Ariel bit her lip. He would lose his mind at the truth. She could only imagine the rage.
Provided he ever accepted the truth.
Even now, anger sizzled in his gaze, scorching her with its intensity. His jaw twitched. “What vexes you, milady? Tell me.”
In his mismatched eyes she saw his fear that she’d rejected him.
She couldn’t allow him to believe she’d spurned him when he was her very life.
Don’t do it.
Keep silent.
She knew not to say anything and yet before she could stop herself, the truth tumbled from her lips: “I’m an Arel, Valteri.”
He scowled at her. “A what?”
Groaning in exasperation, she struggled to find the right words to make him understand. “There are powers here that I know you don’t want to believe in. That you’ve refused to acknowledge. But they’re real and a war is raging that has nothing to do with your brother, William. I’m a part of that fight. A warrior, just like you.”
His scowl matched her own. “How so?”
Ariel didn’t even know where to begin. If she had her powers, she could show him and that would make this so much easier. And with that, she realized that she still had parts of her memory missing.
Parts she didn’t quite understand.
But one thing she did know.…
“I swear to you that I’m speaking the truth. I was born from the powers of light, and the darkest powers have brought us together in an attempt to weaken my father and take you captive.”
Valteri looked away, his heart strangely blank. It was as if his body didn’t know how to react to her words and so decided to feel nothing.
“Well… my luck still holds, eh? I finally found a wife and it turned out she’s insane.”
She glared at him. “I’m not deranged! I know you don’t believe me, but you must!”
Valteri just stared at her. Not even the urge to curse came to him. Maybe he’d already died of his wounds.
Surely that alone could explain this strange surreal defeat that echoed through his body, whispering through his soul.
“Very well, milady. You’re an angel. Where are your wings?”
Ariel cringed at his question. “I said I was an Arel.” But a vicious side of her really wanted her wings to sprout out and make him eat those words. “In my true form, I actually do have wings. However, I was cursed to be human, and so it seems that my ability to spring them out has been taken from me.”
“What of your brothers?” His gaze darkened. “Are they Arels, too?”
Ariel bit her lip. How in the name of anything holy did she begin to answer that loaded question?
“The plural’s ‘Arelim.’ And they’re not exactly my brothers.”
He arched a brow. “How so?”
Ariel shifted her grip on the cover she held. How could she even begin to explain this one? “Well, Thorn and Shadow are sort of like my brothers. Though they’re not very well trusted among my kind. Thorn more so than Shadow. In fact, he has a lot in common with you, on that point.”
“And Belial?”
Ariel hesitated as she feared Valteri’s reaction.
But lying just wasn’t in her nature. It never had been.
