“But surely there will be a royal announcement!” Lemetria seemed visibly pained to have to keep the secret any longer.
“I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.” Adradys had seen her with Marius. He knew they had a connection. But considering he had entrusted her father with this, he must have assumed it was a fleeting fancy. She planned to keep it that way.
“But why, Harlow?” Lemetria tangled her fingers in her lap, totally put out.
“Because Dad is going to go to this meeting tonight.” She waved the flyer between them. “He’s going to find out the names of every supporter of the New Order, and he’s going to report back their plans to the king and queen.”
Her father gasped. “I’m to be a spy, Lemetria!” He preened a bit.
“I will let the king and queen know what you’re doing. We are going to take this bastard and his entire entourage down.”
That made her father smile in a way she hadn’t seen since before the war.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Marius sat across from Raven at the dining room table, so thankful to be back home he could hardly contain his joy or his hunger. He shoved another piece of bread between his teeth. He’d already eaten enough for a small army, but between his journey into the underworld and the demands of his mate that afternoon, he was ravenous. Now, with the suns having set over Paragon, it seemed he was making up for lost calories while he’d been in the underworld.
“I’ve asked Gabriel to take Charlie on a picnic on the grounds for dinner to give us time alone to talk.” Raven glanced over at him.
“Sounds serious.” Marius gave her his full attention. Up until that point, she’d been rather quiet, and he’d wondered when she’d get around to asking him the questions that must be on her mind.
“Thank you again for what you did. You must know that Gabriel and I understand that you are the reason our daughter is with us today.”
“I can’t take all the credit. Charlie is more powerful than you know. She played a large part in helping us make it through to the temple.”
Raven frowned. “About that. She won’t tell me any details. Something happened near the temple—you mentioned it when you first came out—but she won’t talk to me. It’s almost as if she’s ashamed.”
Marius chewed pensively. The last thing Charlie should have been was ashamed. He didn’t particularly care to break the girl’s confidence, but this truth needed to be shared. Shame was a cancer he would not allow to infect his niece.
“When we reached the temple, there were beings guarding it. She’s ashamed because those guardians were deadly and evil. They tried to kill us. And there wasn’t anything human or dragon about them. They didn’t seem to think or feel, they just killed.”
“I don’t understand. Why would she be ashamed about that?”
“Because the temple guardians looked just like her, Raven. Exactly like her, just larger. And they had her powers. Amped up a thousand times but still the same sort of abilities. Her power is celestial in nature. I’m sure of it. She shielded me from a blast that would have killed anyone who wasn’t a god, goddess, or other celestial being. She shielded against at least four of them.”
“Celestial.” Raven released a deep breath. “Tell me what they looked like exactly.”
“Seven feet tall. Platinum waves. White fluffy wings that dragged on the ground. Glowing white robes. They glowed like she does. It produces a halo of light above their heads.”
“Charlie glows?”
Marius chuckled. “Like a light bulb. She can turn it on and off.”
“What else?”
“The only thing different about Charlie and these guardians was the eyes. Their eyes had no whites. They were black as night but intense, electric, like the blackness gave off its own energy. I’ve never seen anything like it on Ouros. Charlie said she could feel them in her blood and that they were like her but bad. I don’t know how she could tell.”
Raven wiped a hand over her face. “Thank you for being so forthcoming.”
He shrugged. “That little girl deserves better than to think she’s related to those things even if there are physical and mystical similarities.”
The queen held a hand to her forehead for a moment. Marius stopped eating. If anything, she looked more concerned than before.
“Why do I feel like this isn’t good news for you?”
Raven smoothed her fingers along the edge of the table. “We have a name on Earth for celestial guardians. They’re called angels, and until now, I didn’t think they were real.”
“Angels. By the tone of your voice, I’m guessing this isn’t a label you want for your daughter.”
