When he reopened them, he was smiling—a genuine one this time—and shook his head. “There is no royalty here. I am the Choir Leader. You can call me that; all my students do. But I am also Imriel.”
“Students?”
He nodded. “I teach all the new Celestials for their first few millennia. Music mostly, sometimes poetry. Now, before the guard returns, what was going on here?”
I decided not to draw his attention to the baby. “They were trying to take away a gift I got when we entered the realm,” I explained, feeling mad all over again. I took my dildo back from Ry and shook it at Imriel. “You shouldn’t give things out if you’re just gonna take ‘em back.”
He blinked, stunned. “That’s… That’s not what we do. We would never.” He rubbed his brow. “The Maker of All gave you those gifts. Each one was something She discerned you needed most to feel at home here. To know this is a safe place for you.” His brow now furrowed, he asked, “What did you receive?” I waved the dildo and pointed to the puppy. He smiled again. “What did you name it?”
“Mike.”
His perfect face scrunched in slight confusion. “You named the puppy Mike?”
“No, not the puppy.” Precious shouted “Dado” loudly but I spoke over her. I was fairly certain Dado was baby talk for theword “shadow,” and I didn’t want him to get worried about shadow demons again. “I was thinking Marshmallow?”
Sunny’s gaze met mine. She immediately knew where I was going with this, and why. “Too long. Maybe Char. He likes to eat them blackened.” She glanced at the Choir Leader. I could tell she didn’t like him.
“Char-el?” Imriel’s gaze narrowed. “It’s an unusual name for one of the temple dogs. A good name.”
I thought it sounded like someone from the planet Krypton, but I nodded along. Then I noticed something. “Why is no one crying when you speak now?”
Imriel put a hand to his throat and went a strange shade of pale. “The marshmallow…” he began, then tightened his lips. “I’ll deal with that later. More importantly, why are you fading, Feather?”
As he said those words, I realized Iwasfading. In fact, I was falling. Strong arms caught me before I collapsed to the cloud floor, and then I was out. Dreaming of leaving the Celestial Realm.
Flying away, to search for someone.
Floating in an Abyss that felt even emptier than before. There was no Mikhail or Righteous here. No Sunny, or Precious. No Gavriel.
Of course there wasn’t. This wasn’t their realm. It was my first love’s.
Rumple?I called out, but no one answered.Rumple, where are you?
And for the first time in my whole life, I knew there would be no answer.
Rumple was gone.
Chapter 4
Gavriel
“You must know whose feather this is, Gavriel. It’s your soulmate’s.”
My trembling hand rested on a small silver feather that lay embedded on the chest of the second most beautiful being I had ever seen in my long, cursed life. Arabella, the woman I had mistakenly believed to be my soulmate for centuries as she lay in perpetual sleep.
Awake now, she stood with her soft hands on my shoulders, and her green-ringed golden eyes, warm with compassion and dawning pity, were fixed on my face.
My own eyes were frozen. If I moved, if I even blinked, I would start screaming. I would unmake myself gladly. I deserved no less.
Feather.It had been her all along.
“What happened to her, Gavriel?” Arabella gripped my shoulders so tightly that I winced. I was amazed I could feel anything other than the agony searing through me, a pain I suddenly understood. I had sent my soulmate away to the Celestial Realm, without even a glance over my shoulder.
Without once touching her, kissing her, holding her as I had been meant to do since I met her. She’d been mine somehow, even before her birth, if what Arabella said was correct. And I knew it was. Every syllable she spoke rang with stark, merciless truth.
“She left,” I said, when I could finally form words again. “She went to the Celestial Realm.” Bile threatened to fill my mouth. “With her mates.”
Arabella’s mouth dropped open. “Her mates?Gavriel.You didn’t form a mating bond with her?” I shook my head once, and her eyes narrowed. “You didn’t recognize her?”
