Like Valteri would do.
For him, she’d condemned herself. Whatever her fate, she would face it with the same courage she’d learned from him. And regret nothing.
Not as long as he lived free.
But why wasn’t Belial or Thorn escorting her?
This didn’t make any sense.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked Raziel.
His eyes grim, Raziel pulled her from the room. “To a fate worse than death.”
Valteri sat in his chair, holding Cecile in his lap. She purred contentedly and he wished he could be so easily soothed. Once again, pain was all he knew and he had no hope of anything better.
Over and over, he saw his Ariel in all her beauty and kindness reaching out to him.
Why had she forced him back into his body?
Why couldn’t she have allowed him to die and be free from the misery of this life, once and for all?
“Valteri?”
He froze at the sound, his heart stilling. When he heard no more, he sighed. “Now I’m even hearing her voice.”
“Can you feel my touch?”
A hand brushed his cheek.
Valteri sprang from his chair and he swung around with a gasp. Cecile let out an indignant yowl as she fell from his lap and landed on the cold floor.
His heart pounding, Valteri blinked, unable to believe his sight. “Ariel?”
A smile curved her lips and she reached for him. “Aye.”
Seizing her in his arms, he held her tight. “Are you truly here?”
She laughed in his ear, the sound sending waves of joy through him. “Aye. My father returned me.”
“But how? Why?”
Her smile melted his heart. “Thorn. He not only convinced his father to release me, but he worked out a deal for Belial. Since I’d broken so many rules, the others didn’t know what to do with me and my defiant ways. It’s hard to be an Arel once you’ve been corrupted by human emotions. So, here I am.” She touched his cheek, and he marveled at the warmth of her flesh.
A sudden pain replaced his joy. “For how long?”
She sighed heavily. “Hard to say. The gods are cruel beasts.”
“What do you mean?”
“My father, bastard that he is, thought the worst punishment imaginable would be to tie my life to yours.” She smiled at him. “So take care, Valteri fitzJaden. You not only have my heart. You have my life in your hands, too.”
“And I will spend eternity making sure no one ever again threatens either.”
EPILOGUE
Ariel sat at banquet and held her daughter out toward hergodfather, the Dark-Hunter Acheron. Tall and lean, he had long dark hair and mercury eyes that swirled like a stormy sea.
The babe loved the Dark-Hunter leader. “Have you decided on a name yet?”
