“What’s that?” I had pointed to the round alcove at the edge of the Great Hall, the walls filled with stained glass from floor to ceiling.
The angel raised one eyebrow at me. “I’m not certain, Lily, but…bear with me…I believe those odd little holes in the walls are called windows.”
I’d pretended not to be angry at his needling, which I found disturbing for a holy being, and focused on the display. It was a landscape with an ancient church in the center, a gray steeple pointing high in the pre-dawn light. Trees and meadows surrounded the building, but the most fascinating was the image in the center: a Herald of Death with black wings Falling, his face etched in agony.
“I’ve seen this before,” I breathed. “In the reverend’s study, I think. In an old manuscript several years ago.”
For whatever reason, this had shocked the two angels—seraphim, I supposed—and the leader, Gabriel, had ordered that I lead them back to my home to find the manuscript so they could learn more.
It was strange. Nothing made sense. Shouldn’t they know everything already?
And now I was surrounded by near-strangers and two dead bodies.
I stared down at the body of my dead brother.
“By the four gods, would you cover him up?” Eve, a couple of years older, glared at the seraph who had shown me my brother. She placed a hand on my shoulder and gripped it in sympathy.
Which was odd, because I knew she hated my brother. Most people had, to be honest. I needed to say something. I needed to react. I shouldn’t stand here like a stone statue.
“How…how did it happen?” I forced my gaze up and away from Absalom’s bruised and pale face.
Gabriel, the seraph with snowy wings, grimaced and folded the bedsheet back over Absalom’s face. “Forgive me. I was once a warrior, and I did not consider how civilian death would be shocking.” His brilliant white wings folded tightly against his back, the arches nearly hidden behind his head when he faced me.
There was another body, under another white bedsheet, lying on the smooth stone floor of the creaky manor, but I couldn’t think about the reverend yet.
Something shifted behind me. I turned to see Castiel frowning at me, arms crossed. “Maybe you should sit down. You look like you’ll faint.” They both had faint accents I couldn’t place. They must’ve learned our human tongue ages ago.
My lungs burned, a reminder to breathe again. I forced myself to take a breath. “I’m fine,” I answered sharply, trying not to glare at the three other living people in the room.
Our reverend was…well, lying dead under the second bedsheet. I put a hand over my eyes and tried not to shudder.
A thin vine of anger slipped through the walls I had built around my heart, cutting a chink in the mortar. “How did this happen?” I demanded.
One week ago I was working for the elders of the Church of the Love of His Divine Saints. Then I was chosen to join the men on their journey, likely for the same reason I’d been chosen to keep track of elders’ work in the church, and the same reason Eve Lovejoy and I were not friends. I was beautiful. At least, the most beautiful woman in the small congregation of the Church of the Love of His Divine Saints.
So my pretty face was hustled aboard a public coach and traveled two days north to where the reverend’s betrothed had found a Herald. The one with the white wings rather frightened me, though Eve liked him.
The other one….I didn’t want to think about him, especially while he stood at my back. I had no idea what sort of powers he possessed as a direct messenger and servant to Erlik, the God of Death and Beyond.
It had all unraveled. I thought the most daring thing I’d do on this trip would be sneaking a volume of poetry in the bottom of my valise, since secular books were forbidden.
Instead, Eve turned her back on our entire church and tried to run.
I couldn’t fathom it.
And I did not like the angel with bronze wings—Castiel.
He’d asked me all sorts of questions, tossed me in an empty room with a dusty old mattress on the floor, and this morning started his barrage of questions again when he found me trying to slip away through the shadows.
And now…now…my brother and my reverend were dead. It didn’t make sense. Only a few moments ago Eve found me searching the kitchen for an escape and gently let me know the Herald with the white wings—her seraph, she called him—had brought back two bodies.
I squeezed my eyes shut. I didn’t know whether I was trying to force tears away or force them to come. My heart became a dull, limp thing in my chest and my limbs were stiff and numb. It didn’t seem possible.
Gabriel, the seraph with white wings, and Eve exchanged a look I didn’t like.
Castiel cleared his throat and stepped closer. I shied away from him. But before he could speak, a loud banging echoed throughout the Great Hall.
I jumped, looking around the massive, three-story stone chamber with soaring, exposed beams. Candles had been lit and set nearby, but shadows swathed most of the room.
