Adriel carries at least ten large books in his arms, and I can tell that he has annoyed my sister enough today that she’s ready to kick him in the teeth. Malia might not anger as quickly as we do, but when it happens, she doesn’t hold back.
She opens her mouth to speak, but Adriel gets in first.
“Where do you want all of yourresearch?” he asks, juggling the massive tomes he’s carrying and nearly dropping one.
“In my cabin,” she shoots back. “Your help is no longer required after that. In fact, I would have been better off without your ‘help’ at all.”
He scowls harder. “You would have wandered into every off-limits building and entangled yourself in every dangerous situation if it wasn’t for me.”
“And?” she snaps. “Why would that bother you? You’re an angel. I’m a witch. You’re under no obligation to care about my wellbeing. You had a job to do—guardme—and you did it. Too well. Tomorrow, I’ll enter the city on my own.”
“You will not.” The rumble of his command brooks no argument, and I don’t miss the flash of flames in his eyes. It’s the exact color that coated his blades yesterday on the frozen lake.
Malia steps up to him all the same, and the two piles of books they’re carrying bump against each other. Her voice lowers but retains its sharp edge. “If your goal is to stop us from finding a way to safely move Jareth, then you’re succeeding.”
“That is not my goal.” His scowl deepens, and once again, I find myself casting wide-eyed glances from one to the other, prepared to move in immediately.
But Adriel doesn’t say anything further. He steps back, adjusts his hold on the books, and then heads toward the middle cabin.
With an exasperated sigh, Malia follows him to drop off her books as well.
Turning away from them, my eyes meet Roman’s. “What’s going on there?” I ask in a low voice. “Malia is never so combative.”
“What I want to know is why an archangel is spending his valuable time escorting her around,” Roman says. “They’re the elite. As far as I know, there are only about a dozen of them. Adriel is well known, even in the demon world.”
“We’re a threat,” Taniya says, keeping her voice down. “At least they acknowledge this.”
Roman nods a few times, but slowly, as if that thought had occurred to him but doesn’t quite fit the narrative. “There’s more going on here. He was unduly interested in Malia and her power from the start. Even if he’s tried to obscure the fact by being an asshole.”
A snort escapes me as I dish out more of the baked vegetables the angels have given us. Selecting a few strips of what appear to be a new sort of protein, I throw them to my wolves, who eat them up, looking less-than-thrilled.
Malia and Adriel appear then and the tension between them is sharp. I imagine they didn’t say a word to each other at all while they were in the cabin.
Adriel’s shoulders hunch a little as he stops in the center of the clearing and turns back to her. “It is not my goal to thwart you, Malia. But it is my duty to keep you safe.” His jaw clenches. “You are one of a kind, and there are those in my world who are not immune to envy. Lux may be a city filled with light, but danger can linger in clear sight.”
Some of Malia’s anger fades. “What are you trying to say?”
He draws himself upright. “I will come back tomorrow morning and escort you to the city to find more books.”
At that, he disappears with the same flurry of feathers with which he appeared this morning.
Malia makes her way to the table more slowly, sinking into a spare chair with a heavy sigh. She rubs her forehead as she stares at the food but doesn’t seem to see it. “That angel is a mystery to me.”
She finally looks up. “I brought back as many books as I can, but I’m not sure how useful they’ll be. There were parts of the city where Adriel wouldn’t allow me to go. Several buildings that looked like places of learning, but he wouldn’t let me near them.” Her fingers tap the tabletop in a frustrated beat. “It felt like he was constantly blocking me. At first, it was just annoying, and then it was… disheartening. We can’t afford to fail.”
Once again, I’m aware of the weight we’re placing on her to find a solution. I reach out to squeeze her hand, struck by the reversal of our roles. Normally, she’s the one calming me. “What kinds of books did you bring back?”
She looks a little brighter. “Books on demons, on light magic… And I also found a few on souls, which might help with the problem of Esta’s power.”
“Then we’ll start with those and take it from there,” I say, trying to reassure her. “We’ll tackle this together. But first, you need to eat.”
She doesn’t argue, reaching for food.
An hour later, we sprawl around the living area of Malia and Taniya’s cabin, having divided the books between us, speaking up whenever we come across something that might be useful.
The fireplace lit up the moment we entered, and I’m a little warier of the light now. Even though night has fallen, the fireplace could be another way for angel light to dull our senses and fill us with peace. Not that peace is a bad thing. But it will be if it causes us to lose our determination to leave this world.
On top of that, every book appears to be written in golden lettering and the paper is bright white, so the influx of light is more draining to my demon senses.
