“Why?”
“Beats me. He trounced right through the Atrium and out the doors. Didn’t even say hi or smile, which is strange, because he’s usually sofriendly.”
Was his charm a disguise he donned to enhance hisappeal?
“Are you interested in him,Ophan?”
“Me?” She let out a chirp of laughter that made a sparrow pause mid-note. “Don’t get me wrong. If I were attracted to men, possibly. Not only is the Seraph not my type, but also, he lives in Elysium, and I love it here.” She smiled at me. “Once you ascend, you’ll see that the human world is more . . . full. Diverse. Fun.” She shifted her eyes toward the octagon of brilliant blue sky over the Atrium and dropped her voice, “Everyone’s so solemn upthere.”
“OphanPauline!”
A matronly angel with topaz feathers and graying hair appeared in the doorway of theoffice.
Pauline’s blue eyes sprang wide. “Uh-oh,” she said on an exhale, but soon, her easy smile returned. “I’ll be right with you, Eleanor. Just filling a Fletching’spocket.”
“And mind,” the older angelgrumbled.
“Bye now, Leigh,” Pauline singsonged. “Have a beautifulday!”
I wasn’t sure how beautiful it would be. After all, I was about to visit someone who despised me more than the Seven. The irony of my situation wasn’t lost onme.
Hooking my bag to my shoulder, I set off by foot towardLa Cour des Démons, indebted to Celeste for forcing me into espadrilles with wedge heels instead of the strappy sandals with toothpick heels I’d wanted to wear. As I wandered through the winding streets, my long black skirt swished around my ankles. I looked like I was going to a funeral—my own. At least, my orange hair added some color to my otherwise all-black outfit. Never imagined I would’ve found something pleasant to say about my hair. Then again, I never imagined I would argue with an archangel about the celestialsystem.
I walked through a bustling, open-air marketplace lined with buckets of rainbow-hued flowers and crates of juicy produce. I exchanged a ten-euro bill for two baskets of plump raspberries. After placing one delicately inside my roomy handbag, I ate the contents of the other on the way to Jarod’s home, and it restored some sweetness to my presently bleaklife.
When I arrived in front of the blood-red doors, I hesitated to slip the bill under them and retrace my steps, but the niggling feeling in my shoulder blades spurred me to ring. As I waited, the memory of smoldering Jarod walloped me upside the head.Ugh. I’d conveniently forgotten aboutit.
The lock clicked, and I pressed my palm against the lacquered wood. The cast-iron lamp flared to life, vanquishing the darkness gathered beneath the covered porch. How I wished it could vanquish the darkness crowding my mind,too.
I licked my teeth. When I felt a little seed in the seam of my front ones, I licked them again, the superficial undertaking momentarily sloughing off some of my stress. To think I’d grinned at a gaggle of kids chasing each other around a gated playground. Most of them hadn’t paid attention to me, but a little girl with crooked pigtails had stared steadily atme.
It had felt as though her soul were judging mine, which was impossible, because when souls were re-implanted into wombs, the memories of their past lives and of their time in Elysium or Abaddon wereerased.
As I crossed the courtyard, a new thought barreled into the others. What if the fault in the celestial scales extended to the rest of oursystem? My fist, which I’d raised to knock, froze in midair. What if the claims some humans made about remembering past lives weren’t fabricated? What if a few memories slipped through thecracks?
Even though my knuckles hadn’t made contact with the door, Amir drew itopen.
“Muriel told me you’d be stopping by.” His nose seemed even more crooked in broaddaylight.
Muriel?Right. . . The baking lesson. Hadn’t I told her I wouldn’t be able to take her up on it? Some parts of the night had stayed crisp, and others had started to blur. Unfortunately, it was the parts I wished to forget that Icouldn’t.
“She’s in the pantry,” Amir said when I still hadn’t moved or spoken. “Told me to send you right through when youarrived.”
“Is Jarod—is hehere?”
Amir leveled his dark eyes on my bag. “Monsieur Adler has asked that no one disturb him until this evening.” I started to slide my bag down my arm to hand it over when he said, “You may keep yourbag.”
Huh.I bent my arm, and the bag settled in the crook of my elbow. “Well then, I guess I’ll go findMuriel.”
I walked past him, then crossed the dining room, keeping my eyes on the tapestry depicting a violent hunt complete with snarling hounds and deer with mangled necks and bloodied fur. It beat looking at the mural of innocent, blushingcherubs.
I gritted my teeth, trying to squelch my growing rancor. I didn’t want to become an embittered person like Jarod. That would just make me unhappy. Besides, not all angels were bad. Just some. Just likehumans.
The checkered marble foyer was empty except for the bodyguard standing vigil next to the diningroom.
I glanced up the stairs, wondering if Jarod was in his bedroom or in his study. “Muriel’s expecting me,” I ended up saying even though the guard hadn’tasked.
He gave me a perfunctory nod, his gaze barely scraping over me as though he’d been warned not to make eye contact after what had happened to the waiter. Why had Jarod even cared about who’d looked at me? He’d already known what I was backthen.
