“Leigh, why are you standing backhere?”
“Same reason youare.”
“I doubtthat.”
Ifrowned.
“I’m standing back here because of these.” She tipped her head to her purplewinglets.
Although she’d gotten her wing bones at ten, a year or two younger than most girls in the guild, only a hundred and some feathers graced them. Celeste usually magicked them away, hating the pitying stares they garnered from the other fifteen-year-olds with much fullerwings.
I returned my gaze to the glittering, twittering crowd of Fletchings. “I’m missing eighty-one feathers, Celeste. There’s no way I’ll earn them in time to beconsidered.”
“You could pick aTriple.”
I grunted. “First off, I’m not interested in spending time with a murderer.” All Triples had blood on their hands. You didn’t earn the worst sinner score by committing petty thefts. “And two, I want to be a Malakim, not archangel armcandy.”
She heaved a sigh. “I wish I could also be a soul shepherdess. Or aranker.”
I bit my lip, saddened that becoming a Malakim or an Ishim was outside of Celeste’sreach.
“You know, if you were archangel arm candy, you could have that stupid, archaic rulechanged.”
Both my eyebrows shot up before I realized it was more pipe dream than attainable ambition. “Four out of the Seven would have to rule in favor of letting hybrids become Malakim and Ishim. When was the last time a law was amended? Two centuriesago?”
“Three hundred and sixty-one years ago. The law allowing angels to give up theirwings.”
And thus, their immortality. Before the law was amended, angels who wanted to forfeit their immortality were punished with menial jobs or locked in Abaddon for entertaining such blasphemousideas.
I sighed. “The odds of getting anything revised are prettydismal.”
“Dismal’s better thanimpossible.”
She was right, and yet, it was such a long shot. Besides, I didn’t want to marry someone for political gain; I wanted to marry someone for love. Was that sooutrageous?
“I heard he winged you earlier,” Celeste said, dragging my attention off the iridescent fountain lilies that bloomed at nightfall and zippered shut atdawn.
My cheeks blazed as hot as the wall at my back. “I don’t think that was hisintent. . .”
She slanted me a look. “Did he show you his wingspan ornot?”
I averted my eyes from her all-seeing ones and stared at the angel statue spouting water from a solemnly raised palm. “I don’tremember.”
She let out a snort before growing contemplative. After a moment, she said, “Beboth.”
“What?”
“His wifeandaMalakim.”
“I can’t, Celeste. Consorts can’t travel toEarth.”
“Did you ever think it might be because they don’t wantto?”
“Why wouldn’t they want to come backhere?”
Celeste puffed air out the side of her mouth. “You think your bestie will return to Earth once sheascends?”
“No. But Eve doesn’t like ithere.”
