I heard Gavriel’s thoughts as they mirrored mine.We must save her. We can’t lose her again.Gavriel was more tuned into Sanctuary than I was, and his face suddenly twisted into an appalled, panicked expression. He dropped back, handing the baby to me with a shortTake her, I’ll go ahead,before he began flying as fast as I’d ever seen an Angelus attempt.
“Help my mate,” I begged, my newly healed wings still weak.
I will,he vowed.As if she were my own.I ignored the stray thought that whistled through the sharp, cold wind cutting past my ears. I had heard it already, though he’d tried to hide it for months. The sad, small, lost voice that murmured,I wish she were my own.
I flew faster, and prayed harder than I ever had before.
Chapter 29
Feather
Distraction was our only hope. I prayed it would be enough.
The room was as silent as it could be while filled with thousands of unsettled, winged ashholes. Tradition conferred quietly with some of the other Guides as they moved chairs around, strapping Sunny, Hope, Ry, Percy, and me down with strips of white cloth.
This is not the kind of bondage I wanted to try.I used some of my remaining energy to send that thought to Sunny who was slumped on my left, while Hope sobbed quietly on my right. Ry and Percy were on the other side of Hope, and a little farther back.
Perception’s gaze was fixed on me, and I sent him the crazy idea that the glitter had given me. “They should not be gagged, Guide,” he called out. “Even the lowest criminals on Earth are given the chance to speak last words. Or pray.” Tradition obviously agreed since he motioned for one of the Guides to remove the gags. Unfortunately, they then used those bands of cloth to tie our ankles together.
I was freed first, and I called out as soon as my mouth was uncovered, “Ry, do you like being tied up?” He craned his head to see me, his eyebrows flying up. “No, not right now. Not like this. I mean, in general.”
“She means sexually,” Sunny explained when her gag was removed, and sent me a tired wink. I could tell the realm was draining her, too. “Feather is very sexually inventive. If you’re not into bondage, you should still try it a few times, find out if it might appeal. Eternity can be long, even with a hot mate like my best birch. Pegging, maybe? Mikhail could watch.” She had everyone’s attention now.
Hope cleared her throat as well when her gag came off, and chimed in. “I could watch. I’ve had fun with pegging on Earth and in Sanctuary. Right, Endurance?” she called across the Hall. A scuffle broke out a few rows back, and I watched as two Protectors were escorted out of the room. Murmurs rose up at the rough treatment.
“Stop talking,” Valor hissed. “No one wants to hear about your perversions.”
“We’re allowed,” I retorted. “Last words.” I turned away, ignoring him and chattering some more about safe words and soft limits.
A Guide had entered from the far end of the Hall through the main doorway, carrying something on a golden cushion. They walked slowly, ponderously even, and finally got close enough for me to see what was on the pillow.Crapsticks.It was the soul knife.
The Guide was ten feet away from the podium when I said, “Knife play. I guess we should have talked about hard limits before we merged, Ry. Have you ever had fun with a knife? The first time Gavriel ever saw me, he used his soul knife on me, and… whew! A girl never forgets that kind of meet-cute, am I right?”
“I don’t know,” Righteous said, looking vaguely disturbed. “I never once thought of using a knife. For that.” He craned his head and winked. “But I’ll try anything with you once.”
“A threesome?” I chirped.
He hummed. “With knives? Think we can get Mikhail to whittle pleasure out of me one nick at a time?”
I almost choked on my own spit. “We’d really better make sure you have a safe word. Mikhail gets excited and forgets.” I had hoped to distract the Guide who was bringing the knife in, and it worked like a charm. They’d been marching like a solo pallbearer at a doll funeral, mounting the steps with the pillow up at chest height. At my last comment, they tripped. The knife tumbled off the pillow and went skidding down the stairs and across the floor, and I suddenly smelled the familiar stench of cooking person-meat and smut. Somebody had gotten nicked, that was for sure.
When the Protectors all around stopped screaming like four-year-olds on their first roller coaster, the Guide reclaimed the smoky blade and set it on the pillow again. Their robe hoodhad fallen back, and they set their expression in what I thought of as “Politician Offering Thoughts and Prayers” mode, trying to recapture the sense of dignity, but it was way too late for that. The robe had tangled around their scrawny legs as they’d crawled across the floor to get the knife, and the edge of the cloth had gotten stuck in the belt, leaving one hairy leg bare to mid-thigh.
Staring at the exposed thigh brought attention to the bulge under their robe, about a foot up and to the right.Ew.The dude had a semi from holding a sacred knife at a ritual sacrifice? Why did this seem so familiar?
When they mounted the stair and bowed at Tradition’s feet, I remembered. “That’s where it’s from!Indiana Johnson and the Sacred Phallus!” I yelled, making the Guide fall over again, dropping the knife onto one of Tradition’s toes.
Tradition let out a very traditional curse, bringing the parentage of the kneeling Guide into question. I ignored the fallen knife, turning my head to Sunny, though even that small movement seemed to take more energy than a hundred jumping jacks.
“No, wait, the one with the knife play wasIndiana Johnson and the Blood-Stone Cock. Or was it theBlood-Cock Stone?” In my peripheral vision, I saw Tradition’s eyes bulge. “I get them mixed up. I know there was blood, and a lot of cocks. And a stone, which—spoiler alert—turned out to be a butt plug. And it detonated inside the head Nazi’s ashhole?—”
“Shut up!” Valor yelled. “No one even knows what you’re talking about, you attention-seeking whore!”
Sunny was fighting a laugh, but she explained loud enough for everyone to hear, “She’s talking about Earth pornography. When the Guide carried that knife in here, it was straight out of a porn movie with knife play. It’s a classic—and the Guide had an erection under their robe, just like in the movie. I didn’tknow Guides got off on pain. It’s starting to make sense. The way you’ve all been acting, the cutting and the threats. This is how you get your rocks off, right?”
Half the room laughed, the other half gasped. But they stopped laughing, and I started worrying, when they wrestled Sunny out of her chair and dragged her to the center of the podium. Tradition bowed his head and intoned, “The consequences for the crimes of Sunny, the Light of Truth, have been decided. Guides? Extend her wings. Their sacrifice will atone for your willful disobedience.”
What. The. Fudge.
