The dead expression on Milo’s face chilled her, but she knew he recognized them.
“I was wondering when they’d show up.” Milo’s eyes darkened like tiny storms.
“Really? I was hoping to never see them again.”
“Horizon isn’t big enough to harbor these monsters.” Milo’s eyes never left the two tall archangels. Alexa opened her mouth to ask more about them just as the beasts turned their heads in unison, as though they’d heard Alexa and Milo talking about them. The archangels watched him for only a moment before glancing away, and they were too far away for Alexa to make out any of it.
“Makes you wonder why they decided to let their presence be known now and not before?” Alexa noticed how Nathaniel walked a little faster between the two archangels, making sure to keep a foot ahead, as though he didn’t want the rest of the angels to think the archangels were in charge.
The last of the crowd emptied out from the temple and spilled onto the circular sand pit. The angels stood at the edges of the sand and waited.
Alexa followed Milo as he made for the sand pit, and together they stood with the other angels. Alexa’s curiosity rose to higher heights as Brent marched to the center of the pit, a large sword dangling in his hand. His face was lined in anger, his teeth bared like a wild animal about to slaughter its prey.
Alexa leaned forward. “What do you think this is? He looks like he’s about to kill someone.”
“This is a fighting ring,” said Milo. “My—my brothers had a few. Never thought I’d see one in Horizon. We’re about to meet his challenger.”
Alexa’s brows rose. “You’re kidding? Huh. Now this is—” the rest of her sentence died in her throat as one of the archangels stepped into the fighting ring.
“Brent’s going to fight him?” asked Alexa, disbelieving. “Can’t be. Can it?”
Milo’s jaw was tight. “This isn’t right.”
“Ya think?” Alexa’s voice was loud, and she caught the few neighboring angels glare at her. She glared back before thinking better of it, remembering that she had to keep her true feelings to herself if she wanted to pull the whole Order-of-the-First-GO-campaign off. But she couldn’t help but feel a hot anger building inside.
To her dismay, the larger of the archangels had stepped into the fighting pit. Worse, he discarded his armor, tossed it aside as a show of strength, like he didn’t need it. He pulled a long, ragged-edged blade from his belt and stood facing Brent. His raven hair draped loosely over his shoulders, and rows of golden loops daggled from his ears. His small eyes were lost under heavy brows. And when he looked down at the smaller angel, who was by no means wimpy by Alexa’s standards, he sneered. It chilled Alexa because at that moment he reminded her of Michael, the Head of house Michael. But where Michael was molded to manly perfection, this archangel was on the side of a brute. He was just too big, too muscled to be handsome.
Brent didn’t move. He seemed unfazed by the archangel’s much larger body, but then his eyes darted over the archangel’s shoulder and his frown lessened. Alexa saw his cool slip for just a second. It wasn’t fear that registered in his eyes, but pain. She followed his gaze. A tall female angel with a pretty face and curvy body stood apart from the crowd. She was looking down, her hands clenched into fists. The perfect oval of her face looked pale in the light of the sun. She would not look at Brent.
Nathaniel walked along the pit like a master of ceremonies. “As promised, I told you there would be entertainment.”
The sudden hush following Nathaniel’s speech felt barbaric. Soon, Alexa could smell the excitement and sweat from the crowd. Alexa felt nauseated, her insides jumping at every shift of Milo’s feet.
“We have a situation, dear friends.” Nathaniel’s voice echoed in the silence, his lips pulled back in a wicked smile. “An angel’s honor is at risk.” A gasp rippled through the assembled crowd. He paused, giving ample time for the effect of his words to settle amongst the crowd.
Alexa’s gaze traveled back to Brent. Shadows traveled along his face making him look older, shaken out of its handsome lines as he wrestled with something. He gave a withering glare at the archangel that would curdle milk. But the archangel had never stopped smiling.
Nathaniel’s eyes sparked. “A disagreement that can only be resolved by a challenge. Both opponents have accepted to settle this dispute by duel and have agreed to fight with equal weapons.”
“How’s that equal?” expressed Alexa. “The archangel is twice Brent’s size. I don’t care how big his sword is. There’s no way this is a fair fight.”
Milo’s mouth tightened. “This isn’t a fight.”
Alexa frowned. “Then what is it?”
“You all know the rules, our code of honor,” Nathaniel called, his voice deeper and businesslike. “Once a duel is accepted, there is no turning back. There is no forfeit. You fight to the death. As is our law.”
Alexa’s intake of breath was echoed by Milo’s low curse. She realized he had expected it. He had known all along what the sand pit was.
Although Brent was on the wrong side of the Legion, she felt sorry for him. He was going to risk his life for that female angel. She was sure of it. The pretty female angel still wouldn’t look up, but she teetered slightly as though she was about to faint.
Looking smug, Nathaniel turned his attention to the two opponents. “Do you accept?”
Brent was the first to speak. “I accept.”
Nathaniel’s smile widened as he turned to the large archangel. “And you, Barakiel. Do you accept his challenge?”
“I accept.” Barakiel’s voice was nothing like Alexa was expecting. It wasn’t rough and hard like his exterior, but rather deep and smooth like the purr of a tiger. He stole a look over his shoulder to the female angel, and Alexa felt a tremor along her skin at the look in his eyes.
Nathaniel stepped back into the crowd and shouted, “To the death!”
“To the death!” repeated the angels.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” muttered Alexa.
Much to her surprise, Brent delivered the first attack.
With motion almost too quick to be seen, Brent dashed forward like a piston. He leaped in the air, his sword arm high. He brought it down fast, a killing blow, and Alexa was reminded of Milo’s fighting agility. But Brent’s next strike went wide, and his sword’s tip buried itself in the sand.
There was a blur of sand. Barakiel slashed Brent on his back before Alexa saw him move. It was like nothing she had ever seen before. The archangel moved like a specter, like a shadow of himself. Brent hissed loudly, lost his balance and pitched forward, landing in the sand with his arms bent awkwardly. White light spilled from a large opening on his back.
Alexa’s stomach dropped. Brent’s dead, she thought. But in the next moment, the angel twisted around, and he was back on his feet. His face wore a look of awe and fear, but he was still alive. Alexa was impressed.
Barakiel also looked impressed. “You surprise me, angel. But your show of strength is useless. You’re no match for an archangel.” He lifted his sword and pointed. “I’ll take good care of Sarah.”
A sound similar to Lance’s growl erupted from Brent’s throat, and he leaped forward again. He’d lost his composure to his anger. By the smug smile on his Barakiel’s face, it was exactly the response he had anticipated.
“We have to stop this, Milo. Brent’s going to get killed.”
Milo sighed. “We can’t, Alexa. If we do anything, it’ll be like we don’t agree with the order. They’d see it as a reason to kill us next.”
Despite the anger bubble that threatened to explode through her chest, Alexa knew Milo was right.
Brent moved with the fast elegance of a dance—a dance with death. And Barakiel was there, whirling with cold grace. With an almost bored expression, Barakiel blocked every strike without an effort. It was an onslaught of flashing blades. Pivoting, Brent came up and around the big archangel, going for his thigh with the point of his
blade. But Barakiel knocked it away, using his momentum to run him through the chest with his sword. Alexa saw the archangel lean forward and whisper something in Brent’s ear before he pulled back his sword.
Brent fell to his knees. His angel essence ran from the corners of his mouth and down his neck. He touched his stomach, looking at his angel blood as if it meant something.
Barakiel moved to stand in front of Brent and raised his sword. “You fought bravely, but you were foolish to lose your life over a female.”
Alexa’s soul cracked at the pain in Brent’s face. The agony in his eyes wasn’t from Barakiel’s blows, from any physical pain, but from the emotional pain of losing a loved one.
Alexa felt Milo’s fingers tighten around hers, and her eyes burned.
Brent moved his lips and closed his eyes. Barakiel’s sword came down in a frightening sweep, taking Brent’s head right off his shoulders. It landed with a thump and stopped moving.
Alexa jerked forward, ready to shout, but Milo squeezed her hand so hard it hurt.
“Don’t.”
Brent’s body shimmered and then broke apart into tiny brilliant particles, until they dissipated into the air and nothing was left of Brent but his sword in the sand.
Alexa was horrified at seeing an angel’s true death for the first time. There was no coming back from this, but she was even more upset that no one said anything.
The crowd of angels was silent, their faces void of expression, almost robot-like. They stared at the evaporating particles that had once been Brent with an acceptance that made Alexa nauseated. She hated this group of cowards more than anything.
The sound of shuffling reached Alexa’s ears as the crowd parted. Her eyes moved to Sarah, but the angel was gone.
CHAPTER 16
BRENT’S DEATH HAUNTED ALEXA. It left her feeling sick and disturbed. No matter how much she tried, she couldn’t get over the last look on his face before he died—sadness with an acceptance of defeat, but with a broken heart.
It pained her to think of the way he died, with everyone watching like he was the entertainment of the day. His death was just a show for the members of the order. There was no way back from an angel’s true death. Knowing now that a mortal soul was reborn when the mortal died, it left her feeling empty that Brent’s soul would never be reborn. His death was final.
Alexa tipped her glass to her lips. She rolled the wine over with her tongue, tasting grape with a hint of chocolate. She could taste the alcohol. There wasn’t much, but she could taste it. Her eyes moved around the assembled angels, drinking red and golden liquid from their glasses. Lance had told her once that an angel needed to drink a lot to feel the effects from alcohol. She suspected that each angel had drunk at least twenty or so glasses, their laughter and level of voices increasing with each glass.
She had sipped the same glass for the past three hours. Milo hadn’t drunk anything, or even pretended to. His refusal did grant him a few suspicious looks, but then when they saw Alexa sipping from her glass, it seemed to calm everyone down.
The drums beat faster and faster, making her on edge as she sat next to Milo on the beach before one of the four giant bonfires with the bright stars twinkling above them.
Alexa stared across the fire to where Nathaniel lounged on a bed of pillows. His black eyes seemed to burn in the firelight. A boy angel who looked about twelve, in a linen robe-like garment, poured golden liquid into Nathaniel’s cup from a crystal decanter. His hands trembled, and the liquid spilled over Nathaniel’s outstretched hand.
“You idiot!” Nathaniel hissed and smacked the boy across the face. The boy dropped the decanter as he cowered to his knees. “You spilled it all over me.” He whipped the cup at the boy’s head. “Get me a new cup.”
With trembling hands, the boy gathered up the cup and decanter and, still bent in submission, managed to walk away.
There was a loud snort followed by laughter.
Alexa’s eyes rested on the other archangel Sorath, lounging on top of pillows and a Persian carpet. He laughed alongside Nathaniel as the boy struggled to keep his bent position up the steps to the pyramid.
Alexa dug the fingers of her free hand in the sand. Next to Sorath sat Barakiel. He dragged a finger, seductively over the angel Sarah’s neck. Even in the darkness and distance, Alexa could see the broken female trembling. Her pretty face was pinched tightly, her eyes a mixture of fear and resentment.
Alexa pulled her eyes away and began to swirl the contents of her cup. It wasn’t hatred she felt for Nathaniel, the order, and the archangels, she decided. Hatred was too small a word and emotion to equal what she felt inside.
“The order doesn’t seem to be bothered that they’ve just lost one of their own in a stupid duel,” murmured Alexa. “They’re acting like it never happened. Like Brent’s life meant nothing.”
Yellow flames reflected in Milo’s eyes. “Makes you realize how little they think of mortal lives if they can murder one of their own without shedding a single tear.”
A group of female angels in shapeless linen robes arrived with decanters and began to serve the angels assembled around the fire.
Alexa leaned closer to Milo, doing her best to ignore the prickling of her skin at his proximity. “These servant angels,” she whispered, “did you know about that?”
Milo’s lips were a tight line. “Nathaniel’s not happy unless he exploits some of the angels. He has his favorites while he has groups of lesser angels to do as he commands. Treats them like slaves.”
Alexa raised her brows. “Lesser angels? That’s what the angel Naja had called me when we first arrived here. I thought you said all angels are equal in Horizon.”
“I did. Lesser angel is a highly derogatory term. It’s used to imply those angels created from a human soul, angels who were once human.”
“Like me,” whispered Alexa, feeling a little sick again.
“It’s really offensive. We don’t use the term anymore,” said Milo. “But there are those who are prejudiced against angels who they consider to be of lower worth and undeserving to be equal. Nathaniel and a group of the first created angels decided to put themselves above the others because they felt more powerful, more deserving. Many older angels place great emphasis on the first created and reject association with newborn angels who’ve had a mortal past, whom they consider greatly inferior to themselves. The notion is foremost in the minds of The Order of the First and other followers of Nathaniel.”
Alexa gripped her cup. “Well, I think it’s disgusting.”
“They are the deluded ones!” came a voice to her far right. Alexa turned and saw the angel known as Chris standing around another fire. His voice was loud over the beating drums, and a drink was in his hand. “Slaves to the inferior mortal creation. Chained to do their bidding! Us! Angels! It’s absurd. The Legion has misled us all for thousands of years. Sacrificing ourselves for them! Them! The lesser creation.”
A growl escaped Alexa’s throat, low enough for only Milo to hear. Her face twitched as she tried to keep it from showing any emotion.
“It’s sacrilege,” said another female angel, who was built like a wrestler with neck muscles bulging and her face framed in an angry frown. “We should have never agreed to it.”
“Blasphemy!” cried a tall dark angel as he threw his drink into the fire. “We should have destroyed the Legion years ago!”
“Calm yourselves, brothers and sisters.” Nathaniel’s voice rose above the others. He waited for the angels to quiet themselves before he continued. “Soon you will get what was promised. These mortal dogs can make our kind so lust-blind that we lose all common sense. Better for us to see their true nature. Our slaves,” he laughed. “We will rejoice in all the fine wines of the world and all its pleasures.”
There was an answering cheer from the crowd of angels. Nathaniel’s eyes traveled over the angels and settled on Alexa for a moment before moving on.
“Time’s nearly up,” said Nathaniel. “The
Legion had their hour. Our time has come, the time for the first creation to rule both worlds—mortal and celestial. The time is now.”
The large female angel spoke up. “I’m tired of waiting. Why not strike now? Why do we have to wait in hiding when it is our right to take what we want? We have the numbers—the strength to do it now.”
“Because, dear Samantha.” Nathaniel’s smile was sinister, and Alexa heard more danger in the silkiness of his voice than in the powerful blow from the archangel Barakiel. “You forget who we serve… the only and one true lord. We wait for our lord’s orders.”
Tension surfaced on Samantha’s face at the challenge in Nathaniel’s voice. “Of course,” she said. “Of course we wait.”
Satisfied, Nathaniel’s gaze rolled over the beach at the gathered angels. “Anyone who continues to resist—archangel, angel or even lesser angel—will be slaughtered. We are the true angels, born of noble stock, and we will take what is ours. Rejoice, brothers and sisters, for our hour is near. Rejoice in the in the new world we shall build together!”
Another cheer welled from the gathered angels along with a fresh outbreak of laughter. Chris cheered the loudest as he stumbled around and nearly fell into the fire.
Movement caught her attention and she saw Barakiel leading Sarah away from the fire. Alexa kept staring at the tension in the woman’s shoulders and the way her legs dragged like she didn’t want to go anywhere but was forced and had no choice. She kept watching until Sarah’s delicate shape disappeared through the brush and there was only darkness.
Alexa turned away, clenching her jaw. Nathaniel leaned back into his plush cushions. His eyes met Alexa and she thought she saw them narrow for a second. His gratified smile looked more like a snarl as she forced herself to look away before her face betrayed her.
She felt Milo tense next to her. Soon, their façade would fail, and she knew eventually their emotions would give them away. Even Milo couldn’t pretend for much longer. He was losing his cool.
“The battle is won,” said Nathaniel in a voice that burst with triumph. “The Legion is finished. We shall not be here for long.”
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