I lunge toward her before thinking, only to realize my arms are bound to my seat as well. It’s odd—I don’t see any binding enforcements like ropes, straps, zip ties… Okay, yes, I’m aware zip ties would be one of the lamest binding tools ever, but my point is, I don’t see anything restraining my arms. Yet they’re impossible to move.
Suddenly, a quiet wince of pain disrupts my thoughts.
“What the hell are you doing to her?” My voice comes out in a low rumble. I’m trying my best not to lose it, but my resolve is dissolving by the second.
“Care to explain what’s happening, Jessenia?” Annalise asks, her eyes locking on her fellow Archangel.
“Of course.” Jessenia closes her eyes and nods. “She’s enduring a mental trial. Similar to what you just endured, but the nature of her trial is vastly different. For your trial, we focused on the possibilities of your future. Her trial entirely focuses on her past. If she can’t accept and overcome her past, she may be trapped in her own demise indefinitely.”
My chest tightens again.Trapped indefinitely?“Why are we being tried?”
“What an ignorant question,” Nial muses, bored.
“Indeed,” Luke agrees, rubbing his temples. “Quite frankly, you should be thanking us right now.”
“Yes, groveling would be an appropriate reaction,” Nial adds.
Annalise rolls her eyes. “I’d have to agree with Luke and Nial. The only reason we even pursued this route is because Jessenia advocated for it. If it were up to the order of the angels, you would have been cast out for deliberately disobeying our orders time and time again, Kai Greene.”
“But I saw more in you. Your potential for goodness is limitless,” Jessenia chimes in. “I’ve known your goodness since the day we met, when I watched you accept a guardianship role with zero hesitation.”
My jaw drops as a breath escapes me. “You were the angel who greeted me after my last breath? An Archangel welcomed me?”
“I’m offended you nearly forgot,” she jokes with a faint smile and rises, walking down the dais’ steps to stand directly over me, reminding me of the moment she greeted me in the afterlife. “It’s true—had you accepted Jasper’s offer, you would’ve gotten a second chance at life. However, you’re meant for the sky. I knew you’d accept your fate eventually—I just didn’t know what would push you to embrace it.”
She inclines her head to my angel, who’s facing a battle I can’t fully understand but desperately want to.
“Please, Jessenia. All of you. Let me help her get through this. I don’t give a damn about what happens to me if she isn’t by my side at the end of this.” My voice breaks. “Please.”
Jessenia glances over her shoulder at the other Archangels.
“I’ve always been a romantic myself,” Nial purrs.
“That’s a load of—”
“Let him have his moment, Luke,” Annalise interrupts.
“As I was saying, I’ve always been a romantic. I say we give him a chance. At the very least, it’ll be entertaining for us to consume.”
“What do you mean, ‘consume?’ Actually… How is any of this even possible? So that conversation I had with Jasper was real? Did I pass the trial?”
Luke smirks. “We can see the entire trial play out within our minds. Jessenia and I focused on yours, whereas Nial and Annalise are tuning into Cleo’s. Now that you’ve completed your trial, we can all watch Cleo’s. Don’t worry, you won’t even know we’re there. Omnipotent beings and all that.”
Holy shit. These angels are more powerful than I even realized.
I’ve heard rumors about their abilities to cast illusions, but I had no idea they held the power to alter reality using light energy.
“Depending on how this goes, we may be able to disclose more later,” Jessenia whispers, then unbinds me with the soft stroke of her fingers against my arms. Once I’m free, I rise and walk toward Cleo. Jessenia catches my hand. “There’s a catch. In her trial, she will not see you. She’ll be able to hear you within her mind, and depending on how you approach this, she may be able to see your aura. But she will not recognize you. Please remember, this is stillhertrial to conquer.”
Not really understanding what that means, but knowing I need to get to her as soon as possible, I nod.
The chair I sat in for my trial begins to float past me to rest next to Cleo’s seat. Jessenia prompts me to sit and lean back. She rests two fingers on my chest. “Now, sleep.”
As I’m drifting off, a deep voice growing fainter as seconds pass murmurs, “Romantic, isn’t it? Being trapped in a nightmare together…”
Twenty-Nine
Cleo
