I screamed in agony as he dropped me, and I fell fifty feet to the ground. The marble floor broke, sharp splinters of stone shattering beneath the weight of my body.
Raziel laughed and dropped my other wing. I watched as it fluttered uselessly through the air to settle quietly beside me.
Everything hurt.
A strange sort of sadness welled in my chest as I turned my head, staring at two pieces of me that not only gave me the joy of flight but protected Shemhazai from Raziel’s gaze.
Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck!
Pushing through the terrible sadness and excruciating pain that was putting me into shock, I struggled to get up.
Rolling onto my side, I was trying to push myself up into a sitting position when Raziel landed next to me, grinning like a lunatic.
He kicked me in the face so hard an arc of black blood exploded from my mouth, and I hissed in pain.
Raziel pressed his foot into my chest and pointed the tip of one of his bloodied blades against my throat, forcing me to freeze.
I looked up at him, spitting out more blood, hating the smug look of contempt on his face.
The wings I had broken were already healing, and soon, he was back to his full glory, shining with an unholy light.
“There. Right where you belong. Beneath my feet.” He laughed, and I struggled to sit up again, only for him to grind his foot harder into my chest.
“Now, let’s wait for Shemhazai to arrive. I want him to watch the light leave your eyes.”
No.
I’d fuckingpromisedShem I wouldn’t let this fucker kill me.
Everyone always let Shemhazai down. I couldn’t let Raziel kill me.
I needed fucking Hecate to come back, but the chapel remained empty. It was only me and the seraphim, holding his knife at my throat.
“Even if you kill me, you won’t make it out of here alive once Hecate is reunited with her golems,” I spat, hoping what I said was true.
“She was never strong enough to come against me.”
Maybe before, when she didn’t have her coven.
But I didn’t say that out loud.
Instead, I focused on remaining conscious. The wounds on my back were bleeding profusely. Normally, I could heal relatively quickly, but he had cut me with Aetherium. I would heal at a normal human rate—if I even survived this.
“He’s here,” Raziel sneered, his gaze darting to the door of the church. “He’s here, and I will make sure he watches as you die.”
No! Shemhazai. Stay away!
Raziel’s eyes lit up with so much sinister anticipation that I swallowed.
“After all… Shemhazailovesto watch,” the seraphim hissed as the doors to the church blew open.
Alexa play: Hallelujah by Underoath
Ientered the church in an unhinged state.
My hellcats nearly blew the doors off their hinges, but my body felt calm. Like I was in shock.
My bond with Gabe was in shambles, and the second I took in the scene before me, I knew why.
