“Well, damn,” Nate muttered.
“Why didn’t he tell me?” she breathed.
Michael remained silent, guzzling more soda.
“Because not all angels survive the fall from grace when they step into whitefire,” Aethan explained. “He didn’t want you to feel him die if he didn’t make it.”
“He…he coulddie?” Dizziness and pain swamped her. She moaned as the floor tipped up?—
Someone scooped her up, crossed to the living room, and set her down on the couch. Nate.
Oh, Lore…New anguish surged. Tears welled.
“Nia?” Echo sat beside her. “The thing about a soul-joined bond is, if a bonded mate dies, then the other will pass soon after, too. Another reason why he broke it.”
“He would want you to have a life,” Aethan said, standing near the couch.
She sat there, tears falling…
Then anger erupted. “What does he know?”
She jumped up and paced the length of the couch, frustration and dread warring within her. “Doesn’t he get that he’s all I want? God! I could kill him myself for leaving me in the dark, making me believe he didn’t care!”
She scrubbed her hot face and spun to face Michael in the kitchen. “What are the statistics? The percentage of those who live through this fall?”
At Michael’s compassionate look, her stomach heaved. “Please, just tell me.”
“Fifty-fifty. The perilous whitefire affects each angel differently.”
His words flattened the air in her lungs. Nia shook her head, breathing harshly. Lore could die all alone, thinking she hated him.
“Take me to him.”
“I cannot.” Michael tossed the can into the disposal bin beneath the sink. “You won’t be allowed into the Celestial Realm.”
“I get that. I meant take me to where he would end up.”
Michael joined her in the living room. “It’s not that straightforward, Rania. He could awaken anywhere, in any realm.” His gaze softened a tad. “You have to be prepared. Most angels who survive their fall won’t be whole. Sometimes, they seek oblivion in the Dark Realm to numb their torment.”
Her stomach heaved. “Seek oblivion? How?”
A deep sigh. “Some join the demon lords, seeking violence. Others pursue sexual gratification. It depends on what draws them.”
She glared at Michael while her heart broke further. “It doesn’t matter, not when he gave up everything for me. Please, tell me what I must do?”
“Wait.”
God!She shut her eyes.
“Aethan?” Echo’s voice broke the tense silence. “Your mother was a seraph when she fell. How did she survive this?”
Nia’s gaze snapped to his, not daring to breathe.
His sympathetic stare met Nia’s briefly. “The difference is my sire could go through realms to catch her as she fell since he could track her through their mate bond. One he refused to break. And yes, he likely felt everything she endured.”
And Lore had broken theirs. For her.
Lore stood at the top of Zenith, the highest mountain on the fringes of the Celestial Realm.
