My father held up his hand, and Ramiel fellsilent.
“I understand your concerns. I will bring them to the other Archangels when I return toCelestia.”
Silence punctuated thealley.
“Thank you, sir,” Ramielsaid.
“Now,” my father said, scanning his eyes across our group. “You shouldn’t be in this realm. However, getting you back isn’t as straightforward as it might seem. Come with me. I’ll take you to a safe house where we’ll make our plan. The portal is about five blocks away, but there’s an army of demons between here andthere.”
“An army?” Lizzie asked. “How big of anarmy?”
My father pressed his lips together into a thin line. “There are hundreds ofthem.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Erela
My father took the lead.He ushered our group through the alleys of the demon city, the sharp peaks of the buildings looming high above us. We kept quiet. The threat of being discovered by the nearby army had settled in on the group, a cloud of worry hanging over all of us. Ramiel fell into step beside me, occasionally shooting worried glances my way and then ahead at my father. I could hear the silent question on his tongue. Was Iokay?
The truth was, I had no idea if I was okay. I’d waited so long and I’d had so many questions I wanted to ask him, and yet I barely had a moment to voice them aloud before he shut down the conversation. And now, I knew what would happen next. We would be busy in the safe house making plans, and the next thing I knew I would be ushered right back through the portal and away from him. He wouldn’t follow. I knew it deep within mygut.
And then I might never see himagain.
It wasn’t fair. But I didn’t know what I could do to changethings.
Besides, I had gotten a few answers to some of my questions. He had known I’d been sent to Lower Realm, after all. And he knew it had been because of Asmodeus. He’d known where I was, with the Order of the Fallen, and he had done absolutely nothing to get me back home. He hadn’t even made an attempt to enter Lower Realm to make sure I was okay. I knew the rules. I knew that angels were not supposed to go down to the human earth, but I also knew that angels weren’t supposed to go to hell either. And yet here he was, cavorting around with the secret spy demon. Not to mention the fact that he must have come here before. Otherwise, I wouldn’t exist. So, I knew he broke the rules. I knew he traveled between realms whenever he wanted. Somehow, he was above the magic that controlled everyoneelse.
And yet he had not come to saveme.
No matter what he said, no matter what excuse he gave, I couldn’t forgive that. So yeah. I hoped he would send me straight back to Lower Realm without so much as a goodbye, because I wasn’t entirely sure I needed that from him anymore. He’d doneenough.
“Erela,” Ramiel whispered so low that I almost didn’t hear him. “I’m not entirely sure we should go with yourfather.”
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Ramiel, as much as I cared for him, had chosen the wrong time to try to have this discussion with me. I was getting sick and tired of males keeping secrets fromme.
“Why? Are you afraid that he might compete with you on who’s the biggest secret keeper?” I didn’t even attempt to keep the sarcasm out of myvoice.
“Erela.” Ramiel’s voice waspained.
I stopped suddenly and whirled toward him with an eyebrow raised. “What? I know you think you were just trying to protect me, but what you did was wrong. It is not much different than what he did.” I jerked my thumb toward my father who was still scurrying ahead, not realizing that I’d stopped and that everyone else had stopped aroundme.
“I was going to tell you,” he said, the volume of his voice rising, despite the fact that he was desperately trying to keep it low. “I don’t think you understand how terrifying it is to find a prophecy in a book about someone you love. A prophecy with her name attached, saying that she will die. Because ofme. You have to understand that’s what all of this is about, Erela. That prophecy said that you will die. Because of me. Because of Sam. Because of Az. I know it could be about any of us, but I also know how I feel about you. My love could get you killed. And that’s terrifying. It’s far more horrifying than any demon I’ve ever faced. More terrifying than a hundred Hydras combined. I don’t know what I would do if you died. It would tear out a piece of my soul, a chunk so large that I don’t know how I would goon.”
My mouth fell open, my heart hammered hard in my chest. All I could do was stand there in the demonic alley, gazing up at the serious, cold, closed-off fallen angel who never wanted anyone to see his emotions. And yet he’d spilled out his guts, leaving them spread out on the grimy pavement between us. Tears sprang into my eyes, and the hardness around my heart began to thaw. How could I stay angry with him after that? How could I hate him for doing something that he thought wasright?
I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around his neck, burying my face in his chest. He smelled like Ramiel, like sweat and dust andsteel.
“Get away from her,” a hard, steely voice rang out from behind us. I pulled back to see my father glaring at us, his body radiating with anger. “I know one of you is the reason that my daughter fell, but I will not have you behaving this way in my presence. And especially not here out in the open in the demonic realm. Are you an idiot? All of you? Andyou.” He turned toward Lilith and flicked a finger between her and Rourke. “Do you not understand what Lucifer will do to you if he discovers that you are sleeping with ahuman?”
“Oh, I think she understands,” Az said, his own voice turning to steel as he stepped up close to my father. They were the same height, and even though Az did not glow with power like my father did, he looked just as intimidating, just as fierce. Maybe even more so. “And I imagine it’s very similar to what you and the other Archangels did to my family. What?” He sneered when my father raised his eyebrow in confusion. “That’s right. I’m a Malak. Gabriel and the others killed myfamily.”
My father’s nostrils flared. “I was not a part ofthat.”
“You’re an Archangel. You knew it was happening, even if you did not take part. You didnothingto stopit.”
The sound of rushing footsteps caused a sudden end to the confrontation. We all whirled toward the noise. It sounded as if there were dozens of them, heading straight for us. My father’s entire body stiffened, and he ground his teethtogether.
“The army I told you about,” he said, his voice dripping with disdain. “Perhaps if you hadn’t decided to have a loud conversation in the middle of the streets near their army, they wouldn’t be heading straight towardus.”
