“Archangels don’tsneak,” he growls.
“But they do lie, apparently,” she accuses him, her brown eyes bright with vengeance. “You said I had to stand on the bamboo path before you’d deign to grace me with your presence again.”
“You were taking your time,” he says. “I grew impatient.”
She arches her eyebrows at him. “An angel who sneaksandhas no patience.”
He inhales as if a retort rests on the tip of his tongue, but he halts himself. A slow grin grows on his face. He shrugs as if he’s willing to wear the charges.
His dark-as-sin eyes roam across her face, from her ruffled braid to her golden-brown skin shining brightly in the sunlight, and the sustained look of startled fury that has parted her lips.
He leans in a little closer. “But you do need me.”
Malia flushes before she draws herself upright, taking a deep breath and apparent charge of the situation. “You will take me to Lux, just as I requested yesterday. I want to visit every place of knowledge that is open to me. I’ll be looking for information that might help us constrain the Demon King, but also, I want to find out more about my magic, as I believe the two may be intertwined.”
While she holds her breath, I look from her to the giant, armor-clad angel and back again. They’re so engrossed in their conversation that they appear to have forgotten about the rest of us. Taniya’s eyebrows are arched while Koda and Roman have both leaned back in their chairs, and I sense, like me, they’re restraining themselves from butting in.
“I will do as I promised,” Adriel says to Malia. “Your energy is light enough to enter Lux and it will be a good learning experience for you. I will be your guide through the city today.”
Malia’s lips thin. “I thought you were too important to teach a lowly witch like me anything about your world.”
Adriel’s brow furrows. “I will be yourguard,” he says, emphasizing the last word as if she must have misheard him before. “To ensure you don’t go where you’re not welcome. Naturally, you will do your own research.”
While Malia glares up at him, Adriel tucks his wings to his sides but doesn’t conceal them. I haven’t seen an angel with black wings before, but Adriel’s are beyond stunning. The black is shot through with silver so bright that it looks like the element is woven in the feathery strands.
The longer he stands at our table, the more I feel the brush of his ancient energy. It’s far stronger than the power of the angels I met on Earth. Nearly as strong as the energy that flows through Roman, but it’s also very different to his. The ‘light’ magic that Adriel has referred to a few times makes sense for angels who have the appearance of floating—as if they could fly, even if they didn’t have wings. Whereas demons have a strong grounded power with more weight.
“You should not delay,” Adriel says. “It’s not ideal for your demon friends to linger in this world.”
I know we don’t have a choice, but I’m not sure I trust Adriel alone with my sister. I push my chair back, but Malia is already giving Adriel a nod.
“Then let’s get started.” She spins to the rest of us. “Thearchangel is correct; we’re on limited time.”
She pronounces thearchwith the softch, and I try not to let laughter bubble from me at the look on Adriel’s face. He’s probably trying to figure out if she’s unaware of the correct pronunciation, or if she’s making fun of him. It’s going to be an interesting morning for them both.
Taniya and I get to our feet and hug our sister.
“Contact us through the communicator rune if anything feels off,” I murmur near Malia’s ear. We haven’t needed to use the rune much, being close together and with others we trust, but it will come in handy if she’s in trouble.
As she pulls back, she nods. “I will,” she tells me. “But despite his arrogance, I don’t think Adriel intends to harm me.”
Our gazes meet for long enough that I confirm the lack of concern in her expression. My worries for her finally disappear.
“I’ll bring back all of the books I can carry,” she says more loudly, before she joins Adriel.
He sets off without a glance back, even though he does give us a piece of parting advice. “Work on freeing Jareth. Today.”
Malia turns to us and rolls her eyes so dramatically that I smile again, despite the weight of our situation.
In some ways, after all the shit we went through in Mortem, this feels like downtime. Sure, we’re facing the imminent end of three worlds, one soulless Demon King determined to kill us, and suspicious angels everywhere. But there’s no Esta or Crone, and that can only be a good thing.
Koda, who was quiet during the interaction with Adriel, gets to his feet now and pushes his empty plate forward. “I think I’ll head back to the cage,” he says. “Spend some time questioning the demon to see if he reveals anything that might help.”
I take a step toward Koda, even though the determination on his face tells me I won’t be able to dissuade him. “I don’t want you to listen to his abuse all day. He’s not in his right mind.”
Koda’s smile is dark. “I’m used to being abused by family members, Nova. You’re the first to treat me like I’m worth more than the dirt under their boots. Nothing he says can hurt me.” He brightens a little as his bliss power bursts around his fingertips. “Trust me.”
I shake my head, still not okay with it, but just like with Malia, Koda is a grown demon. I can’t mom them all, as much as I want to. I have to trust in their abilities to handle situations. “You get yourself out of there the moment things turn bad,” I say. “We can figure this out without his vitriol.”
