He did put me down. On his bed. And then he stripped everything from my body except for hisearrings.
Chapter 54
Several hours later,I was walking across a room festooned in mirrors designed to match the vaulted French doors set across from them. The echoed light lentla Galerie des Glacesa brightness rivaling theChannels’.
Celeste clomped in her black boots beside me, alternately eyeing our tour guide—a historian with a puff of gray hair and a plethora of fascinating accounts about the palace—Amir who walked behind us like an overstretched shadow, and the opulent murals adorning theceiling.
When I’d stopped by the guild to ask if she was free, Celeste had groused and slapped her pillow over her head, insisting she needed more sleep. But then, I’d mentioned it would be just the two of us, and she’d hopped out of bed like a kernel of corn in a hotpan.
“Asher told me one of the Seven had lived here,” she whispered, as we trailed after the tour guide. “Before the Revolution. I’m not sure which one,though.”
Even though I’d grown up around immortals—Ophan Mira had been born at the time of the Renaissance, and Ophan Greer in a wagon heading west on the Oregon Trail—it never ceased to amaze me that someone who looked youthful was in factancient.
“Do you ever wonder how different the world will be when you’ll return in a century?” I murmured toCeleste.
She sighed. “Yeah, but then I bring these out”—her purple wings spilled from the back of her white ribbed tank top—“take a good look at them, and realize I should stick to thinking in decades instead ofcenturies.”
“Celeste,” I chided her softly. “Get rid of your pessimism. If you want this, you’ll getit.”
It dawned on me that by staying I could help bothherand Jarod, and excitement teemed within mybreastbone.
“I’ll make sure you get there. I’ll find you people to help and work with you on them.” Mortality needn’t equate the end of saving souls. I’d just be doing it without wings, withoutrecompense.
The way it should bedone.
“If you stay, I’ll never talk to you again.” Celeste’s eyes blazed like the row of baroque, crystalchandeliers.
I wedged my lips together, hoping she’d said that because she was mad and not because she truly meantit.
The awe, which had filled Celeste when we’d started the tour, dwindled to paltry curiosity, as though the castle had dulled once we’d exited the Hall of Mirrors even though its grimiest nooks had beenmesmerizing.
A picnic lunch was set out for us in the manicured gardens of the castle, complete with a white tent, a dressed-up table, and wooden chairs. Even though I was glad to hear more stories about the naughty courtiers of France, I sort of wished the historian would leave so I could speak to Celestealone.
After coffee and a platter of petits fours ranging from miniature lemon tarts to bite-sized chocolate macarons, the historian finally bade us farewell. Amir peeled a crisp pink bill from a thick wad and handed it to the woman who blinked at it, then at him, then around her. She folded it, then furtively slid it inside the collar of her salmon-colored blouse and traipsed away on her kittenheels.
I sort of wished that Jarod’s bodyguard would leave, too, but imagined he wouldn’t take any orders from me, so I made do with the respectable distance he afforded us, hoping his sense of hearing wasn’t tookeen.
“Celeste, you can’t hate me for a decision that affects onlyme.”
“Only you?” She shook her head. “It doesn’t affect only you. It affects . . . it affectseveryone.”
“Really? Name a single other person mynot ascendingwillaffect.”
“Asher.”
I sighed. “We’ve talked about this, honey. I’m not interested in Asher, andhe—”
“He unblocked Jarod’s score,” she hissed. “For you! He did it foryou.”
“No, he did it for himself, to fix a mistake, and he did it for Jarod. My wings played no role in hisdecision.”
A brave little sparrow landed on our table, hunting forcrumbs.
Celeste peeled the crust off a tartlet and tossed it at the bird’s outsized feet. “You’re missing seven by the way. I checked two days ago. All you need is sevenfeathers.”
“Eight. I lost another one lastnight.”
“How? Did Jarod make you lieagain?”
