“I’m sorry, Lilith.” Silence tripped back over to the door separating us. “I really tried. I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” I growled through clenched teeth. Oh, when I got out of here people would pay. First the elders. Then Mrs. Dalton. And then this Azrael person. I was tired of being set aside, propped away, only seen as a pretty decoration. I would make everyone pay for this.
“What do you want me to do?” Silence asked.
I closed my eyes, beating my forehead against the door and trying to think. “I don’t know,” I admitted. “Can you follow him? Make sure Azrael doesn’t do anything stupid? He sounds ready to murder everyone.”
“You should see his face,” Silence whispered. “He’s frightening. His sword is nearly as long as I am tall.”
I believed her. It was easy for me to forget exactly what this warrior race was because Castiel was always so kind and gentle. But they were deadly, powerful beings from another world and I shouldn’t forget it.
My thoughts turned to Castiel. The last I’d seen him he was telling me to flee, to protect myself. Tears clogged my throat.
Fuck, no. No crying.
“I’ll do what I can,” Silence promised. Then she, too, left me. And I sat alone in the dark, hoping everything would be well.
Castiel
* * *
Pain racked my body. I couldn’t see out of one eye. Had the eyeball been eaten away, or was it just a burned nerve?
My fingers twitched, sending agony shooting up my arm. Gritting my teeth, I turned my head to survey the rest of the room.
The two elders had left an hour ago, leaving me alone and sitting in a pool of saltwater. Yesterday I’d been grateful for wearing my trousers, as that blocked the worst of the splash. But now they were soaked, keeping the burning liquid pressed against my legs. Skies and stars, it burned. It burned more than fire, more than anything I’d imagined.
The only thing that eclipsed it was my smoldering rage.
“If we can’t get answers out of him, maybe we should bring the girl down?” Elder Tome’s words echoed in my inflamed ears.
You’re already a dead man walking, I’d promised silently. But if you touch a hair on her head I’ll castrate you before I kill you.
My ayim was still slow, making my blood viscous and clotted. But I was healing. Taking a breath—and finally, finally I didn’t feel searing pain when air slid down my throat anymore—I tested my bonds. Now the worst of my injuries were my wings and legs, where the saltwater still pooled.
Fuck, this was going to hurt.
Lilith mattered. Getting to her, making sure they weren’t frightening her—that was worth any pain.
I gritted my teeth and yanked. The metal shackles were so tight they had protected my wrists from saltwater Tomes had splashed on me over the last day and a half. But the tightness also chafed. The metal whined under the tension. I braced myself and pulled again, straining under the pressure.
The weakest link broke, and my hands fell to the dirt at my wings. I was free of the wooden post.
Now the hard part.
I blocked the pain from my mind, thinking of Lilith and only Lilith.
My cirra, my Lily.
I staggered up the stairs and slammed the door open, chest heaving, skin burned, gait unsteady. My sword was tucked under the bed in my room, but I didn’t need it. My hands would be more than enough.
The light blinded me, and I raised my hand to shield my eyes.
“What are you doing?” The voice was high-pitched with fear, coming from my left.
I rounded on him and found one of the young men who had dragged me into this cellar. “You,” I growled, and grabbed his head.
“Help!” he screamed.
