With his feet firmly planted on the ground and his knees slightly bent, Gabriel drew the strength up his calves and thighs to spin himself in a dizzying turn. Most angels didn’t take the time to train their legs, but Gabriel wasn’t like most angels.
The blade grazed past a second time. The demon had anticipated a quick win, for it only took a scratch to implant the fatal overdose of Light. But he had put all his hopes on that final swing...and missed.
Gabriel kept his momentum and thrust his wings to get himself inside the demon’s swing. In such close proximity, the wind vibrated with low drones and the air tasted metallic, a telltale sign of the dark magic powering this creature.
Gabriel slashed low, grazing the demon across the belly.
The demon cried out, eyes going white and wide in surprise. He staggered backward, foam bubbling at his mouth before he collapsed with Light spearing out in spidery veins and overtaking his mutated body.
Gabriel expelled the breath he’d been holding as the demon quivered into death, his soul expelled and his body disintegrating in powdery, dark flakes.
Gabriel turned to exclaim his victory to the angels who had not helped him. But there was only a sea of trampled grass to witness his efforts.
Gabriel took three steps toward the Manor, but knew the angels had already returned to Celestia. Their contract demanded the Manor’s protection only for the duration of Azrael’s session. Even he could feel the air had thinned. Whether she had survived or not, her session was over. He was the only one left to protect her now.
CHAPTER SIX
Meretta's Key
MADAME, the headmistress of the female Windborn ward, stomped her foot and the sound hit Meretta like a shockwave. Instead of curling into herself, Meretta straightened and set her jaw with utter defiance.
“I don’t care where that brat has gone. She had business with her Majesty. That’s all you need to know,” Madame roared.
“It’s been three days!” Meretta persisted. “I demand an audience!”
Madame scoffed with outrage. “I will not have you speak to me like that, young Windborn.”
Meretta flinched when Madame abruptly turned to leave and her arm flung wide, dangerously close to Meretta’s head.
Meretta gulped down further retort, digging her nails into her palms as tears stung her eyes. Madame wasn’t going to be any help. The bracelets about her chubby wrists strained as Madame clenched the door and slammed it behind her. There was a moment of silence that amplified the small, but terrifying click as Madame locked the door.
“You think that’s going to stop me from finding Azrael?” Meretta shouted and her voice broke.
When only silence was her response, she swirled toward the small chest next to her bed. She opened it and carelessly dumped the contents on the ground. Jewels and trinkets clattered to the floor, all gifts from suitors. She’d hidden them from Azrael as they’d accumulated. Azrael had no such treasures to her name, nothing save a smashed Dark gem.
Meretta ripped out the velvet lining to reveal the secret compartment. A suitor would never would have gifted her the item she’d hidden inside. She’d dealt with Michael for this.
Meretta still felt guilty for stealing Azrael’s undergarments as the payment, but every horror story she’d heard from whispering servants, or visiting mistrals, aroused a growing awareness that Azrael was in danger. Hybrids were rumored to contain evil powers, and some even bartered in the trade of their blood. She cringed and gripped the box. Did Azrael know that?
She turned the knob and opened the secret latch, revealing the silvered lock pick. A smile crept across her lips. She’d hoped to never require this key, but now that the moment was here, her heart thrummed in her chest like an excited child.
Key in hand, Meretta ran to the door and pressed her ear against it. Silence. She shoved the pick into the slot and the lock gave way with a sharp tick. Sighing with relief, she tucked the pick into her robes. Even though she’d practiced a hundred times on any lock she could find, she’d never once tried to pick the Queen’s door. Only a fool would try such a thing. But if worrying for Azrael made her a fool, then so be it.
Creaking the door open, Meretta peered into the dark halls of the female Windborn ward. Madame had stomped off to only-the-Divine-knew-where, and likely would make rounds to return. Meretta closed the door, making sure to lock it before breaking into a run.
The threading of her soft moccasins strained against her tiny feet as she silently sped through the halls. It was one of the few suitors’ gifts she truly appreciated.
Her breath came in deep gasps as she raced through the male Windborn ward. Silent forms tossed and turned on their bed sheets and she didn’t dare stop to find out if she’d been seen. She pushed herself onwards and bent her head down like a galloping horse. The faster she found the Queen, the faster she would find answers. No matter the cost, she had to find out what happened to Azrael!
She slowed when the Queen’s dark, ancient doors loomed like beacons in the shadows. She scanned the runes and felt their fear and hesitation at her approach, or maybe they only reflected her own? She shook her head, not having time to ponder the mystical nature of the Queen’s chambers.
The doors would be locked this time of night. Meretta wrapped her fingers around the pick and held her breath as she slipped it into the keyhole. It turned, but resisted.
“Come on!” she quietly urged.
She angled the pick and it pushed in a little farther. Meretta placed her ear against the wood hoping to hear the lock’s inner workings. To her relief, there was a slight click and the lock shifted. With that small sense of victory, she pushed the door open.
Meretta poked her head inside and her elation turned to shock. Servant girls jumped to their feet and pulled at blades strapped to their thighs. Before she had time to draw breath to scream, a cold blade was already grazing her throat.
Even if they looked like angels with their blonde curls and blazing green eyes, the Queen’s handmaidens were not to be underestimated. They turned to the Queen and waited for her command.
“M-Majesty,” Meretta stammered. “I’m sorry to disturb you.” She hadn’t been sure how the Queen would react, but she hadn’t considered she’d be mistaken for an assassin.
“Why have you come, child?” the Queen asked, barely allowing her gaze to rise from the array of letters strewn across her bedsheets.
At a short nod from the Queen, the handmaidens released her and Meretta drew in a short gasp of air. She waited for the black dots in her vision to clear before approaching the Queen. “Please forgive my intrusion. I have come seeking Azrael’s whereabouts. I have not seen nor heard from her for three days.” Against her better judgment, Meretta lifted her gaze from her feet and took in the full force of the Queen’s intense stare. “Not since she was sent to see you, Majesty.”
The Queen’s features softened. “I will tell you what has befallen Azrael, if you tell me how it is you’ve come to my chambers.”
Meretta blushed. “Majesty?”
The Queen scooted to the edge of the bed and swung her legs over the side and a few letters with a red-waxen royal seal drifted to the ground. “My chambers were locked.”
Meretta swallowed as an invisible force pressed against her chest. Azrael had warned her of the Queen’s magic. Meretta had never believed it, but the compulsion to tell the truth now made her question that doubt. “One of the Windborn boys has a connection to some of the older engineer graduates. I bartered for a lock pick...”
The Queen laughed and Meretta shot her gaze back to the ground. “Michael, no doubt,” the Queen observed. “He will make a fine politician one day. He has the black-market skills for it.”
Meretta nodded and wound her trembling fingers around one another. “Yes, Majesty.”
The Queen rose and glided to Meretta. Whether it was magic or nerves, Meretta’s knees had gone weak. The Queen’s fingers pulled Meretta’s chin so that she had no choice but to look at her.
Nausea set in as she searched the Queen’s eyes, unable to make sense of the golden specks that glimmered in the backs of her pupils.
“Azrael has undergone the first trial of the Acceptance,” the Queen said as the golden storm in her gaze eased into darkness.
Her nausea was replaced by a spike of adrenaline. “Azrael’s to become Queen?” Meretta breathed. “But, she’s a hybrid.”
The Queen’s magic released her like a vice being unlocked and Meretta fell to her knees.
“The Divine choose who they deem fit.” The Queen shifted her weight onto her hip. “You wish to know where she is? I assure you, she’s well. Unconscious while she heals.”
Meretta blinked up at Queen Ceres. “Is she in pain?”
The Queen frowned. “We’re not sure. Her healing isn’t progressing as we’d expected.” The Queen tilted her head, raising one brow. “Do you wish to ease her into health?”
Meretta burst into a wide smile. “Oh, yes! Please, let me be with her. I will watch her day and night. I promise, I’ll do everything I can to help her get better!”
The Queen hummed. She stroked a silver painted nail across her chin. “Perhaps.”
Meretta smiled. As the days had gone by, her fears had escalated. She’d imagined a suitor had come to claim Azrael with an offer the Queen couldn’t refuse. Or perhaps she’d offended some high lord, or the Queen herself, and was in secluded punishment. But that she would be healing from the first trial of the Acceptance? Never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined that as a possibility.
Meretta bowed her head to the cool floor with poise and reverence. “I am but your humble servant, Majesty. I’d do anything for Azrael. You won’t regret it.”
The Queen chuckled. “You have caught me in a time of change. Any other day, I would balk at such an offer. The Inner Sanctum is for only the chosen few. But today...I believe in miracles, and I believe Azrael needs you. You shall tend to her. But first, there’s someone I wish you to meet.”
Meretta raised her face with elation. “Of course. Who?”
The Queen offered a wry grin. “I’ll let him introduce himself.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Empty Lessons
AZRAEL’S dreams were surprisingly pleasant for one who’d had her soul purged. She might have thought she’d died and found paradise, had she not finally awoken to parched, cracked lips and a dull ache running down her spine.
Manor Saffron’s cheery luminescence greeted her with its warm kiss. Azrael blinked and was surprised at the calmness of the room, the stillness of the air as if nothing terrible had ever happened.
But, what had happened? Azrael’s mind shot back to the last moments she could recall. There’d been pain, so much pain, and then an ethereal vision in a place of Light. If it was real, and Azrael had no doubt that it was, what had it done to her?
A creak broke the peaceful silence and Azrael shot a glance at the door. Her shoulders eased when she saw familiar bobbing curls. “Meretta,” Azrael said with a broken sigh.
Meretta’s brows had been tightly knit in a permanent crease of worry, but now light spread across her features and she rushed into the room. “Azrael!” she cried and threw herself to the floor at the bedside. “You have no idea how worried I’ve been!”
Her smile, as always, was extremely contagious, and momentarily drove hardship from Azrael’s mind. “What are you doing here—” Azrael began but choked on the words. She rubbed her throat and tried again. “Are you allowed to be here?”
Meretta winced. “Yes, well, that’s a long story. Let’s just say even Madame herself couldn’t keep me from your side.”
Azrael didn’t dare lift herself up, but allowed her hand to ease across the bed until it gripped Meretta’s firmly. “Thank you, my dearest friend.”
Meretta’s warmth fed Azrael through their wrapped fingers. It felt so good, so right.
“You’ll be Queen,” Meretta said breathlessly. “I still can’t believe it.”
Azrael flushed. “Queen, indeed,” she murmured. “And what of our fair Queen Ceres?” Azrael asked. “How on Terra did you convince her to allow you into the Inner Sanctum?”
Meretta puffed out her chest. “You weren’t going to get better without me. Here I am and here you are. I was right, and she knew it!”
Azrael smiled and rewarded Meretta with a weak laugh.
“I never would have believed the stories of Alexandria were true,” Meretta went on, “This place is remarkable. And you! You’ll get to live here and be able to do whatever you want.” She perked up excitedly. “You could appoint me as a Madame! We could be together, you and me. It’ll be more perfect than our wildest dreams.”
It was all too good to be true. As if to spear reality into the room, her Acceptance violently twinged and the stinging ache finally couldn’t be ignored.
Meretta’s enthusiasm transformed into concern. “I’m so sorry. Here I am babbling on and you must be miserable. I’ll get the Healers right away.”
Just as Meretta jerked to her feet, the Queen stepped into the room. Her orange dress and cascading ringlets of braided hair made her look like a radiant piece of fruit. She paused to consider the girls as she twirled a beaded braid around a ringed finger and eased into a pleased smile. Azrael wondered what kind of royalty she had met with today to call for such attire.
“Ah, my dear Meretta, your bond with Azrael must be close indeed. How could you know she’d awaken?”
Meretta smiled with her typical, undiluted joy. “Sister sense, I suppose. I was just going to get a Healer now that she’s awake.” Her voice lowered as if Azrael wouldn’t hear. “She’s in pain.”
The Queen wafted her hand as if the sentiment was distasteful. “Pain is progress, my dear.”
Azrael made the effort to rise, ignoring the stinging tugs as her gown scraped down her back. “Then I am to make much progress,” Azrael said through gritted teeth.
The Queen nodded in approval. “You have indeed. Divine Material embedment is nothing to be slight about. Your awakening attests to your strength, especially after your first time.” Azrael groaned and stiffened. The Queen continued, “It’s been roughly a week since your session.”
Azrael’s eyelashes fluttered in surprise. “A week?”
“Considering such trauma, it’s completely natural.” The Queen’s scrunched eyebrow suggested that she remembered the pain all too well. “How do you feel about getting some fresh air?”
The skin on Azrael’s back felt jagged and rough, but the way the Queen’s eyes were both demanding and hopeful suggested languishing in bed was not an option. “Yes, I would like to get out of bed for a while. It will do me some good.”
The Queen inclined her head once more in approval. “All right, Meretta, I fear it’s time for you to attend to your own duties. You have permission to visit Azrael tomorrow.”
Meretta stifled a small pout before leaning in and squeezing Azrael’s shoulders. Azrael was grateful she avoided her injuries.
Meretta pressed her lips against her ear. “You know where I’ll be if you need me.” With that, she pulled away, offered a wink, and swept out of the room.
Azrael stared at the doorway for a long while, and her fingers curled to her ear where Meretta had kissed it. She may have made a deal with a demon to get to where she was now, but Azrael had no idea what deal had been struck to bless her with a friend like that.
The Queen continued to stare as well, but not at the doorway. Her gaze was clouded and distant to a place only she could see.
“Majesty, are you feeling all right?”
The Queen jolted in her seat. “Apologies. My mind was elsewhere.”
Azrael pressed her lips together. She knew what weighed on the Queen’s heart. Azrael wasn’t the only one concerned that death had come to call the Queen away.
Thankfully, a knock at the door swept away the dreary moment. The Queen’s posture softened. “That must be Gabriel. He’s so timely.”
In a twirl
of various shades of orange flying up past her knees, the Queen answered the door. To Azrael’s horror, she immediately became aware of the thinness of her gown and pulled the silken sheets up to her chin.
Gabriel stepped in and the room seemed to shrink around him. His wings were so enormous, so perfect and the purest of white. The way he held himself was as a god who commanded the very air to stay still. When his gaze landed on Azrael, a hot wave swept over her face and she cursed her pale skin revealing her emotions like a candle.
Gabriel acted as if hadn’t noticed she’d turned as red as a beet under his scrutiny. “You’ve awakened. This is cause for celebration.” In three long strides he was at her bedside. He beamed at Azrael with pride as if she had achieved some great feat. “How do you feel?”
Azrael didn’t want him to know that her back felt like a herd of cats had been using it as a scratching post. “I feel fine,” she said, somehow keeping her voice steady, “and I slept well. I even had some lovely dreams.”
There was a moment of hesitation. He glanced at the Queen inquisitively. There seemed to be a period of unspoken understanding, and the Queen tilted her head as if Azrael had said something interesting.
“Well,” Gabriel said, “I’ll consider that a good omen. When you’re up to it, you should access the Divine Material in your body. Practicing your new abilities will help quicken your healing.”
“My new what?”
Gabriel grimaced. “I’m sorry. It’s been quite a long time since I’ve trained a new Princess.” He drew in a deep breath and beckoned to Queen Ceres, who was stoic in her approach, save for a teasing smirk.
“Majesty, I leave this task in your hands. You are far more deft than I in delicate matters.” He bowed and held a fist to his chest. “I’ll see you soon, my lady.”
Azrael studied his gait as he left the room. The drifting shadow of his elegance held her full attention long after he was gone. Queen Ceres cleared her throat expectantly as Azrael’s eyes lingered on the closed door.
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