He was always on the other side, taking the angels who wanted to fall to this place and giving them a last chance to change their minds. If they did, their memories of whoever orwhatever had caused their desire to fall were wiped clean before they were bound to the Celestial Realm for millennia as penance.
Now, here he was in his final moments as a Heavenly being, awaiting to take the ultimate leap and leave all this behind—a leap to be with the woman who’d stolen his heart… Or to his death.
His mind resolute, with a thought, his attire changed to all black, the color he wore with Nia. He stilled, recalling the surreal moment of his discovery by the Arcane River.
Love.
He loved her. Deeply.
He rubbed his chest, missing her warmth, her light, her sharp tongue, and her contagious smile. Most of all, he missed her. She was all that kept him going, even while the ache, the absence of their bond, as short as it had been, flayed him like a never-ending sword thrusting into his heart.
If he didn’t survive this, then she would have a chance to find happiness without him. But if he did, he had his work cut out for him—Nia would not easily let him in again. He didn’t care as long as he was with her. He would spend the rest of his life making it up to her.
First, he had to survive the fall.
Jehoel appeared in a flurry of robes and a flutter of his many wings. When Chamuel said he’d oversee Lore’s fall, he expected a Throne to do the last walk with him, but here was Jehoel.
To say goodbye?
No…something didn’t feel right about this.
“There is still time to change your mind, Loráed.”
Lore slid his hands into his pants pockets, his own wings rustling out behind him. Whatever this dark feeling was, he shut it out.
“You should know me well enough, Jehoel. When I make up my mind, there is no changing it.”
“It is a sad moment, indeed.” A deep sigh. Then, he nodded. “So be it.” The seraph lifted his hands and waved them in an intricate weave, causing the air in front of him to part, revealing a dark, swirling gateway.
“It will be as it should.” He patted Lore on the back.
Lore frowned at the strange words. But he didn’t care about their meaning. He was leaving. He pulled off his tunic and tossed it aside.
With a deep breath, he stepped through and fell.
Like a plummeting star, he plunged into unending darkness, falling down, down, and down…then the immense heat hit him like an inferno.
Instinctively, he used his wings to repel the blaze, but his appendages caught fire. A groan tore free. Flames crackled, spreading across his body, yet his skin remained untouched. The acrid odor of burning feathers consumed him. His powers battered his entire being, seeking release. Heavens! He gritted his teeth.
Have to hold on…come out alive…
Unadulterated agony engulfed him as molten heat incinerated every inch of his body, burning away his divinity.
There was nothing he could do, suspended in the roar of whitefire. His body bowed backward, his wings erupting in an explosion of feathers and bones. Crimson embers falling?—
“Father!” An agonized cry tore free from the depths of his very soul, echoing through the universe as he hurtled through the darkness again, through glittering realms…
A star dying.
Chapter
Thirty
Endless anguish consumedLore as he sped through the darkness, so sure his entire mind had fractured. A fuzzy white tip jutting through the cloud cover fast approached in the never-ending night.
Unable to slow down, he crash-landed onto a snow-covered granite plateau. He lay there, face buried in an icy pile, trapped in his own hell.
A tormented groan escaped him. Warm wetness flowed from his sides, seeping into the snow, turning it brilliant red.
