One
Lilith
The elders were going to kill me.
I stumbled down the stairs of the inn, tripping over my purple skirts and barely catching myself before tumbling head-first. The inn door had slammed, but I could still catch up to them if I ran. Reverend Grimshaw was furious, and I was a visible target. He’d probably tell my younger brother, the newest elder of the church, to punish me.
My heart galloped beneath my breastbone as I fumbled for the latch on the inn’s door. “Wait!” I cried out. “Reverend, wait! I didn’t let her go. It wasn’t me!”
He’d returned to my room at the inn and discovered that Eve Lovejoy, his betrothed, had slipped her bonds and escaped while I was present.
Curse it. None of this should’ve been my problem. I always obeyed my mother, listened to the elders, and tried to stay above reproach. And yet somehow I was chosen—dragged along, more like—up north to find out where the angels were hiding. And what Eve Lovejoy was hiding from us.
The latch finally lifted, and I threw myself outside, white-blond hair flying. Free.
I looked up and down the narrow street of the village, trying to see where the rest of my group had run. Based on the remarks Eve made while working the ropes that bound her to my bed, she was trying to return to her Herald to warn him about Reverend Grimshaw.
I hadn’t helped her—I wasn’t stupid—-but I also hadn’t stopped her from slipping the knots and fleeing. When Reverend Grimshaw returned, red-faced and furious, he’d ripped my poetry book from my hands, screamed about rebellious women, and turned to pursue her. The footsteps of my brother and the other elder had thundered down the stairs, too. And after a moment of frustrated reflection, so had I.
But where were they now?
Shadows darkened the ground at my feet. The hair on my arms and back of my neck stood on end, and I spun, nearly falling again in my haste.
Two giant men loomed over me, shockingly bare-chested and—even more shockingly—wings flaring behind them.
The Heralds. I gasped. Eve was telling the truth.
Murder was written across one’s face, suspicion across the other. They were predators and I was prey below them. They were Heralds of Death, mythical beings who had Fallen to Earth to show us the way back to our god Erlik.
The pale one with white wings and murder in his eyes reached down and hauled me upright. “Where is my Eve?” His other hand held a naked sword, metal gleaming despite the clouds.
I blinked, my mind spinning. “W-w-who are you?” I tried to jerk away from him, my eyes riveted to the threat of the sword. Mouth dry, my pulse pounded in my ears.
The Herald growled, and I thought I was about to meet Lord Erlik, god of Death and Beyond.
Then—salvation. A pair of medium-brown hands settled over the first angel’s, prying them off me. “We are looking for his housekeeper, Eve Lovejoy.” That voice, hard yet calming, made my heart still.
My cheeks heated and I looked away.
“You’re one of them.” The second angel’s voice turned more suspicious. “Why are you here?”
I couldn’t swallow. My eyes were drawn back to him, the one speaking, now that the Herald with white wings fell back.
He was so much taller than me, with deep brown, wavy hair that hung over his forehead, broad shoulders, and sharp cheekbones. His curls glinted gold, the brightest thing in this dreary village. He had a sword, too, but it was in a scabbard strapped to his waist. His wings were brown, too—all warm, earthy tones that belied the cold look in his amber eyes. He was shirtless. In this weather. I never saw men without shirts.
“I-I’m here because they told me I had to come,” I stuttered.
Those eyes thawed nearly imperceptibly. “And where is Eve Lovejoy?”
Gulping, I pointed off into the wilds of the moors. I didn’t dare look away from these dangerous beings. “She escaped. They chased after her.” The village was tiny, with one road in and out, and the moors began at everyone’s back door.
“Good. Now, I need you to—” But his words were cut off as the first angel with snowy wings whirled and launched into the sky. My skirts blew backward from the force of his wings.
The other Herald, the one who didn’t seem like he’d kill me, spoke again. “I need you to come with me.”
Fear made my heart skip a beat. “Oh, no. No, no.” He might be a messenger from our god, but I didn’t want that attention.
He nodded, jaw firming. “Yes.” He reached for me.
