Lore stopped dead. So quick?
Jehoel’s weapon skewered him straight through the chest.
The pain didn’t register. The seraph yanked his sword free. Blood flowed. Lore’s wound sealed a second later.
His expression must have changed, for Jehoel said, “Innocents are always caught in our unending war, Loráed. You know this. The Watchers broke a fundamental rule. Their descendants are rising, wielding powers that no human should possess.”
“These psionics live a safer life with their protectors,” he reiterated, bracing his sword on the snow-crusted ground. Niawas an innocent caught in the crossfire. She didn’t deserve to die merely for the nature of the blood pumping in her veins.
“Indeed.” Jehoel let his mammoth wings free, stirring the still air. “But not this human. She’s a liability. Finish it.”
The seraph and his sword vanished into the frigid air, the order ringing in the dawning daybreak like a death knell.
Chest heaving, Lore dismissed his weapon and raked back the loosened strands of his hair. Only the sounds of the restless river flowing past broke the morning quiet.
Aliability? What did Jehoel mean?
So, this wasn’t about Nia’s awakening powers?
Frowning, Lore scanned the abbey for her and found her in the kitchen. She stood near the table, eating the breakfast ordered from the café the previous day—the image in his mind so clear, it was as if he were there with her.
She sat on a chair and cradled her mug. Then she set it down and jerked up, sprinting outside to the front courtyard before hurrying to the back…
Looking for him?
An odd sensation gripped him at the thought.
He frowned, watching her climb the excavated steps up to the plateau, still searching. She stopped and reached up to the low-hanging clouds above and swirled a finger in the dense mist?—
A squeal emitted, likely at the iciness of the vapor, and she hastily tucked her hands under her armpits. For some reason, it made him smile, an emotion so alien that he stilled.
Exhaling deeply, he shook his head, but those tendrils of lightness lingered.
He expected her to leave the desolate plateau and return to safety. But she didn’t.
His smile faded as she trudged away from the steps, still looking around…heading toward the dangerous drop where hard layers of snow extended out, creating a false surface.
One misstep?—
No! His heart punched hard.Go back.
He took a step forward, but Chamuel’s orders anchored him in place. All he could do was watch as she drifted closer to the deadly drop...
Chapter
Eight
Lore wasn’ton the mountainous plateau either, and worry consumed her.
Where did he go?
Nia blew strands of hair away from her face, her warm breath turning white as it met the icy air. Her boots squished through the layer of snow as she trampled the wide expanse. She slowed to a halt some distance from the edge of the sheer drop.
As much as life sucked, and God knew hers did, she didn’t dare get any closer and accidentally slip to her death.
The cold stung her cheeks but did little to ease the new wave of heat pulsing through her, which seemed to settle in her core now.
Christ!That was all she needed to add to her torment.
