“I need to find my next sinner,” Eve announced. “Want to help me pick who to save,Leigh?”
I turned to her. “I thought you didn’t want to come back toEarth?”
Eve lifted her long black hair, tucked her wings in, then let go of the silky rope, which settled like ink over her gilt-tipped feathers. “I want to become an archangel’s wife. If I need to go to Earth, then so beit.”
An arm threaded through Eve’s. “I’ll go to the Ranking Room with you,” Meganoffered.
Eve turned so that Megan’s arm fell away from hers. “No offense, Megan, but our interests are no longer aligned. Or rather, they’re too much so. Same goes for the three of you.” Her gaze narrowed on Phoebe. “I mean, the two of you since Phoebe can’tcompete.”
Even though Phoebe’s long blond bangs obscured half her face, I noticed her eyes growing larger. “Why can’t I compete? I’m only missing twenty-onefeathers.”
“Honey, you’re a hybrid,” Eve said matter-of-factly. “The Seraphim Council don’t accept hybrids. Neither as archangels nor asconsorts.”
Phoebe’s orange feathers bristled. “Surely, Asher’s moremodern.”
“SeraphAsher.” Eve snapped her fingers under Phoebe’s chin. “Show him somerespect.”
A blush mottled Phoebe’scheeks.
“Seraph Asher?” Eve’s voice resounded over the hubbub of conversations filling the star-flecked courtyard. “Is the position open tohybrids?”
Asher’s brow furrowed. “Theposition?”
“Of consort,” Eve added with the aplomb of someone meant for the highest tier ofpower.
“Unfortunately, only Verities areeligible.”
Phoebe’s smile wilted from her lips as well as my own. Why must our world be sostrict?
Maybe, Celeste was right . . . maybe, I should attempt to qualify. Our eyes met and held over Eve’s golden wingtips. I knew hybrids often incurred disdain and denigrations from Verities. I’d lost count of the times I’d told someone off for disparaging a hybrid’s lackluster plumage or inferiorcalling.
“Leigh?” Eve’s voice carried my attention away from Celeste. “Are youcoming?”
Inodded.
Not only was I coming, but I was going to pick out my next sinner, because hybrids deserved the same respect and chances granted to Verities, and perhaps,myvoice could obtain this forthem.
Chapter 4
The holographic imageof a pigtailed teen sucking on a lollipop illuminated Eve’s profile. “She’s perfect, isn’tshe?”
I stopped flicking through prospective sinners to read the description below the moving picture of the high schooler whose skirt was so short I was surprised it wasn’t a sin untoitself.
PENELOPE MOREL (11days)
Prone tobullying.
2
Eve’s gold dress glimmered as she spun on her stool. “Right up myalley.”
Footsteps echoed on the pale stone floor, and then the curved glass doors of the Ranking Room slid open. Megan and Lana settled opposite us at the quartz bar that ran the length of the circular room, then pressed their palms into the panels of glass embedded in the stone to switch on their holo-rankers.
As rays of light burst from the square panes, Eve squashed her palm against her own. Penelope’s shifting image stilled, and a hum whirred from the desk as Eve’s hand was scanned. A second later, a beep dinged, and the wordsASSIGNED TO EVE FROM GUILD 24materialized over the three-dimensional picture like astamp.
Her breathing seemed to ease after that. She leaned toward me to look at the holographic profile I’d brought up. “Eww. Thanks, but nothanks.”
“What?” I glanced back at the shifting picture of a muscled, tattooed convict who’d earned a score of eighty-six for having assaulted fourwomen.
