Michael sighed and rested his forearms among the scrolls on his desk. “Because the angels wanted the Curantii back in the Celestial Realm?—”
“The fuck they did!” Aethan slammed his palms down on the desk, causing the scrolls to jump.
Michael didn’t move, impassive in the face of Aethan’s fury.
“Those bastards let my mate suffer because they wanted her? I will slaughter them all—” Aethan went motionless, his expression turning lethal. “Tell me you knew nothing of this, Michael.”
The archangel rose from his chair. “I didn’t…until two years ago after you resurrected Eshana.”
In a blur, Aethan moved, punching Michael in the face. He pitched back a step, didn’t defend himself. Lore watched, arms folded. No rescue from him either.
“You fucking assholes left her alone to endure a torture no child should ever face,” Aethan snarled as Michael rubbed his jaw.
“Aethan, don’t,” Echo whispered, wrapping her arms around her middle.
Nia stood there, utterly helpless, with no idea what was happening between Aethan and her twin. She asked, “Who’s Eshana?”
“Me,” Echo said with a wan smile. “I took the name Echo when I lived on the streets, trying to escape my foster parents.”
“What?” Nia gasped. She might have grown up in a cold, unloving environment, but at least she’d been safe.
“That was her life,” Aethan growled. “Four years old, and she was left all alone to endure terror, pain, and torture!” He pivoted to Lore, looking as if he would kill him. “Did you know about this?”
Lore shook his head. “I didn’t know until Nia’s glamour wore off.”
“And you didn’t tell me?” Her gaze sought Lore’s, her hurt expanding. “All this time we’ve been together, and you didn’tsay a word. You knew how I felt. Knew about everything that happened to me.”
“At first, I couldn’t, Nia?—”
“Oh, right. Your loyalties were to the seraphs,” she shot back, and his jaw tightened. She hardened her expression, unable to forgive him for keepingthisfrom her. He knew how much she longed to find her family, how alone she’d been. Always unwanted.
“Partly. But I didn’t say anything because you were already hurting from your grandmother’s death,” Lore said, his stare boring into hers. So handsome…so remote. “There was never a right time. Too much happened too fast.”
“Right. When one of your pals abducted me?—”
“They are no friends of mine, you know this.”
“They wanted me dead, thinking I was super-powerful!” she cried.
“What?” Echo frowned at Lore, her gaze bouncing back to Nia, her bicolored eyes filled with questions. Nia just shook her head, unable to control her reeling emotions.
“What do you mean?” Aethan asked.
Nia laughed, but it held no humor. “I mean, they wanted me dead, but it had to be of ‘natural causes.’” She air-quoted the words. “So, some angel tied me to a tree in the ruins of a snake-infested forest. They wanted to make it look like I’d taken off after my grandmother’s funeral because I was upset, got lost in the Himalayas, and died from snake bites. You know, because that’s what us humans do when upset.”
“The jerk,” Echo snapped. “And you didn’t help her?” She glowered at Lore, hands clenched.
“He did,” Nia said quickly. As mad as she was with Lore, she didn’t want anyone else to think he was like those other horrid angels. “He saved me.”
Lore’s stare remained on her, but something moved in those metallic green depths, powerful and intense, before blanking out. “Michael, she’s safe and in your care,” he said.
Nia froze.He was leaving?
“Now your job is done, you can leave, free from your burden?” Despair swamped her that she was so easily dumped aside. The brief moment when she thought he wanted her had been just another whimsy. “I guess I should thank you for not following through with your order to kill me.”
“What?” Echo gasped, face paling.
“It seems I’m too dangerous to live,” Nia said bitterly. “But since Michael also asked him to protect me, guess he was in a fix.”
