Page 25 of Angel's Smoke

“My brothers and I, when we were cast out of the Empyrean, the fall altered our powers, robbing us of some and gifting us with others. My celestial angel fire, the strongest magic and connection held to the Empyrean, was essentially put on notice once I landed here. I can call upon it and wield it as needed, but it drains from me each day. What was once as much an innate part of me as breathing now must be recharged each night while I sleep belowground, absorbing my metal’s essence from the mountains and minerals around me.”

A flash of recognition brightened her eyes, and he could clearly see relief softening her features at having connected some dots in the kaleidoscope of their conversation. Anna’s mortal mind wasn’t just adrift but near to drowning, yet despite all that, she still managed to grab the straw he’d offered.

Smart woman.

“Yes, my name was chosen due to the metal I command.”

She still didn’t say anything but slowly nodded. It was as close to an acknowledgment as he would get, and he took it. Because, boy, would he need it.

Iron exhaled slowly and shifted against the couch. “Eventually, it was discovered that, in finding and activating that soul bond connection, our full angel fire returned. There was no more need to recharge our powers belowground each night.”

“But you didn’t sleep underground last night,” Anna added softly, yet another indication that she was at least following his story, if not believing some of it.

He smiled, hoping it hid the pang of worry over any conclusions she may be drawing. “No, I didn’t.”

Then she leaned forward, still clutching the pillow to her middle. “I don’t believe any of what you’re saying, okay? But if I did, what does all this have to do with me?”

Easy, Iron. Baby steps.

“The first night I started examining the relic, I kept it close. Like, against-my-heart close.” He patted his flannel pocket where the vial sat comfortably. Then he plucked it out and set it on the coffee table in front of him. Anna’s eyes bloomed in shock. “It’s rarely left my side since, and every night after that, I dreamed of you. It was only a few days ago that this thing started firing up, showing its magic to me in a way I couldn’t get it to do before. That was when my dreams stopped, and I found you.”

Anna stood and walked over to the coffee table, pillow braced against her like a shield. Once she got within three feet of the shard, it began glowing and pointing at her, tapping out its eager message loud and clear against the wood.

“Every time I thought to go in the opposite direction of what my dreams were showing me, this thing got angry and chose to redirect my course.”

Anna shook her head. “I’m not sure I follow.”

“What I’m trying to tell you, and what this piece of the Empyrean is backing me up on, is that our soul’s twin sparks have found each other. Our shared dreams were spawned from the celestial magic awakening to finally connect our two souls. And that magic is what brought us together and what will help me and my brothers destroy Cyro once and for all and return to the Empyrean.”

Outside, the wind beat its desire to join the conversation, to pull attention and focus back on the destruction it sought to wreak outside, but its turmoil could never hope to match the unsteady storm brewing behind Anna’s eyes.

They were impossibly wide, pulled round as they took in the glowing bone-like shard pointing its tip in her direction. For anyone else, he would have claimed it was a parlor trick. Some up-the-sleeve nonsense that mortal minds were more than happy to believe because recognizing the unknown had always been a fear far too terrifying to unlock fully.

But Iron couldn’t bear to see that with Anna, couldn’t bear to see what her refusal and dismissal would mean when it came to securing the only ticket home he could ever hope to offer his brothers.

Please keep an open mind, Anna. Remember our time in the dreamscape.

When she still didn’t respond and kept flicking her gaze to the front door, he took a step around the coffee table and held the hand containing her glasses out to her. “Here.”

Anna extended a shaky finger toward the relic’s glowing shard. “It’s pointing at me. Itmoved.”

“And it’ll move toward you again if I’m going in the wrong direction. But here, please.”

Thankfully, she heard the sincerity in his voice and gave her attention to what he was offering her.

“Put your glasses back on.”

“I-I forgot about them.”

“I know. You’ve had a lot to take in.”

She shook her head, still stunned. “I didn’t even realize I wasn’t wearing them.”

But when she reached forward, he pulled them back slightly. “There’s something else I want to show you. It . . . it might be a lot.”

“That thing is still following me. Why is it following me?” she said, eyeing the shard as it turned in her direction.

“I can answer that question, as well as every other question blowing through your mind right now. I’ll tackle every last one and many you didn’t know to ask, I promise. But first, I need to do one thing.”

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