Oh, Feather, I’m so sorry.I threw the thought as far from me as I could. Knowing it wouldn’t reach across the void, but praying somehow, she would know how my heart was breaking.If I could sacrifice for them, for you, I would.
But I couldn’t. All I could do was sing them out of this life, and into whatever lay beyond for High Angeli who died. No oneknew; it was so rare for one of us to pass on. And no one had ever come back to share the tale.
Except Feather, a small part of my mind whispered, the only part that wasn’t darkness and storm clouds.Feather was unmade and came back. Celestial mistake. Divine miracle. Feather.
I took a shaky breath, shaping my lips to form the words of the Song of Passing, when the door slammed open. “Sabriel?”
She was breathless, her dark eyes almost feverish. “You must come and see. The fields are overrun with new… Celestials… and redeemed human souls… from the void. They’re all talking about Feather.” At the name, I saw movement on the bed. Precious had climbed up onto Mikhail, and her puppy had squirmed on top of Ry. Before I could reach her, Precious settled her hand on Mikhail’s heart and began singing something in a mixture of demonic and angelic.
Whatever it was, it made Mikhail shift. Had he continued to crumple? I stepped closer, and saw that she had done something inexplicable. He had stabilized, no longer deteriorating.
“What is she doing?” Haneul cried, stepping toward the bed.
“Stop,” Sabriel commanded. The Celestial’s expression was a mixture of horror and awe. “She was created from Feather and Mikhail’s energies combined. She’s giving it back to him. She’s sacrificing herself.”
Fuck no.“Precious, get down!” I shouted. “You’ll die!” She was so small; she couldn’t have enough energy in that tiny frame to keep two fully formed High Angeli alive. And if she was anything like her mom, she would kill herself trying.
But then the voice I’d prayed to hear corrected me. “If you don’t have hope, maybe. But my love, I’m here now. And it’s all going to be fine.”
I whirled to see a tall, blonde, exquisitely formed, naked woman smiling at me. My beloved Hope.
I flew to her, and she opened her arms, folding me into a hug. “How?” I asked, when I could finally speak again.
“Feather saved us. Feather and Arabella, who was apparently her sister in the Well of Souls.” She waited for me to react, but I just nodded.
“We knew that.”
Hope went on. “Good. Well, Arabella made a Great Sacrifice… but it was so much more than anything I’ve ever seen. Bigger than anything I’d imagined one soul could do. We were under attack by the shadow beasts inside Sanctuary.”
“Inside?” Sabriel gasped.
Hope nodded. “Yes. Seraphiel helped them, though I think it was unintentional. He broke through from the Abyss, looking for Gavriel. Um, pretty sure to kill him. Feather arrived in time to prevent an ichor-bloodbath, but the shadows followed him in. When Arabella opened the gate for us, she cleansed all of our souls, and—believe it or not—all of the shadow creatures within her reach. Most of them were humans, and they’ve traveled on to what Imriel called the far fields, I think? But there were Guides and Protectors there as well. I just left them in the Fields of Joy.”
My mind raced. “Who got out?”
“Everyone,” she said solemnly. “Sunny, we evacuated Sanctuary.”
She couldn’t mean… “Theentire realm?” They’d given up the realm to the Abyss. We had lost. It was like a punch to the gut.
Hope’s eyes shuttered. “Everyone except Seraphiel, Gavriel… and Feather.”
I flinched. I’d known it was too good to be true. I fought to keep the bitterness out of my voice. “You left her there.”
Hope’s eyes blazed. “I told her you would say that! I told her you would kill me for letting her stay. But she wouldn’t listen!” She stomped over to the bed and stared down at Mikhail’s and Righteous’s motionless forms. “Feather sent a message toyou two as well. She says if you would consider a little sword crossing, she’ll come back faster. I think she was joking, but if she wasn’t, you’ll need to flip a coin to see who has to be the… What did she say? Ah, yes. The meat in her man sandwich.”
For the first time since Feather had left this realm, I laughed. The room seemed to glow brighter. No, itdidget brighter.
Mikhail’s chest rose once. Then Righteous gasped, as if that naughty message had been all the air they needed to start breathing again. All the hope they needed.
“She’s coming back,” I insisted, joining Hope at the side of the bed and grabbing hold of her hand. “She’ll come flying in at the very same moment they get the last of the glitter cleaned off the Fields of Joy.”
Haneul pressed a hand to her lips in shock. “When did you get the gift of prophecy, Sunny?”
I smirked. “It came with the kazoo.” And my ride or die birch.
Precious made a grumpy sound, then curled up between the two men. Closing her eyes, she fell asleep, still chanting.
Chapter 29
