I did not understand a word he was saying. “Where are you? Who is this asshole?”
“The asshole is an archangel.” Reve let out a long sigh. He sounded exhausted. “What are you doing on Earth? How did you get here?”
Raphael looked at the ceiling in frustration. “I told you. Ollie’s feathers.”
“But the only place he would have lost them…” Reve sucked in a sharp breath. “Samara, what were you doing in the dungeon?”
I bit my lip.
Don’t cry. Don’t cry.
Tears spilled onto my cheeks despite my efforts to stop them. “Everything is fucked up. A whole demon village is missing, a council member is missing, vacants are acting crazy, and the entire council minus Val voted to make me pay for you deserting the crown.”
“Fuck.” I could picture him running a hand down his face. “I’ll come back there with you.”
“And you’ll retake the throne?” I couldn’t keep the hope out of my voice. If he did, then all of this would be over.
“No.” Reve’s refusal landed hard, and something in me went cold.
“You can’t be serious. You have to fix this.” I wanted toscream at him and tell him Inferna was in this messbecauseof him, but that wasn’t fair. If he’d been strong enough on his own to overthrow Lilith, he would have.
“Sammy, I renounced the crown. There’s no coming back from that. It changes the alpha magic.” Reve’s sigh crackled through the little box. “And besides that, I’ve been on Earth for too long, and my magic is weak by Inferna standards now. I’m not... I’m not the alpha anymore.”
I opened my mouth to ask what the hell that meant—because that phrase made absolutely zero sense to me—but Raphael cut in.
“I’ll go to Inferna with her.”
I turned to stare at the archangel. “You’ll what?”
Raphael’s jaw was set, and determination flickered across his face. “I’ll protect you from having your head put on a spike.”
“Raph—” Reve started.
“Don’t ‘Raph’ me.” Raphael pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’re not exactly in a position to stop me, demon.”
My hand drifted to the feather tucked in my pocket. “I don’t need your protection. I have plenty of it already.”
“Oh, and where is this protection you speak of?” He glanced at the knife on the floor. “If it comes down to it, I can get you to Earth faster than your stash of feathers can.”
Was I supposed to trust this angel who had threatened me in a bathroom? “Reve, I don’t know if I feel safe with this guy.”
“Raphael’s a bit of an asshole, but…” Raphael loudly cleared his throat, cutting Reve off. “It will be fine, Sammy. He is battle-trained and a healer.”
I looked Raphael up and down, scrunching my nose when my eyes landed on his feet. “He doesn’t even have boots on. What arethose?”
“They’re flip-flops. We’ll get you a pair.” Raphael smirked, and I had the urge to punch him.
If this man was going to help me with anything, it would be harnessing all of my inner rage and turning it into violence.
Reve cleared his throat. “Go to Raymond. He’ll be able to help more than I can at this point. I’m surprised he?—”
Someone knocked on the door.
“Reve, we need to go before they call the police.” Raphael pressed a red button. “Grab your knife.”
“Reve?” I looked skeptically at the cell phone as Raphael moved it into his pocket. “I love you!”
Raphael picked up my knife from the floor and examined it, turning it over in his hand. He held it out to me. “You can’t go around threatening people with weapons here. This isn’t Inferna. You’ll get yourself arrested.”
