The air stills, and Gabriel’s arrival sends me stumbling, but I am ready for him, rolling and beating my wings until I am hovering five feet above him. The energy pulsing from my body lights the darkness, and if I thought I could get away with it, I would toss him over the edge and let his body break against the rocks below. Angels can die in the mortal realm, and though they heal—very quickly—they can still feel pain.
“You have the gall to summon me like this, Sinclair? I could end you in a heartbeat,” Gabriel sneers.
“He has her, you piece of shit.” The angel’s attitude enrages me, and I swoop down and plant my feet in the center of his chest, sending him flying back and skidding on the dirt path for a highly satisfying distance. “You sent a celestial being to the earthen realm with no memory of who she is or knowledge of what she can do. One Thorn has met before. And then you put her right in his path! Tell me why I should not end you right now. You are not immortal on earth, Gabriel. And I am stronger than you by half.”
“What are you talking about?” He pushes up on an elbow, raising his other hand in surrender. “Who does Thornhaveand what kind of celestial being is she?”
“You truly do not know?”
Gabriel is many things. Arrogant, unfeeling, and the least responsible angel I have ever met. But he does not lie.
“No. Of course not. Can I get up now, demon?”
I lower myself until my feet touch the ground, then nod, but I cannot bring myself to offer him a hand.
“I am only half demon. See the wings, asshole?”
“Fine. Halfling,” he mutters as he gets to his feet. “Are you going to answer my question?”
“He has Zoe. She is part seraphim. And Gabriel? She is the reason I was able to fight Thorn and Regina centuries ago. Her death gave me the strength to break free from his control and drag the two of them to Hell. I was in love with her. And that incubus bastard killed her right in front of me. If he finds out who she is now? If he already knows? He will not kill her again. He will keep her alive so he can torture her for all eternity.”
The archangel’s blue eyes widen, and he takes a step back. “Well, fuck.”
Twenty-Eight
Zoe
Cold. Damp. Dark. My nose wrinkles, but I don’t try to move beyond that. I’m not sure I can. My arms and legs are bent, and I’m folded almost in half. My entire body aches, like I’ve been in this position for a long time.
The rough stone under my cheek confirms that I’m on my side. My left shoulder throbs. Along with my hip. I can’t feel my fingers or my lips.
Images ping around my brain, but they don’t coalesce into anything I can understand. A crowd of people. Stormy blue eyes. Black wings. The fires of Hell.
Sin. Oh, shit. Sin. My partner. My lover. My angel.
“You are safest here. Promise me you will stay.”
I broke that promise. Broke it for a friend. My first friend. Myonlyfriend. Dion. Where is she? Her eyes…they were so calm. Serene. Regina forced her to help trap me. And then the Fae took us both.
A tear escapes my shuttered lids and trails across the bridge of my nose. Regina’s voice…she spoke to me and stole me away without batting an eye. I couldn’t fight her. I wanted to. I tried. But I couldn’t.
“The easiest way to get to me would be to go after you.”
Do they know? That I’m with Sin?AmI withSin?
The lump in my throat answers the question. Yes. I am absolutely with Sin. I care for him. So much. I think…I think I might even love him. Whatever I am, thisother-nessinside me knows he’s mine as much as it knows I’m his.
Footsteps echo on stone, and I try to prepare myself for what’s coming. Pain. Regina stealing my free will. Thorn invading my mind and searching out my greatest fears.
Don’t think. Anything. Picture a void. Your mind is nothing but a void.
Behind my lids, I conjure a black hole in space, twisting, consuming all light, all life, everything. Nothing but an endless dark cloud swirling without emotion. Without fear.
A woman screams from far away. Not Dion, but someone else. I canfeelthe woman’s desperation. How close she is to breaking completely. The sound echoes around corners and curves, and she begs for her life to end.“Please. Let me die.”
Her plea stirs something buried deep inside me. A long-ago memory. Another woman, another scream, another time. Trapped in a prison deep underground in the cisterns of Florence, knowing I was sent there to die, to take Thorn with me, but failing. All because of a man whose blue eyes held pain and sorrow and need I couldn’t ignore.
If I could move, if I could make any noise at all, I’d let out a wail so loud, so mournful, no one in a hundred miles would be able to ignore it. I remember now. I know why my shoulder and hip ache. Why I smell rust and damp stone. I’m lying on iron bars. Locked in a cage so small, even if Regina’s drugs wear off, I won’t be able to do more than raise my head.
