Prologue
17 years ago - JAROD
Snow driftedfrom a steel-gray sky the day my mother was buried, powdering the grid of gravestones and mausoleums in the Montparnasse Cemetery. A few people had rolled out of bed to join us, but their reasons for standing by our side were selfish—they either worked for my family or hoped to ingratiate themselves withUncle.
“Jarod.”
I craned my neck at the sound of my name. Snowflakes hit my dry eyes, melting and coursing down my cheeks, substitutes for my absenttears.
Uncle nodded to the custodian holding a bowl under his arm. For a horrible second, I believed it contained my mother’s ashes, and my limbs seizedup.
“It’s just dirt, son.” The cold wind batted Uncle’s words to me. “To toss into thecrypt.”
Mimi tightened her arms around my shoulders before pressing a kiss to the top of my head and releasing me to perform my filial duty for a person who’d forsaken her maternalone.
Steeling my spine, I advanced toward the officiant, took the spoon from his thick, hairy fingers, and studied the crumbly soil a long moment before scooping it out and heaving it into the dark pit my mother would never again risefrom.
A pit I’d put her in even though Uncle insisted it was my father’s death which had stopped Mother’s heart and not the letteropener.
Chapter 1
Today - LEIGH
I’d never shed afeather.
Which wasn’t to say I was perfect. Perfect angels didn’t have a devastating sweet tooth or an addiction to romance novels. I simply hadn’t lost any feathers because none of my imperfections were true sins. Bless Elysium for that; otherwise, my wing bones would’ve been as bare as a cherub’sbottom.
Over the unrelenting rain and incessant honks of cars stuck in after-work traffic, I caught Eve’s dragging groan. “It’s Benagain.”
Although we weren’t encouraged to date, my best friend and I were both a few months short of twenty-one, so boys were never far from our minds, thoughts of them wedged between helping humans and ascending to Elysium, our futurehome.
Somehow, a yellow cab found a way to speed down the bottlenecked road and splash gutter water over my navy dress and heeled booties. I gasped as cool ochre beads dribbled down my calves and into myshoes.
“It’s notthatshocking. He’s been calling me nonstop since—” Eve raised her eyes off her cell phone. When she spotted the wet carnage, she whipped her head in the cabby’s direction, her damp black hair smacking my arm, and yelled words that sounded like obscenities butweren’t.
Unsavory words cost feathers, and although Eve had lost some, she was so close to completing her wings she was extra careful about using angel-approvedvocabulary.
“Seriously,” she huffed, offering me the paper napkin we’d picked up in the ice cream shop on our way back to theguild.
We’d run in to take cover from the downpour, but the sweet milky scent had led me straight to the counter. Where Eve had ordered coffee—black—I’d gotten a thick, farm-fresh raspberrymilkshake.
She glared at the cab’s taillights. “Some humans are soinconsiderate.”
Balancing precariously on one foot, I scrubbed a questionable brown glob off myankle.
Eve growled as her phone started ringing anew. “I dance with this guy once at the guild’s Spring Fling, and now he’s calling me several times a day.Ugh.”
“Did you tell him you weren’tinterested?”
“Not in so manywords.”
“Maybe use more words? Honesty is the best policy,” I added with asmile.
“Fine.” She rammed her finger into her phone’s screen, then mouthed “I’ll catch up in a sec” before gushing, “Ben, hey.” Her voice took on a breathy quality that made me roll myeyes.
If angels bet, I’d wager she’d have plans to hang out with Ben before the week’s end. For all her annoyance with this poor guy, Eve enjoyed attention—especially maleattention.
I crossed the road toward the building that housed my angelic home on Earth. The first year I’d been allowed to venture into the human world at the ripe old age of twelve, I would only enter it once the sidewalk was clear of passersby. Which was silly considering humans couldn’t see the opulent quartz residence that sprawled behind the nondescript greendoor.
