Page 34 of Redeeming the Angel

“Thank you.”I squeezed his hand.“It still hurts.Every day I wonder where my parents and our people are and if they are alive.”

Nik lifted her head from Del’s chest and nodded at me.“We’re not supposed to be able to die, but if anyone could figure out how to circumvent that, it would be Mephistopheles.”

Delgarias shook his head.“He isnota god, no matter how much he aspires to be.He isnotinfallible and has made mistakes that will ensure his defeat.That said, my fears for the luminites of Medicia aren’t about them dying.I fear that whatever he’s been doing to them for the past quarter-century are horrifying enough to make them wish for death.”

I pulled my robes tighter in futile effort to warm the chill in my bones.“You don’t have to say what we’re really thinking out loud, Del.”

Del sighed and moved on to giving instructions on our mission for the night.“I need you four to fly over the surface and reach out and repair the weak points while I walk the perimeter.And if you can discern why the degradation of the barrier is accelerating, you will be a hero to this world.”

We released our wings and flew over the miles-wide chasm.I flew in the direction of the palace that had long been my home.Even though all below me was infinite blackness interminable from anything, my centuries of living here gave me perfect sense of direction.I don’t know why I kept torturing myself by working there, but yet again, here I was.And yet again, the repairs I’d made before were undone.Whatever kept causing the barrier to weaken felt like hate incarnate.

I used levitation magic to hover over a particularly malignant area, right above where the library would have been, and summoned a blue stream of healing magic I’d learned from the mages of Wurrakia.I called up every vestige of love I could manage and strengthened the spell.Nikkita was over by the cave where first she and Del used to have their secret trysts, and then she and I used to hide from everyone in the final months of her pregnancy with Tiana.

As always, memories of helping my sister deliver the baby that I had such brief time with gave me another stab of pain.This wouldn’t do for these healing spells.I turned my mind to the joy I felt when my long-lost niece was discovered and moved on.

Gabriel was over by the forested mountains where Nik and I had foraged for berries and mushrooms.Lucian was near the lakeside cliff where he and I had our first kisses, and later, formed a cave for our own secret trysts.Memories of our lovemaking washed over me, and instead of letting them hurt, I forced myself to revel in them, needing any happy thought I could grasp to banish the hate and heal the barrier.

When we finally finished our task and met Delgarias at the perimeter, every muscle in my body ached and my wings burned in agony.From how far the silver and gold moons had traveled in the sky, I could tell this job had taken several hours.But last time had taken until nearly sunrise.

Delgarias was even paler than usual and his features were taut.His eyes glowed with vampiric hunger.“I hate to ask, but if I am to have the power to rend us a portal, I need to feed.”

Nikkita immediately embraced him, and he bent and sank his fangs into her neck.The low moans from both made Gabriel, Lucian, and I turn away as if we were intruding on something erotic.

And yet I couldn’t help turning back as waves of longing washed over me for what I used to have.Just then, Lucian stepped behind me and I felt his warm breath caress my ear as he whispered.“Just for a moment, let’s pretend you don’t hate me and let me hold you.”

The lump in my throat prevented me from trying to argue.Instead, I selfishly took the comfort he offered, though as covertly as possible.

I leaned back against him, biting back a sigh of pleasure at the feel of his warm body against my back.His arms swept around me, making me feel secure in a way I couldn’t without him.

Again, he whispered in my ear, this time with his lips lightly caressing my sensitive skin.

“Mediciawillbe avenged.Iwilldo everything in my power to see it so.”

Sadly, the moment ended before I could begin to savor it.Delgarias withdrew his fangs from Nikkita’s neck and Lucian quickly released me and took a step back before anyone noticed.

Del opened a portal, and we stepped through it into the village courtyard.“Shall we all pay Zareth a visit and tell him how this night’s efforts went?”

“You three can take care of that.”Lucian avoided looking at me as he gave everyone else a placid smile.“I want to talk to Gabriel about our living arrangements and other matters.”

As he and my cousin departed for the guesthouse, my traitorous mind relived those brief seconds of being in his arms.How I’d missed him holding me like that!Part of me was tempted to pretend that all the ugliness between us had never happened.Part of me needed to pretend.

But that was a dangerous game and I knew it.

Chapter Thirteen

Kerainne

Past

Lucian’s unabashed joy in seeing me visiting him made me feel a pang of guilt for putting it off so long.But dying is truly unpleasant.However, it was past time I accepted his offer to show me the home realm of our kind.And I was able to give my parents a bit of payback for what they put Nik through for her first death.They’d approved for Nik to accompany Delgarias on a diplomatic visit to Shellandria and permitted me to return to Earth to help more tribes.They didn’t know I’d taken a detour.

“Wait,” Lucian broke our embrace and frowned at me.“Did you say Delgarias, that faelin sorcerer courting your sister, is new Keeper of the Prophecy?”

“Shh!No one’s supposed to know they’re courting.But yes.”I wasn’t ready to tell him that Nik and Del had mated already.

That would bring Lucian and I to a conversation I wasn’t sure would be wise yet.Much as the thought of his body melded with mine filled me with heat.

“Surely he now has enough prestige to court her.”At my headshake, he frowned, then shook his own head.“That is so crazy that it’s him.I wish I could have been there to meet him.Does he love Nik?”

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