He reached over and held out a glass of water with a straw.
I sipped and nodded when I’d had enough.
He stood then and started to pace. At first, I was struck by the pure relief that showed on his face, and then, somewhere between trying to remember what he’d said as I woke up and seeing that his expression was morphing into something decidedly more furious, I began to sit up, moving into a more defensive position.
Right on cue, Lincoln spun toward me, one hand up in helpless confusion. “What the hell did you think you were doing? You were half dead when we found you!”
He really has developed a hot temper.
I rolled my eyes. “I’m fine.”
“You are not damn well fine. I’ve spent the past twenty hours in here trying to heal you and you’re still black and blue.”
I grimaced, wondering just how banged up I looked. But then his words registered. Twenty hours? Wait. “You…you healed me?”
“Of course I healed you,” he said, his irritation growing.
I could feel it now, his power, his self running through me, fixing me. It was wonderful in the worst possible way.
“I wish you hadn’t done that,” I mumbled.
“Why?” he asked, his anger giving way to sadness. “Do you want to die?”
“No. But we’re not partners anymore. You shouldn’t have…”
Lincoln laughed sardonically. “God, you are so twisted, it’s not funny.”
He’s not wrong.
“I never said any of this was funny.” It was then that I noticed I was wearing a gown instead of my clothes. I blushed, looking away from Lincoln. Had he undressed me?
The door opened and Gray walked in, smiling when he saw me awake. “On the mend, then?”
I nodded and then sent him a sharp look. “Did you let him heal me?”
Gray scratched the back of his head. “Well, I didn’t bloody well stop him if that’s what you’re asking. I suspect a herd of elephants would’ve had more luck at that. The man can be quite insistent when he wants to be. No one was allowed within ten bloody feet of you,” he said, his British accent thickening.
I continued to glare at him.
His eyebrows went up. “I’m flippin’ serious! There’s a doctor out there with a badly broken nose to prove it. And anyway, I figured you’d want to be up and about to get on with saving your friend, and for that, you really are going to need to be vertical.” He smiled mischievously. “Though to be frank, I won’t deny that there is one horizontal activity I think you’d highly benefit from.”
My mouth dropped open in shock. I didn’t miss Lincoln’s smirk from his position at the end of my bed.
Gray broke into full belly laughter. “I see my work here is done. Should I let the troops know we’ll be pushing ahead?”
“Of course,” I said just as Lincoln said, “No. She needs more rest.”
I glared again, giving equal attention to Gray and Lincoln.
Gray backed toward the door. “Sorry, mate,” he said to Lincoln. “But now that she’s awake, well, let’s just say, I know what she’s capable of when she’s pissed off.” He ducked out the door, and as he did, I spied my clothes folded neatly on the armchair.
Lincoln held the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes.
Is he counting?
“Is Rainer okay?” I asked.
He nodded. “She’s back, Violet.”
He wasn’t talking about Rainer. Nyla was back. It had worked.
“It might take her a little longer to wake up than it did me since she was gone for so long, but her brain activity has returned and Rainer says she felt the transfer work. You brought her back.”
I let out a deep breath. “I hope it was the right thing to do. You should…call Griffin. He’ll want to know.”
“Steph’s already spoken to him. He’s preparing to come over and should arrive in the next day or so. He said to tell you it was about time you got back in the game.” He cleared his throat. “And…that you did good.”
Tears stung my eyes, but I held them back. I’d woken up crying—a display I wasn’t about to repeat.
I pushed myself up farther, spending a little time on healing the worst of my injuries. I’d patch myself up properly later. “Can you pass me my clothes?” I asked, pointing to the folded stack.
Lincoln handed them to me and I pulled my jeans on beneath the sheets. I settled for just my T-shirt when I saw the state of my sweater. I was sure Steph would lend me something else. “Turn around,” I said.
Lincoln did as I asked while I stripped off the hospital gown and threw on my top. By the time he turned around, I was pulling on my boots.
“What happened at yesterday’s meeting?” I asked, worried I missed the arrangements.
“It was rescheduled for today. They should be heading to the hall now, in fact.”
I stood up, trying to hide the shaking in my legs. “Well, we’d better get going, then. They can’t assemble our team unless we’re there, right?”
Lincoln huffed, clearly not finished with this conversation—or lecture. I ignored him and walked carefully to the door, unable to hide a few sharp winces.
“You know I could help with that,” he said from behind me, his voice suddenly low.
I froze, knowing exactly what he meant. When we connected, our healing powers were much stronger, but it was always confronting, sharing our emotional as well as our physical abilities.
I shook my head. “I’d prefer not.”
I am a pathetic liar.
“Hmm,” he said, brushing against my side before opening the door for me. “We’ll see.”
When I passed him to go through the doorway, he grabbed my wrist, holding it tight. “Next time you decide to do something so reckless, at least tell someone you might be on your way to die. You know, just so we can find you,” he said, unable to disguise the bitterness in his tone.
I licked my lips. “Sure. Next time I’ll do that,” I snapped, trying to pull my arm from his grip.
“Be sure you do. Maybe then it won’t be so hard to tell you that what you did was just damn amazing.”
My breath caught. I stared as Lincoln simply dropped my wrist and stormed ahead toward the hall.
Only when I heard the chuckling did I notice Steph standing in front of me.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
She shook her head. “You two. You’re just so…annoying.” She laughed again.
“We can’t seem to stop yelling at each other.”
“Maybe you should try doing something that doesn’t involve talking,” she said with a wink.
I looked to the ceiling. “Please. Not you too. Come on, we’d better get to that meeting before Lincoln has another reason to yell at me.”
She snorted. “You have some housekeeping to take care of first.”
I looked at her, confused. “Such as?”
“Such as where Phoenix is going to be staying.”
“Steph, Phoenix is an angel. As in incorporeal.”
She rolled her eyes and pointed behind me. “Well, Vi, honey, you might want to explain that, then.”
My heart skipped a beat and my breathing practically stopped completely as I turned slowly on my heel to see Phoenix, in the flesh, sitting on one of the waiting-room chairs with his elbows on his knees and his head slumped forward, looking at the ground.
“What. The. Hell?” I breathed.
“If that were our only question, it would be easy. He hasn’t said much, but according to Rainer, you weren’t going to make it. So Mr. Self-Sacrifice here brought you back.”
“He…he…”
Steph placed a supporting hand on my shoulder. “He exiled, Vi. For you.”
“But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you!”
Revelations 12:12
“Of course he did,” I mumbled, feeling closer than ever to losing my mind. “Of course he did,” I repeated, delirious.
How can this all be happening?
My crazy laugh caused Phoenix to look up. He was tired and, for the first time since we’d met, he looked unsure.
Steph murmured, “I’ll let them know you’re on the way,” as she left.
I sighed as I sat down next to him. “Tell me this wasn’t for me,” I said softly.
His lips twitched before he looked back down to his feet. “This wasn’t for you.”
“They won’t let you go back again,” I said.
He nodded. We both knew it was true.
“What are you going to do?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I have no idea.”
I closed my eyes. Once again, everything was completely out of control and it all seemed to be because of me. I should have thought it through more before racing ahead to save Nyla.
What have I done?
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“Don’t be,” he said. “You and I know it was only a matter of time.”
I blinked. “I realized you weren’t happy, but I don’t think either one of us knew you were going to do this.”
He shrugged again. “There’s no perfect place for me. At least as an exile, I have choices. There was a time when I believed being an angel was who I was.” He looked at me briefly before dropping his eyes again. “I’ve changed.”
Haven’t we all.
I rubbed my face, tired too. But I knew I had to say it. “Phoenix, I can’t…you know that I…”
He leaned back, looking ahead blankly. “That you love Lincoln?”
I flinched. “It’s not that. I just can’t be with anyone.”
He half smiled. “Because you love Lincoln.”
“I’m not the girl you first met. And with all the history between us…I don’t know how we handle this.”
His smile widened. “Is that your way of saying you don’t want to be my BFF?”
He’d caught me by surprise, and I pursed my lips to hold back my smile, but it came anyway.
With that, Phoenix stood up and put his hand out for me. “Don’t worry. I’m not planning a repeat of history. I don’t think the world would survive.”
“That’s probably true,” I said, deadpan, but as we walked up the stairs toward the hall, I chewed my lower lip.
Phoenix reached out and gently touched his thumb to my chin. “It’ll be okay. How about we just concentrate on getting your friend back and this problem solved? Then we’ll get drunk and work out what to do with the rest of my eternity.”
I smiled. “Okay,” I said, realizing that I was glad he was here to help. “So they actually let you in here?”
“I do have an arsenal of persuasive skills,” he said with his more familiar cocky smile. “And I did return with a few of their valued possessions, so, for now, no one has tried to kill me.”
“Has Lincoln seen you?” I asked hesitantly.
“We shared a moment. Grunts were exchanged.”
When I just stared at him, he sighed. “Violet, he doesn’t like me. He never will. The feeling is entirely mutual. But we have an understanding, and since I returned you, it bought me some time before he insists that I beat him into the ground.”
I rolled my eyes. “If anyone is beating up either one of you, it will be me,” I said, stopping again outside the doors to the hall, breathing deeply as I redirected my concentration. Phoenix chuckled beside me.
“You know,” he said, “I know what you’re doing, and you’re not helping yourself like you think you are.”
I glanced up at him as soon as I had my emotions under control and muted. I knew my eyes were cold and hard, but I was fine with that. “Thank you for saving me. What you did was…incredible. But I’m warning you, don’t interfere with this stuff, Phoenix. I mean it.”
“I know you do,” he said, shaking his head and holding the door open for me. “But that doesn’t make you right,” he added as I walked past him.
The hall was already full. The Assembly was in their places—although I noticed that in addition to Seth’s and Decima’s vacant seats, both Rainer and Wilhelm were also absent. I could feel Drenson’s eyes on me as I walked toward the front of the room, where Steph was waiting for me. As I moved, I noticed a couple of Grigori drop their heads as I passed.
Zoe and Salvatore were beside Steph, and when I reached them, they pulled me into tight embraces.
“Thank you, Vi,” Zoe said, her voice thick with emotion that I heard but, fortunately, did not have to feel. “Nyla is the closest thing I have to family. Thank you so much.”
I nodded and moved away from them with a small smile. Phoenix had taken up position just behind me, next to Gray.
“When you are ready, Violet,” Drenson said, sounding distinctly irritated. “May I remind you that there are many people in this room who have more pressing issues to deal with than your reunion with friends.”
I decided not to bother with a response. Instead, I stood and stared at the man who, I was realizing more and more, was not a nice person and was a terrible leader.
Satisfied he’d belittled me, Drenson redirected his attention toward Phoenix. “He must be removed. This is Grigori business and he is an exile who has already launched one attack on this building.”
Lincoln stepped forward from the other side of the room. “He is an angel who fell to save a Grigori life. You call him an exile, but what exile has ever done such a thing? We owe him a debt of gratitude, and he has also offered to help us find Spence. I’ve asked him to come with us.”
Drenson’s face bloomed red and his jaw clenched. He flinched when Josephine placed a hand on his shoulder. She didn’t speak, but her touch seemed to be enough. He turned away from Lincoln and moved his shoulder to shrug off Josephine’s hand.
“As I was saying,” he went on, as if the previous exchange had not happened, “we have received reports from Grigori in Mexico, Texas, and Georgia who have all witnessed dramatically increased exile activity in the past two days. It seems these recent battleground wars between light and dark have developed into a kind of traveling tournament. One of the humans working for the exiles was captured in Florida last night and our Grigori managed to extract Sammael’s name from her, confirming that he is behind the tournaments, before she…” He trailed off.
Before she killed herself.
My eyes were on Josephine, who, at the mention of Sammael, had paled.
I glanced at Steph, who looked deep in thought.
Drenson put his hands up to stop the murmured speculation that had already begun. “There are many stories about Sammael and his terrible deeds, but he, like every other exile, now wears a human body. He is in our world and we will stop him. We can safely assume at this stage that Sammael is holding Spencer captive, and since there is a chance Spencer is also holding intel we could use, our primary objective is to recover him. Lincoln and”—he cleared his throat—“our visitor, Violet, will run the task force. Some of you will be put on standby: others will be sent to neighboring cities to collect further intel and work with local Grigori on containing the human element we are now dealing with. Questions?” He returned to his seat, and something about the arrogant look on his face put me on alert.
“Yeah,” called someone from the back. “Since when are we letting a Rogue lead us?”
Drenson cast a smug look in my direction.
Oh, hell.
Josephine surprised me by standing up. “Because the Rogue is the best equipped to get this job done.”
“Is it true she can cross into the angel realm anytime she wants?” another voice called out.
“Is that how she brought Nyla back?” a girl asked from the upper level.
“How can we trust her when she doesn’t even want to be one of us?”
“She has no code!”
“She abandoned her own partner!”
That one hurt.
I stepped forward, unwilling to let this go any further, and faced the crowd, relieved that I had my emotions in check. “I don’t answer to the Assembly or the Academy. That is a choice I was free to make. And I had my reasons. I fought with you all against Lilith’s exiles. I fought until I almost died. I fought with you after the Assembly rejected me and told me I was not good enough. You’re all free to make your own choices as I have done, and after this is finished, you will never have to see me again, but Spence is one of my people. I don’t care who I have to take down on my way—I will get him out. That is the reason your Assembly found me unworthy of being one of you. And I’m A-OK with that because I don’t intend on changing. So if you have a problem with me, or think you are better suited for the job, take your shot now. I’ve got a few minutes to spare between people trying to kill me, but make sure you have your partner on standby ready to heal you, because I don’t have enough time to be careful.”
I stood tall and looked back to see Phoenix’s amused grin. Gray was beside him, looking resigned, hanging his head. Clearly he didn’t think I’d done as well as I’d thought.
And, clearly, he was right, since half a dozen Grigori walked toward the sparring area ready to fight. I shrugged, not missing Drenson’s self-satisfied smirk or Josephine’s irritation.
Petty politics.
The five men and one woman who’d stepped up to fight were all well-established warriors. They all fought hard. But my emotions were shut off and the constant judgment was only making me restless.
Lincoln had moved closer to the sparring area, but he kept his distance, watching silently, and I was relieved that he didn’t attempt to control the situation. These Grigori needed this. One by one I took them down, trying, despite my earlier warning, not to hurt any of them too badly. It was a purely selfish decision. I still had no idea what we would face in New Orleans and figured it was best to keep all fighters capable of performing their duties.
Just as I turned around to the now-quiet Grigori, I let in enough emotion to feel pretty damn good about myself…then my eyes fixed on a woman standing by the doors. My internal congratulations came to a sudden halt.
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