by Peach, Hanna
Alyx’s breath caught in her throat. “My life?”
“Nothing comes for free, Alyx,” Balthazar said. “You’d have to give up your immortality and become mortal. In exchange, he would get another mortal life.”
“Do it.”
“But you wouldn’t get this life.”
Alyx blinked, sitting back on her heels. “What?”
“You would die, as he did. You would both be reborn, in new bodies, as mortals.”
“Alyx,” the Elder said. “Please think about it before you answer.” He waved his hand at the Seraphim twirling and dancing around the valley like fireflies, sounds of rejoicing and weeping and singing filling the air. “The Seraphim have moved into a new exciting phase in our history. You have a chance here to be one of the great future leaders of our people. You have proved you have it in you. Do you really want to give up your life here? Do you really want to say goodbye to all your friends? Would you die just for a chance to be with him again?”
“A chance?”
“You would get another life, Alyx, another body,” the Elder explained. “So would he. It would mean that neither of you will remember each other or anything that has happened in this life when you’re reborn.”
Alyx’s throat tightened. She thought of all the mortals existing on this planet. She and Israel would just be two among billions. “Would Israel and I even meet each other again?”
“Maybe…if you both wait for each other.”
“How would we know to wait for each other if we don’t remember each other?”
“Faith that there is that one right person out there fated just for you.”
“That’s a great leap of faith,” said Balthazar.
“Alyx, you wouldn’t be getting anything more or less than any other mortal on this planet,” the Elder said. “Nothing in any mortal’s life is guaranteed.”
Alyx stared down at the man she loved, the love of her life. She had a chance now to have the kind of life she had always wanted. A life of leadership, one where she was respected and revered, one that would let her shape history. Could she give up this life for love?
She knew in her heart that she could. All those things she used to want paled against getting to be with Israel again. But would love be enough to bring them back together in another life? Should she risk it all for just a chance?
Something Raphael said to her floated up into her mind. Remember that love is greater than death. Now she understood. Her and Israel’s love would survive, even after both their deaths. Raphael was telling her to have faith in their love.
“I would die for him,” Alyx said. “I would give up immortality for a chance to be part of his next life.”
The Elder nodded. “Then I shall help Balthazar perform this magic for you.”
“Thank you, both of you.”
“Do you want some time to say goodbye?”
Goodbye? Alyx’s heart pained as she thought about everyone she would be leaving behind: Jordan, Tobias, Cleo, Vix, Xiang, Dianne…
“Alyx? What about me?” Sparrow’s small voice piped up. She had forgotten that Sparrow was there, standing quietly among the ruins of the mosque.
“Oh Sparrow,” she sobbed, her heart breaking. She opened her arms and he flung himself into them. How could she leave him behind? How could she leave any of them behind?
But for Israel…her heart banged like half a drum beat without him. If she stayed, she would never get to feel his hands on her again or watch his eyes light up as he laughed or to feel his love. Every day she would feel the hollow in her heart where his heartbeat should be, feel the absence of his soul usually knitted into hers.
“Please don’t leave,” Sparrow whispered.
Alyx’s poor heart ripped apart with her decision. “I have to, little one. Israel and I…we need each other. We belong together. For me to stay while he doesn’t, it would be…it would be like someone taking a piece of you away from you. Do you understand?”
Sparrow wiped his eyes, but he nodded.
“Your place is with me, little Sparrow,” the Elder said. “I have been waiting for you to appear for a few centuries now.”
“You’ve been waiting for me?” Sparrow’s wet eyes grew wide.
The Elder nodded. “We have a lot of training in store for you, young man.”
“One more hug?” Alyx asked Sparrow. He threw himself into her arms. Alyx discreetly slipped the Amulet from her pocket and into Sparrow’s.
The Elder ruffled the boy’s hair as Alyx and Sparrow pulled apart.
Alyx breathed in deeply and looked at Balthazar and the Elder. “I’m ready.”
Alyx settled into her nook against Israel’s chest. As the magic built up around her, she looked up at Israel’s still face. I’ll wait for you. She brushed the white scar across his top lip. Wait for me.
Chapter Fifty-Five
Over Cleo’s shoulder, Jordan spotted Balthazar and the Elder with Sparrow close by his side walking down towards them from the mosque. No Israel. No Alyx.
His heart dropped, coldness flowed into his toes as they neared. He pulled away from Cleo. “Where’s Alyx?” he demanded when they neared. “Israel?”
Jordan read it on the distraught face of Sparrow before Balthazar answered. “Alyx is gone. So is Israel. They saved us but…paid with their lives.”
“They might be gone,” the Elder said, “but they are not lost.”
Part of Jordan’s heart, the part that still cared for Alyx, felt like it had been ripped apart from him, as if her soul now flying high away from this earthly world was attached to it. “Alyx,” was all he could choke out as his throat closed over with grief.
Balthazar glanced to Jordan’s left and he remembered that Cleo was at his side. “Cleo.” When he turned to her, her eyes were wet. “I’m sorry. I still care about her.”
“I’m not crying over your reaction.” Cleo scowled as she turned away. “She was my friend too.”
Jordan tried to grab her arm, to hold her, to comfort her, to be comforted. He needed to feel her body against him once more. Something to soothe this ache.
She pushed him away. “No, Jordan. Not now, not yet, not like this. I need time. You need time…”
He understood. He let Balthazar pat his shoulder as he watched Cleo walk away from him. Maybe in time…?
* * *
Vix sustained huge injuries fighting off the guards around the mosque, but she was enough of a “badass” that she survived. The guards were not so lucky.
Lukas and Marin also sustained injuries but they, too, would heal and survive.
Tobias, unfortunately, did not. War is often cruel about who it lets live and who it does not. Or perhaps it was kind, as it meant that Tobias never had to go through the pain of losing a son he only just had returned to him. Now he would get to be with his one true love, Maresa, in the life after this one.
There was a truce declared between the FreeThinkers and those still of the Society. The Elders and FreeThinker leaders all agreed that there would be freedom of movement between the Society and the outside world. It was a start to rebuilding a united global Seraphim community.
Most of the FreeThinkers chose to return to what was once their homes in Urielos, Gabriela and Michaelea. Gabriel, repentant at allowing so much of Michael’s undue influence on him, resolved to be a better leader for his people. It was decided that the cities would be led by a group of Seraphim and anyone could be voted in for the first time in the history of the Seraphims on Earth. To implement such a change would take time, but it would happen. Uriel had been killed during the battle, so his second in charge stepped in to manage the city until a group of leaders was elected.
There was a lot in Michaelea to clean up; the Tree of Knowledge was dismantled, although the GiftKeeper blood was saved to create more bloodink. The Hollows, where the bodies of Lutando and Tii’la were found, were filled in with soil, never to be used again.
Michael’s secret island was located and the female pri
soners were all freed. The emotional toll on their lives were open wounds. They, too, would eventually heal but their experience would leave them with scars.
After Tobias’ death, Cleo’s mansion didn’t seem like much of a community anymore, so most others relocated. Only a few FreeThinkers including Marin, Dianne and Vix returned to Cleo’s mansion. As did Jordan, hoping to see Cleo. But she would not see him, not yet anyway.
As for Lukas and Ana…well, that’s a story that doesn’t fit on these pages.
Dianne took Mini as her own and began to raise her. She threaded copies of her own memories into the girl so she could more easily adapt to Seraphim life, like how to eat with knife and fork, how to tie up a shoelace, and how to speak.
After picking up Piki from Cleo’s mansion, Sparrow went with the Elder to his home in China, where Vix and Xiang would visit him often. It would take a few days for Piki to forgive him, but he did. He always did. Sparrow later found the Amulet in his pocket that Alyx had slipped him. He wasn’t sure what should be done with it; he was still a boy, after all. But he knew instinctively that he shouldn’t tell anyone about it; he hadn’t quite learned to trust the Elder completely yet. He broke it up into its three pieces and hid them apart from each other hoping that no one ever decided to look for them.
The bodies of Alyx and Israel were buried side by side in the Dades Valley. Two tree shoots would grow from their graves and twist together as they climbed to the sky. Eventually the sand would cover the destroyed mosque and the Gate underneath it. But to this day, parts of the Dades Valley in Morocco remain blood red.
Once the pain of losing Alyx and Israel had subsided, they were remembered fondly by the ones who knew them personally. Songs were written about them both and of their fated love. They became forever part of Seraphim legend. To this day, across the world, books and legends speak of a love so great, it held back the apocalypse. More famous is the legend of a great man, a son of God they called him, who sacrificed his life to save an entire race.
Epilogue
Somewhere on Earth, two souls, made of the same ethereal substance, were pulled into two separate soon-to-be mothers. Later they would be born, one a girl, the other a boy.
They would have no memory of who they were and who they had been on Earth. They would have no idea of the angels that would sometimes come to their window at night to watch them as they slept. They would not see anything of the supernatural world that they both came from. They would not know how their sacrifice saved an entire people. But on quiet nights they would find themselves staring up into the vast sky and feel the pull of something greater out there, and they would feel that they were inextricably part of it.
One day, if they waited, they would find each other again and part of their souls would recognize each other. They would get one chance, one lifetime to love each other and to love each other well.
THE END
Or maybe it’s just another beginning…
Author’s Note
Dear Josip, moj sve,
Because of you I understand why people would start wars for love, would kill for love, and would die for love. All these things Alyx does in this book for Israel.
This book, in fact this whole life of mine, is dedicated to you.
I love you. In this life and the next.
Dearest Readers,
Thank you all for riding this big crazy ride with Alyx and Israel. I started writing this series over six years ago, so in a way they grew up as I did. I sit here with a bittersweet feeling in my heart and tears in my eyes as I write the words “The End.”
There are a few threads − relationships in particular − that I left untied. I didn’t have the time or space to do them justice in this book. It was, after all, Alyx and Israel’s story.
Send me a message, Facebook, email, smoke signals, whatever, and tell me if you’re totally desperate to read more about any of the other characters. You never know, they may just get a book of their own ;)
Because so many of you have asked for it, I’m working on Afterlife (Dark Angel #6), a novel about Israel and Alyx set years after Angeldust.
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Books by Hanna Peach
Fantasy
The Dark Angel Saga
Angelfire (#1)
Angelstone (#2)
Angelsong (#3)
Angelblood (#4)
Angeldust (#5)
Afterlife (#6) ~ coming soon
Contemporary Romance
A Good Wife Series
Girl Wife Prisoner (#1)
Utterly Irreversibly: A Girl Wife Prisoner Novella (#1.5)
Romantic Suspense
The Bound Duology
Bound by Lies (#1)
Bound Forever (#2)
Acknowledgements
To my dad, mum and brother. Even though we each occupy a different country, I feel your love and support. Thank you for always being there.
To my fabulous friends (you know who you are). Thank you for maintaining your connections with me as I gallivant across this big wide world. You keep me sane and give me human-type interactions rather than my imaginary ones to color my day (and keep me out of straitjackets). Special shout-outs to Emma and Dani who cop the majority of my writing rantings. Big love.
To my beta readers, Dani and Laura: you rock. Period. This book wouldn’t be what it is without your feedback.
To Christie from Proof Positive, truly I couldn’t (and wouldn’t want to) publish anything without you.
To Romac Designs. I love my new covers! They beautifully tie this whole series together.
To the amazing bloggers out there who read and reviewed and supported my Dark Angel series. Deepest thanks and appreciation and if I could feed you all your weight in brownies to say thanks then I would! ;)
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
> Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Chapter Fifty-Two
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Four
Chapter Fifty-Five
Epilogue
Acknowledgements