“Let’s give them some space,” Silas said, offering Kirby and I gentle touches on our respective arms as he guided us away from whatever was about to occur. He steered us toward the atrium, Nia in tow. Azrames stayed behind to formally greet Duchess Vapula, while the witches settled into whatever they needed to call upon their deities.
The door that separated the atrium and the sanctuary had barely swung shut before I noticed Silas stiffen. The muscles between his shoulders tightened, back straightening slowly as he righted himself. Through gritted teeth, he turned to the three of us and said, “It appears we’re not alone.”
The hot, summer evening was windless. Maybe that was why it took me an extra second to sense the herbaceous, misty, evergreen scents of cypress and wet forest floors.
I would have recognized that smell anywhere.
My eyes widened. My heart soared. My face lit.
“He’s here?!”
***
Kirby and Nia responded to the panicked pivoting as I searched behind both of them, scouring the rubble for signs of Caliban. Their worry transformed into something else entirely, faces paling in unison, and I knew precisely why.
I sensed him before I saw him, spinning on my toes toward who I knew would be there.
The debris scraped beneath my feet as I turned. Marble-white hair, silver eyes, broad shoulders, and a black T-shirt stretching over a well-muscled back and chest awaited me. A hard, masculine mouth quirked into a question. We hadn’t spoken since I’d taken my stance in the metaphysical shop. While Azrames had stood guard, I’d said some hurtful things. And he…he’d said some perfect things.
“Thank you,” I breathed. Nothello. NotI miss you. NotI love you.
I’d intended to thank him for jumping to help Nia, but I knew he’d already accomplished so much more.
The peeling wallpaper, the crumpling building, the entire world melted around us.
“You’re hurt,” he breathed, sweeping my hand into his own. All that remained was a thin pink line where I’d injured myself.
“Angels were in the mirror,” I said. In this world, the nonsensical sentence was perfectly clear.
He took a protective step toward me. The room’s temperature dropped several degrees. He took my hand in his own, and I savored the touch. I knew I was meant to introduce him to my friends, but I couldn’t bring myself to speak.
Leave it to the angel to ruin my reverie.
“Your men?” Caliban asked. I knew he was speaking to Silas, even if he didn’t address him directly.
Silas sucked his teeth. “No. I have three days to let them know if I’m falling. Marlow has not been extended the courtesy of such a timeline, whether or not I’m here.”
Caliban ran his finger over my palm once more. “Interesting.”
Silas widened his stance, crossing his arms as he said, “Nia, Kirby, meet the demon Prince who’s ruined Marlow’s life.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you both,” he said, but he didn’t look away from me as the words left his mouth. They remained fixed wholly on me.
“For fuck’s sake, Caliban,” Silas grumbled, “we’re at war. Can you be civil long enough to say hello? Shouldn’t you still be indebted to me or something?”
Caliban looked up at long last, amused. The pale light filtering through the filthy windows gave his skin a slight pearly shimmer. “Sure,” Caliban said. “Call it in, Silas. See what happens.”
He hadn’t even bothered to turn toward Silas as he’d issued his challenge.
His fingers traced burning lines as he brushed the hair back from my face, sending prickles down my spine as he tucked it behind my ear.
The others didn’t know our history of favors and debts. They didn’t know that Caliban had paid Silas back tenfold. They couldn’t possibly know why things were tense, beyond the battle of angel versus demon. And yet, no one missed the poorly controlled flash of anger as Silas’s eyes darkened.
Caliban left a hand on my back as he moved toward my friends, taking Nia’s hand first, then Kirby’s, as he greeted them both as Azrames had done: with the respectful brush of lips over knuckles.
“I’m going to go…over here…” Kirby murmured.
Nia’s eyes flared as she nodded. “I’m going to…umm…maybe you two need… I’m going to give you two a moment.” The pair leaned mutely against the wall, staring off into the shell-shocked middle distance.
