“Hope, you’re here,” Dad said, gesturing to the seat next to him. We all sat, and suddenly I felt extremely uncomfortable. Mom smiled reassuringly at me from across the table, but I could see a hint of uncertainty in her eyes that had me fidgeting.
Dad cleared his throat. “Hope, your mother and I would like to discuss something with you.”
“Okay,” I said softly, turning toward him. I could feel Gabriel’s gaze on me, but couldn’t bring myself to look at him.
“Your uncle, Collin, did some researching a while back when we began to measure your powers. We could sense there was something different, but didn’t know what.”
I glanced at my mom, who was no longer smiling.
“It turns out, your mother’s line is distantly connected to an ancient angelic line.”
I sat up straighter, looking at the two of them. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what that even means.”
“You have…angel ancestry,” Mom said, appearing as befuddled by all this as I was.
Now I looked at Gabriel, his eyes meeting mine. I couldn’t read them, but still I swallowed at the intensity there.
“Again, what does that mean?” I asked.
My parents looked at one another, hesitating.
“It means that you are a breed of demon we haven’t seen before,” Dad answered.
Wonderful. I was a freak among freaks. Wasn’t that just perfect?
“Is this why I was targeted? Or was it this…prophecy?”
The four people at the table with me all seemed to stiffen at the mere mention of what Aaron had revealed to me. I hadn’t spoken to anyone about it until now, too afraid for this kind of reaction. Which told me, they had all known about it too, and hadn’t thought to clue me in.
Dad recovered first, saying, “We suspect it could be due to both. However, there is a silver lining to this discovery.”
I couldn’t wait to hear this.
“Your father’s men have been trying to find out who Aaron was working for,” Mom said, “but they haven’t been able to connect anything. Which means...” Her voice cracked, her eyes welling up with tears as she swallowed.
“It means you’re still in danger,” Dad finished. “We suspect that whoever was behind Aaron will not stop.”
“Okay...”
“Which is where Charmeine comes in.”
The “silver lining”, I assumed.
I turned my attention to the female angel. Her voice came out as emotionless and cold as her eyes. “In our lands, we have a place called the Academy where our younger ones learn. It is protected by ancient spells and hidden from view by glamour. Since you have angel blood, as well as higher demon, we have agreed to let you stay there until it is confirmed you are safe.”
My brows knitted together as I gaped at her. “Why?”
She tilted her head. “Why?”
“Yes, why?” I said, twisting so my whole body faced her. “Why would you do this? For us? For me? Your kind hates our kind. We’re your enemies. Especially my father. Why help me? Why get involved at all?”
“Hope,” Mom said softly, as if I were being rude.
“It doesn’t make sense,” I said, ignoring her. “You should want me dead just as much as whoever is behind my abduction.”
The female angel stared at me, unblinking, for a few beats, before turning slowly to my father.
“The Hierarchies and I have come to an…understanding,” he said. “In exchange for your sanctuary.”
Before I could think of a response, the doors to the dining room behind me were opened, and a shiver ran down my spine. Somehow I knew who it was without looking.
“Cillian,” Dad greeted. “What did you find out?”
His eyes were on me. I could feel them. When I turned, I met their dark gaze, seeing a strange regret and anger there. He looked away, focusing on my dad. “He’s dead.”
“I told you to keep him alive.”
“Not by me. He was dead when I found him.”
“Who’s dead?” I asked, glancing between them.
“How?” My father asked.
“Beheaded.”
Someone was beheaded? What on earth? And then it hit me.
“You’re talking about Aaron, aren’t you?”
Cillian didn’t look away from my father. The room was silent before my dad answered, “I was hoping to find him alive so we could interrogate him. We needed him to tell us who he worked for, but it looks like his superiors got to him before us.”
“If he’s dead, do you still have to send me away?” I asked.
“Someone else will just take his place, Hope. It’s not over.”
“Send her away? Where?” Cillian asked, finally glancing at me.
My father’s brows lowered as he looked at him with a strange expression. “It’s what’s best, Cillian.”
“She will be safe with us until you can find these people,” Gabriel said, speaking for the first time.
Cillian’s wings twitched behind him and I could sense his anger in the room. “You’re sending her with them? She’s half demon.”
“And has angelic descendants in her bloodline, which means she can safely enter the Academy, and stay there with us until Caleb sends for her,” Gabriel replied.
His jaw ticked as he stared at the angels until he turned and faced my father. “You’re actually agreeing to this?”
“It’s what’s best,” he repeated slowly.
“They’re our enemies.”
“Cillian.”
Every muscle was strung tight as they had some wordless conversation the rest of us weren’t privy to. Then he bowed his head, spun on his heels, and walked out. I watched, a strange ache blossoming in my chest.
“Now, when will you depart?” Dad asked them.
I looked down at my plate, my appetite gone as they made plans around me.
***
I’d just climbed into bed when there was a knock on my door, and my mom poked her head in. “Still awake?” She asked, stepping inside.
I nodded, sitting up as she took a seat on the edge of the bed.
“I just thought I’d come and see how you felt about...all this. Caleb didn’t really give you a choice in the matter.”
I picked at the comforter. “Do you think it’s a good idea?”
“I think the idea of sending you away tears me apart, and all I want is for you to go back to your regular life. But I also think that the threat against you is very real, and I trust Caleb in this, and in knowing that you’ll be safest where you’re going. At least you’ll be able to continue to get an education.”
Yeah, like that was the least of my worries right now. Leave it to my mom to keep thinking about grades in all this.
“Has it occurred to either of you that I’d be going to school with angels, and I’m not only part demon, but a demon princess? How do you suppose they’ll react to me?”
“Your parentage won’t be common knowledge.”
“Great,” I muttered.
She reached out and gripped my fingers. “I can’t lose you again, Hope. When you went missing...I don’t want any of us to ever go through that again. If this means you’re away and safe, then I think you should do it.”
I raised my eyes to meet hers, swallowing the lump in my throat. Nodding, I gave her hand a squeeze back, and then we hugged before she kissed me good night and left.
As I lay in the dark, I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt for agreeing to go with the angels. Cillian’s reaction hadn’t been far from my thoughts since. I knew I wasn’t, but I kept feeling as if I was choosing them over him. Then again, with me gone, he could go back to doing things on his own, and not have to worry about me tagging along. He’d probably be grateful to have me out of the way.
Turning onto my side, I snuggled down and let my mind relax so I could actually sleep before our departure tomorrow. This was all going to work out in the end.
***
Mom and Dad were outside the castle with me as Gabriel landed. It looked like I was going with just him. He smiled at me, and I returned it, a little more hesitant than usual.
“You have everything you need?” Mom asked, turning me to her. I nodded. “Good. I’m going to miss you, Blanche.”
“Not as much as I’ll miss you, Rose,” I said with a wobbly smile. She pulled me to her, squeezing me until I couldn’t breathe, not that I cared. When we stepped back we were both crying.
“This won’t be for long,” she assured me.
“Right.”
I didn’t know if there was any truth to that statement, but I chose to believe it.
“We’ll let you know as soon as the threat is taken care of,” Dad said when I turned to him. He pulled me into a hug too.
“Take care of her,” I whispered in his ear.
He gave me a squeeze. “Of course.”
Behind him, dark wings landed. My eyes grazed over the familiar bare chest of smooth, tanned skin, to the sculpted jaw and wide mouth, to those eyes that always found mine. We watched each other over my father’s shoulder until he let go and I broke the eye contact as we stepped back.
“Ready?” Gabriel said.
I nodded, hoisting the backpack up my shoulder.
“We love you, Hope,” Mom said.
“Love you guys too.”
I started toward Gabriel when a hand caught me by my wrist. A shock of energy shot up my arm where our skin met. I looked back at him, bracing myself for whatever he was going to say. Except he didn’t say anything at all, he just stared at me for a moment, so many things passing through his eyes that I couldn’t make sense of them.
Finally, he stepped closer, his voice dropping so only I could hear him. “Demons aren’t allowed where you’re going,” he said. “If you go...I won’t be able to protect you.”
I swallowed. Knowing he couldn’t come to me if I needed help made my stomach drop. I knew what he wanted me to say. He hadn’t said it aloud, but it was there in his eyes, the way they silently pleaded with me.
I let out a slow breath. “I know,” I said.
He flinched.
Letting go of me, he took a step back, his mouth pressed into a thin line. Then he was pushing off the ground, and in the air before I could say anything else, his dark form disappearing into the sparkling sky.
“Come, Hope,” Gabriel said.
Looking away, I walked to him, stepping into his arms as he lifted me easily.
“Watch over her,” Dad said.
“We will,” Gabriel replied.
I gave them one last look and then we too were pushing off, rising into the sky, his great wings flapping as we headed to another new world, one where I wasn’t sure what exactly waited for me. But I was about to find out.
THE END
PART FOUR COMING SOON!
FINDING
THE LIGHT
THE BALANCE SERIES, PART FOUR
When the path you are on comes to a fork, which way do you turn?
Loyalties are being tested by the fate of one young girl. Hope French has found herself in the fight of a lifetime, with two sides determined to either destroy her...or save her? Angels and Demons will come to a head for the first time in centuries. Now she has to decide who she can trust, and what her true destiny really is, while learning to adapt to her new surroundings.
With so much against her, Hope must reach inside to find the ancient power that lies there, waiting to be unleashed.
The only question left to be answered is whether it will be for the good, or evil.
Janelle Stalder was born and raised in Ontario, Canada. She loves her home country, except for the winter, so basically eight months out of the year she is miserable and cold. She has four wonderful children - Aiden, Elora, Violet, and Clara, and has been with her hubby since she was just a wee girl of 17. Writing is her passion and escape.
Everyone always asks how she does it with four kids, four animals, a home business, and everything else that comes with all of that, and honestly? She doesn't know. She just does. When you know what you love, you find time to do it. Words and stories; characters and worlds that come to life between pages - they are what makes writing fun.
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The Dark Princess (The Balance Series Book 3) Page 27