Lilith stepped toward me. “What will happen to the Church of the Love of His Divine Saints?”
I took a bite of pork. “That’s a mouthful. Why can’t it be Erlik’s Church or something?”
Her lips pressed together as if hiding a grimace. Or smile. “Because our lord appeared to the first Reverend Grimshaw fifty years ago, the same day he saw you Fall.”
I took a sip of wine to hide my distaste. I hated being reminded of that day. We all did. It was the most frightened I’d ever been. Several of the warriors in our sedge nearly died from their wounds. Our enemies, who Fell with us, had disappeared into the landscape like we had.
I’d heard a few rumors of monsters being sighted around the human world, but hadn’t tried to find out what they were up to. As far as I was concerned, the war stayed on Rundis. We had more important priorities now than fighting the war our grandfathers had started.
“Help me find it,” I said again.
She sat on the stool opposite me, watching me closely. “I saw it on Reverend Grimshaw’s desk.”
I took another bite. Human food wasn’t my favorite. But with the right spices, it wasn’t so bad. “I’ll be gone by tomorrow afternoon.”
But she shook her head. “You’ll be too busy tomorrow with funerals and petitioners and elders and all sorts of things. Besides, you don’t know where his study is.”
I glared at her. “And I suppose I’ll need you to accomplish all this?”
She smiled and batted her eyelashes at me. Actually batted them. And damn it, the ploy worked. My cock took notice.
Down, I ordered it. Not while you’re in a church pretending to be some holy messenger. Thank the stars the table was hiding me from Lilith’s view.
“I shall assist you,” she replied, annoyingly beautiful, “if you answer all my questions.”
I leaned backward, letting my wings relax as I stared at her. “I’m not a good resource on the finer points of Erlik theology,” I drawled. “In my world we don’t have gods. We worship our world.”
She scrunched her nose. “What do you mean, no gods? And—no, I know better than to ask you questions about serious matters.”
My tertiary feathers ruffled at her dismissive tone. Who did this girl think she was? Did she not realize I was nearly two hundred years old, a master warrior, the third in command of an elite sedge from another realm?
“We believe the world, the sky, everything in our reality is connected. The magic, the energy of all life thrums together to create a living one-ness in nature. It is that interconnected life we worship. For without it, none of us would live.”
Her mouth opened in a perfect O. “Fascinating.”
I crossed my arms. See? I know things.
“You can perform magic?” Her eyes sharpened.
I shook my head, old resentment flaring. “There is less magic in this world. It’s weaker, harder to grasp hold of.” I didn’t tell her I couldn’t do magic. I was not from an echelon that had ability, anyway. Only the top three could work with magic, and I was in the fifth out of seven echelons total. There was no reason to let her see I was inferior to other seraphim, so I shoved the old frustration back down. “The sedge lost its ability to use magic once we Fell,” I summed up, ready to change the subject. “So we have a deal. Anything else, cirra?”
Her brow wrinkled. “What’s that mean?”
“It’s a type of cloud. When you spend your life in the sky, you tend to come up with many names for all the different clouds.”
“So what type is a cirra?” she prompted.
I sighed, already regretting this. “It’s the most delicate cloud there is—high in the heavens, it’s formed by fragile ice crystals. If one breaks, it all falls apart.”
Her lips pursed. “Why do I think that’s not a compliment?”
“It’s what we call people who think they are beautiful and important but are actually rather demanding and…difficult.”
Lilith didn’t say anything at all, merely narrowed her eyes at me. “I am beautiful.” She stated it simply. It was a fact in her world.
To annoy her, I squinted. “Eh, passably pretty.”
She stood, sputtering. “Passably pretty?”
