Page 10 of Trick Of Light

“We have to track her down and kill her,” Raphael told him. “I can find her now that I know she’s alive.”

Ryan nodded. “We have to determine who will help you.”

“What else have you discovered?” I asked Jael. “Who else has been afflicted?”

“You know,” Raphael interrupted, crossing the room to Julian and Ryan and sinking down in front of them, “in Limbo, all curses conjured on the mortal plane are nullified.”

Ryan lifted his head and took a shuddering breath. “I don’t understand.”

“It would be hard for Julian,” Raphael said, his eyes flicking to the midnight-blue eyes of Ryan’s hearth. “The climate is harsh, the creatures too—the demons and wraiths and others—but the disease wouldn’t progress because it’s magical and not physical.”

Ryan grabbed his shoulder hard, nodding, smiling through his tears. “Thank you. Yes, I knew that. I just… I knew that.”

“Well, then”—Julian smiled wide—“I guess I better take some medical leave and get out my camping stuff.”

“There is another option,” Raphael apprised them as I joined him, putting my hand on the small of his back when he stood up.

Ryan was staring at him. “Tell me.”

Raphael seemed hesitant for a moment, like he was thinking better of whatever he was going to say, but then he cleared his throat. “Anahel, the angel of the third heaven, is in my debt. His villa is… It would be an honor for him to host a warder and his hearth.”

“I don’t understand—third heaven?” Julian questioned him.

“I never got this either,” Ryan told him. “I hated all the lore we had to read along with learning how to fight. But this, the angel stuff, was the worst. Third heaven, sixth heaven, what even is that?”

Raphael was squinting at him.

“I’d like to hear as well,” Marcus admitted, looking at my mate.

“I, of course, know all the histories,” Jael chimed in. “But it’s abstract at best. If you could better explain, I would love to hear.”

Raphael glanced at me.

“Explain the universe to us,” I teased Raphael, and he scowled at me. “Oh, c’mon,” I whispered, bumping him with my shoulder.

He exhaled sharply. “So, heaven is vast. It’s a plane, just as hell is, but in hell, each area or place has its own name—Purgatory, Limbo, Gehenna, Kur, Irkalla, and so on.”

No one said a word, all of us listening.

“In contrast, heaven is split into numbered provinces—sixth heaven, twelfth heaven—each protected by a member of the Seraphim. It is infinite, as is hell.” He waited a moment, letting us take in the information. Once he was certain we were following, he continued. “In each heaven, under its Seraphim, are the Thrones.”

“But between Seraphim and Thrones are Cherubim,” Dylan spoke up. “I think you forgot about them.”

Everyone looked at him.

“What? You have to read the Bible when you take philosophy and history classes in college to know what all the references are about.”

Joe chuckled. “Yes, you do,” he agreed. “What about the Cherubim, Raph?”

“Cherubim form the army of the individual Seraphim. They’re quartered in each heaven, they have a commanding officer, and are there for the protection of that particular realm.”

“Okay, this is making more sense,” Julian told Raphael. “A hierarchy makes sense, and so does a standing army.”

Raphael smiled at him. “So each heaven is inhabited by…” He thought a moment. “I dunno, souls? People? Whatever you want to call them. Citizens is the word I use, but basically, when they have an issue or a complaint, they take their problems to the Thrones. They’re the ones doing the day-to-day ruling.”

“Basically the Thrones deal with people issues, domestic issues, and the Cherubim deal with threats that are more military, like, I’m assuming, since it’s heaven, demons or something,” I summed up. “Yes?”

“Yes,” Raphael agreed, grinning at me. “And if there’s an issue that escalates on either side, that’s when the Seraphim, the angel who oversees and rules that heaven, steps in.”