“Mama said, 'Watch what you say!'” Mirielle pointed at Gabriel.
A muted scream came from Gabriel.
We all turned to look at him, the other Angels gasping and drawing back. Gabriel had no mouth. It was simply gone. He rubbed at the smooth lower half of his face, making those horrible sounds, and then took a deep breath. His shoulders settled into a firm line as he glared at me.
I had to hand it to him; he took it better than I would have.
“Holy shit,” I whispered before I remembered the whole curbing my curse words thing that I had just talked about. And which had just sort of resulted in this horror. I rushed to Sever and Miri.
“Mama!” Miri reached for me, leaning out of her father's arms.
“Hey, baby girl!” I grabbed Miri and swung her around. “That's a neat trick. But Uncle Gabriel needs his mouth. How's he gonna eat? He needs to eat, baby. And I actually need to talk to him. Can you put his mouth back now?”
“Do you pinky promise to speak nice, Uncle Gabriel?” Miri stared at him with the presence of the Metatron but also lifted her pinky finger.
Gabriel violently nodded and lifted his pinky. It would have been hilarious if it hadn't been so horrifying.
“Okay!” Miri flung her little hand at him, giggling as Gabriel's mouth appeared vertically instead of horizontally. She obviously didn't notice the horror. It was all hilarious to her.
“Miri!” I chided.
“Oh, dear God!” Gabriel touched his lips. “Do you see this, Queen Seren?! This is why we've come.”
I gaped at him. The movement of his mouth reminded me of that thing in “Dune”—the creature that folds space. It had a mouth like that. Sort of. Its mouth was more flappy and, well, a little pornographic in my opinion. But that's what I saw when Gabe spoke, and it really disturbed me. I had to look away.
“Miri, put Uncle Gabriel's mouth back in the right position, please.” I gave her a stern look as I tried to decide between laughing and screaming.
Miri giggled harder but also turned Gabriel's lips into their proper horizontal position. “You looked funny, Uncle Gabriel.”
“Yes, thank you so much for that amusing interlude, my Queen.” Gabriel grimaced at me.
“What do you mean, this is why you're here?” Sever, who had come to stand beside me with Miri between us, demanded.
“Did you really think no one noticed the rift Mirielle made?” Gabriel stormed over to us. He waved at his face. “Thisjust proves that she needs to be subdued. She's too young to have such power.”
“I'm teaching her. It's the best we can do.”
“Prince Severriel, with all due respect, that is not good enough.” Gabriel lifted his chin. “We are here to suppress her celestial resonance.”
“There you go using that word again.” I frowned. “Are you talking about laying a ward on her soul?”
“In a way, Your Majesty.” Gabriel inclined his head. “It's more gentle than that. A mere—”
“It's a cage on her power!” Sever narrowed his eyes at Gabriel.
Gabriel opened his mouth to speak.
Mirielle pointed at him.
Gabriel swallowed visibly, his expression going neutral. He kept an even tone to say, “It is not a cage, and you know it, Your Highness. It's like those things they put on dogs.” Gabriel motioned at his mouth.
“A muzzle?” I asked. “You want to muzzle my daughter?”
“Her power, Your Majesty, not her. As a dog can still breathe through a muzzle, Mirielle will still be able to feel her power and learn to control it without risk. When she is of an age to safely and responsibly use her magic, we will release our hold on it.”
I looked at Miri.
“I'm sorry, Mommy,” Miri said, her eyes wide. She understood more of that than I would have liked, and it was scaring her. “I just wanted to see Henry.”
