“You disrespected your superior, Protector.” I closed the door and stepped past him. Extending my wings, I chuckled as a dozen specks of glitter that seemed to come from nowhere plastered themselves to his blood-spattered clothing. “Before you leave this hallway, sweep it. There’s trash lying everywhere.”
I launched myself into the air and flew to the purification chambers near my room. Valor hadn’t been wrong; I was a wreck, and if I wanted the Guides to take me seriously, I would need to look the part. In an hour, I had cleansed myself thoroughly, changed, and flown to the Dining Hall. I was shocked at how easily the small flecks of smut I’d worn had come away. Punching Valor had given me the most stubborn freckle, mostly because I didn’t regret doing it at all. But I was cleansed completely now… except for Tili’s stain.
As I landed outside the Dining Hall entrance, I heard a loud ruckus inside. I had my fingers pressing the handle, and the door no more than an inch ajar, when words filtered through.
“He must be removed! He attacked me!”Valor.
Hope answered, “I did see him cutting himself. But High Angelus Gavriel left him in charge. He wouldn’t have done that if?—”
“Gavriel may be every bit as compromised as Righteous.”
What was Valor saying? Even questioning Gavriel was insubordination. He could be stripped of his rank as one of the Head Protectors. I waited, though. I needed to hear exactly what sort of rumor he was spreading.
“Everyone knows Gavriel spends all his time mourning for Arabella when he’s not on a mission. When was the last time he ate here with us? Or gave a lecture, or even visited the upper floors to observe the seminars? Not all of you are old enough to remember, but the High Angeli used to teach our classes, not just our overworked, vastly underappreciated Guides.”
Holy shit. Was Valor setting himself against the High Angeli?
Someone in the crowd shouted, “Are you speaking against the High Angeli? They’re our leaders!”
“Should they be? They had no plan to truly fix the problem with the gate. My Guide didn’t even know the gate wasn’t repairable.”
Someone else called out, “You think the Guides should lead Sanctuary?”
“The Guides are already working together to do just that. But I didn’t say that.”
His implication was clear, and I shivered. Individually, the Guides had less power than High Angeli. But if all of them banded together, their force could equal both Gavriel and Mikhail’s… and that worried me deeply, since some of theGuides seemed to have forgotten their role as teachers and servants here.
Valor’s voice was softer, but still audible as he went on. “I’m not sure the Guides know enough to lead us out of this situation. I’m not sure what they’re teaching us is sufficient to help any of us survive what’s coming.”
Hope’s voice rose over the shocked babble. “Are you saying the Guides are not teaching us what they should?”
“Mikhail is the one who said that,” Valor replied, and I noted again that he had not been using the honorifics that went with the High Angeli’s names. “That we didn’t know how the gate even worked. But did he, as one of our only High Angeli, instruct us? Could he be bothered to come out of his Hall and help us understand? No. Had Gavriel taken even a few days to make certain we all understood what was at stake, someone among us would have gone into the gate long before now, gladly, courageously! But now, thanks to that dirty Novice, it’s sealed up, and there’s no way for us to get to the Celestial Realm. We’re stuck here, taking care of Earth for eternity, for nothing.”
Hope’s voice was cold. “What reward did you expect, Valor?”
“The same one every High Angelus has received until Mikhail failed us all. A soulmate, and a ticket out of this realm.”
My pulse thudded in my throat. I was beyond enraged. Valor believed he wasoweda soulmate. And worse, that the most important thing about being matched was being allowed to move on. I was about to punch through the door and finish the job I’d started on his face when Hope’s laughter rang out.
“Valor, you’re forgetting we are all capable of being soulmates to one another. Just because every Protector here has turned you down, doesn’t mean you’re first in line for one if the Well of Souls somehow opened up. With your attitude, your mate might not accept your feather—” I stopped listening to her when a slight tremor traveled through the floor beneath my feet,dying off almost immediately. It was odd. This hadn’t come from the direction of the gate. What else inside Sanctuary would be so unstable, though?
Valor’s laughter rang out in the sudden silence. “I can’t wait to let Gavriel know what you just said. That his poor mate’s condition is his fault. Maybe his attitude was the problem.”
“I didn’t mean… I wasn’t talking about Arabella!”
“Sure you weren’t.” I heard running footsteps and stepped back from the door just in time. Hope flung it wide, racing out into the corridor and leaping into flight. Her shoulders were rigid as she fled.
I half wanted to storm into the Dining Hall and confront Valor, but a part of me knew that wouldn’t be wise. Not yet. I leaned close instead and listened as he stirred the other Protectors’ fears, hinting broadly that Mikhail, Gavriel and I were all insane, and—to my shock—that Arabella might be the key to escaping a locked Sanctuary. That she could be unmade, and her energy used to reopen the Great Gate somehow. He was speaking blasphemy, and espousing murder.
I would need to set a guard on her chamber. But who could I trust?
When I finally left, it was with a heavy heart and a mind buzzing with confusion. When had Valor become so angry? And why would the others listen in silence? Only Hope had stood up to him. I lifted my arm and stared at the stain I’d carried for centuries, wondering if Sanctuary hadn’t been marked back then as well. And if the taint of Azazel’s betrayal when he sealed the Well of Souls wasn’t still scarring our realm, and festering somehow.
Chapter 6
Righteous
Two weeks later, I flew along the very roof of Sanctuary, where the winds blew cooler than was comfortable for most. I didn’t feel the chill tonight, and even if I had, I wouldn’t have dropped lower. This was the only place I could escape the constant barrage of complaints, criticisms, and thinly veiled challenges to my leadership.
