Page 48 of Fallen

“I didn’t mention that I was really there to see you, of course,” Alex added. “Sloan didn’t give me a chance to argue. The answer was no, and he wouldn’t hear anything but agreement. And then…” His expression changed, becoming thoughtful. “I was intercepted by a prophet.”

“A prophet,” Talon repeated.

“Mm-hm.”

“Like an actual—an actual prophet.”

“Yeah. You know, they fast and receive visions of the Lord.”

“I’m familiar with the term, yes. I had no idea the guild had one, though.” Honestly, he didn’t know there were any prophets alive today. They were mentioned in biblical times, of course, but superstitions ran rampant back then anyway. He’d half-believed ‘prophets’ were just people with vivid imaginations or, at best, very good guessers. He wasn’t convinced they actually received messages from anyone.

Alex squinted at him. “They don’t have just one. There’s a whole prophecy department. Their visions are how we do most of our work. They tell us where to go, what to hunt.”

“You’re shitting me.”

“I would not,” Alex promised.

Talon fought back a smile. Alex’s forthright nature was far more endearing than it had any right to be. “All right then, what did this mysterious prophet have to say?”

Alex smiled patiently. “Well, prophets and paladins aren’t really supposed to mingle. There’s a specific chain of command. Prophets take their visions to the head of their division, Diviner Rousseau, who, along with the rest of the council, determines which visions are priority. Since there’s concern that prophets will tell paladins things they shouldn’t be privy to, interaction is discouraged.”

That made it sound like the paladins themselves were low in the pecking order. He’d thought everyone in the guild was a ‘paladin,’ but apparently there were more divisions of labor than he could’ve guessed. There was a lot about the inner workings of the guild Talon didn’t know about.

“Prophets,” he said under his breath. “Wow. Wait, how many prophets are we talking about?”

Alex shrugged. “I don’t know how many there are in the whole division. They work on a separate floor. I hear they have quiet rooms where they meditate until they have visions they can give the council, but paladins don’t have access to the floor.”

“Huh. We demons just thought all of you were called paladins.”

Alex bobbed his head. “A fair assumption. Wearecalled thePaladinGuild. Everybody gets the rings, too,” he said, laying his left hand flat on the counter so the ruby-and-pearl signet ring was visible.

“And one of these prophets intercepted you, you said?”

“Yeah. He gave me this.” He slid a piece of paper across the counter. Written in hasty script was an Irvine address. “He told me I’d be the one to bring him down and save them, and I should be there by sundown tonight.”

Talon leaned in avidly. “Really? He broke the rules by doing that, didn’t he?”

“He did. We both knew it.”

“Hm. Wonder why.”

Alex shook his head. “Prophets know things the rest of us don’t. But if he’s right, it means this is the only way to stop the mozgoran.”

It could be, yes, but Talon wasn’t so quick to trust. “What if he was lying?”

Alex’s face fell, and a flash of guilt cut Talon to the quick. “You think?”

“I don’t know, little bird. I’m just wary of paladins in general—present company excluded. Why would this guy go out of his way to give you this? Isn’t he risking retribution, too? He broke the rules to do this. What’s in it for him?”

Alex’s mouth twisted in thought. “I think he just doesn’t want anyone else to die. If I don’t go, this family will be killed.”

“What if he gave that vision to the guild’s council? Wouldn’t they send a squad?”

Alex frowned. “I don’t know. Ira must think not, if he came straight to me.”

Talon tilted his head. “Don’t misunderstand me. If you trust him, I trustyou. I just wonder why he went to these lengths. Is your guild not to be trusted? Would they not take his vision to heart and rush to save that family?”

Alex met his gaze, his expression grim. “They must not.”

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