I felt a surge of anger, and a strange skittering feeling on my skin, like static electricity all over my body. I ignored it. “What can they do? You’re the leader!”
He sighed. “In name only. Gavriel has let the Guides take over a lot of the real decision making. Before he left, he signed a new… Never mind. Let’s not talk about it. I brought you a surprise.”
The surprise was a fluffy, brilliant green blanket he laid out on the floor, and a small container of… “Chocolates?” I shrieked. “How did you get your hands on chocolate?” All I had really eaten since I got to this realm was cheese and fruit.
“The chefs in the Dining Hall still like me well enough,” he said, chuckling as he sat beside me on the knitted blanket. “They said they’d expected to run short on energy faster, with Mikhail away, but Sanctuary’s still humming with juice.”
“Mmhmm,” I said, stuffing a truffle almost the size of my fist into my mouth. Righteous rolled his eyes as I faked an orgasm.
It may not have been entirely fake. Food-related orgasms were a legitimate, medically documented form of sexual pleasure, and I told him just that. The look he gave me then was heated enough to melt the rest of my chocolate. I feltan answering surge of warmth from the Great Gate, and I fluttered my eyelashes at it.
“Stop flirting with the gate and move over here,” Righteous grumbled. When I raised an eyebrow, he grabbed me by the waist and turned me so I was sitting in front of him, between his outstretched legs, my back to him. His fingers began to knead and rub my shoulders, and I whimpered, clenching my thighs together as the orgasm idea moved closer and closer to a reality.
“Valor has built quite a case against me. And while you’re right about the hidden smut—some corners of that wing smell worse than cesspits—Tradition is as pure as any Guide we have.”
We argued a bit, ate the rest of the chocolate, and sang another two songs before Hope interrupted us to take her turn. It felt like a date. And it kind of was. Righteous imagined kissing me goodnight as he flew me back to my room, and I let myself sink into the dream of it.
Had I mentioned Righteous’s concerns about Tradition to Sunny? I knew he’d had a private meeting scheduled for this morning, with singing shifts at the gate for the rest of the day.
I tried to interrupt and ask, but she was pacing, her wings flaring, and her fists clenched. “So, Hope went to the Guides directly to ask for permission to mate, and they said to come back again in a year. When we were ‘more committed.’ She threw a fit and got formally reprimanded. And Valor told her later we’d never be allowed to mate.”
I was so mad, I jumped up and started pacing next to her. “What business is it of theirs? How can they stop you? They can’t forbid love.”
“No, but they can make it a crime to commit a feather to another Protector.” Her voice was subdued. “The punishmentfor mating without their permission is anything up to and including the loss of your wings.”
“Motherfudging ashholes!” I muttered. “When Righteous hears about this…”
“Don’t,” she said. “Listen, he’s already being investigated. Hope was beside herself, and asked me to apologize to Righteous for her.”
“For what?”
Sunny chewed at her lower lip. “She had to report to Tradition, the Head Guide, what she saw at the gate after you walked through. She wasn’t going to say anything, but Valor had seen it, too, and they forced her to submit a report as a secondary witness.”
“What do you mean, what she saw?” I half yelled.
Her dark eyes gleamed with sorrow. “What Righteous was doing, Feather. He was trying to cut off his wings.”
Chapter 18
Feather
Suddenly dizzy, I sat on the floor. My mind buzzed with disbelief and shock. Sunny waited patiently while I put my head between my knees and breathed slowly, trying to wrangle the sudden onslaught of emotions that were rocking me.
Finally, I could speak. “What do you mean, cut off his wings? Why would Righteous do that?”
She folded her legs gracefully, sitting next to me, and took my hand. “He was out of his mind, Feather. I mean…” She hesitated. “He hasn’t exactly been himself since then, though I don’t see it as a bad thing. He’s more compassionate now. He listens, instead of making snap judgments. He hasn’t been impatient, or mean. If I hadn’t known him for two centuries, I would think this was someone else entirely.”
“His stain is gone,” I whispered. “I helped him get it off. He’s mostly ascended.”
Sunny squeezed my hand. “See? He’s better now, no matter what he was doing with the sword before you came back. I don’t see what the others like Valor and Fidelity keep pointing to. But whatI thinkwill be in the charges they’re going to bring against him is what’s called ‘aberrant behavior affecting the safety of Sanctuary.’ Cutting off his wings—it looked unhinged.”
“Why would he do that?” I repeated, letting myself fall now. “Was it because…”
Sunny waited for me to gather my thoughts. “Maybe he thought I was gone forever, and since the only way to ascend was to be purified? He said something about how I had to forgive him. If he cut off his wings…”
She shrugged. “Maybe he was going to throw them in after you? He would have to sacrifice them somehow. In the old days, there were some who gave up their wings for… honestly, I can’t remember why. It was only ever mentioned in passing, like as part of the reason you had to obey the Guides and High Angeli in all things. The loss of your wings was a punishment they could levy. And I suppose they did once or twice, a long time ago.”
“So, they have a precedent,” I said slowly. “To take wings if rules are broken.” I tried to slow my breathing, but not even my go-to meditation about being given mouth-to-mouth by a series of half-naked, burly firefighters worked. “We really need Mikhail and Gavriel to get back here and get a hold of those Guides.” Atthat moment, a loud bell rang somewhere outside in the hallway. “What was that?”
