended a small set of stone steps onto the grass, keeping quiet so as not to alarm her.
His ex pulled the bag back and closed the cage, her baby powder-white fingers slipping over a latch. Ducking until she was eye-level with a dove on a nearby wooden perch, she smiled. Her expression appeared to ask the vermin to express gratitude for the meal she’d provided.
Treycore wondered what it must be like. Trapped out here, all alone, with only the company of these doves. In her days in Heaven, she had delighted in the attention of the higherlings—their appreciation of her flawlessness. Treycore recalled how she would wander the heavenly cathedrals, endlessly laughing, chatting, and singing, just to bathe in the sort of awe the Almighty had intended for her to be surrounded by. How could a creature that had been designed for praise live like this? Were her days only spent sifting through the magazines and books in the castle and feeding these disgusting creatures? After all that she’d done for the Council, surely the least they could have done was provide her with company.
She rolled the top of the bag shut. Turning toward Treycore, her eyes met his, and she froze.
