Page 51 of Saints & Sinners

Joe sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, and by that, I already knew the answer to my question. “No. She won’t talk to anyone. She won’t even let a Healer anywhere near her to at least try and help.”

I looked down, guilt gnawing at me. I knew Veronica blamed me for Lucas’s death. She had her vision, and for whatever reason it may be, she only focused on me.

“And Lucas,” I started, swallowing the lump in my throat. ‘Whycan’t he be... resurrected? I mean, you’re all angels, right? Surely there is a way around it.”

Joe’s face hardened. “There are rules, Grace. Strict ones. We can’t just—” He sighed. “Look, there are consequences for that kind of interference. The Council wouldn’t allow it. Besides, we’ve spoken about this before. Life should never be tampered with, whether a soul is in heaven, purgatory or even hell.”

I refused that answer, even when Joe first told me about it. “What about the Hollow?” I regretted saying the name out loud. I could see it in Joe’s eyes as they became a door open to fear and worries. He grabbed my arm and took me further down the hallway to another empty and even quieter corner.

His gaze searched up and down the hallway before settling back on me. “What have I told you about the Hollow, Grace?”

I was silent for a moment.

And then I whispered, “That it is forbidden to talk about.”

He nodded as if he was reprimanding me, just as he had when I turned nine years old and found out about it. Nadael had come to visit us, and I spent the evening listening outside the kitchen door to how they spoke of thisplace. A place that was deep within the confines of hell where every Celestial that died in any realm was sent.

I spent nights dreaming about what it could look like. I couldn’t shake it out of my head, so I went searching. In libraries, in anything that Joe might have had in his room. It wasn’t until he caught me that he finally told me about the Hollow. Every angel and demon were afraid of the Hollow. And whenever I’d ask Joe why these Celestials couldn’t return to their homes, he would tell me that their deaths would disrupt the delicate balance between realms.

Perhaps that was where many Celestials ended up after the Grand War.

“Sorry for bringing it up,” I mumbled, and I fought to keep mydisappointment from showing too much. I had been clinging to some small, impossible hope, but no, life was cruel, even with the existence of Celestials. “I should probably go catch up with the Warriors. I’ll talk to you when you’re... less busy.”

Joe reached out, grabbing my arm gently as his eyes softened in a way that stirred a sense of guilt in my chest. “Grace... I really do wish I could take you away from all of this. Give you the life you deserve away fromhere.”

I pulled my arm away, biting back my tongue on the fact that if he wanted that, then why did he take me in when he knew the Celestial world was beyond reach for me? But I also knew that I couldn’t see myself in a world where Joe never took care of me. It was all too conflicting.

“I know,” I said. “But this has been my life for a long while now, Joe.” I didn’t want to deal with any more well-meaning reassurances. “Maybe it would be better for me to accept the situation and deal with it, right?”

Without waiting for a reply, I turned and walked away with my heart racing and my mind spinning as I made my way out towards the training grounds. The moment I stepped onto the field, I could feel the eyes of other Ascendants on me, their judgmental glances cutting through the brisk air. Some whispered, others snickered. I didn’t need to hear what they were saying to know what it was already.

Azrael was standing at the pit, watching two trainees go up against each other with his usual calculated gaze. When his eyes landed on me, they narrowed, and a wisp of disappointment passed over his face. “Martin,” he said. “If you’re going to return to my classes, make sure you are early, not the latter.”

I didn’t respond. I just held my chin up and walked past him, ignoring the looks I was getting from others, including Matias, as the murmurs grew louder as I passed. Words like ‘trouble’ slipped through the cracks in the conversations around me,making it hurt more than I wanted to admit. It always did.

My eyes then swept over the training grounds until they landed on him—Hunter, standing across the field. The moment our eyes locked, everything else melted away. The argument from this morning, the Ascendant’s whispers and lingering stares—all of it disappeared. What only lingered was the memory of last night, the comfort I found in his arms. It was a mess of emotions, tangled and raw, and everything I had tried to suppress crushed into me at once.

Neither of us moved. We just stood there with the weight of unspoken words stretching between us like a fragile thread ready to snap.

I tore my eyes away from his and made my way to the weapons rack. My fingers grazed the weathered wood, the cool metal edges rough beneath my touch. I tried to focus, to calm the whirlwind in my mind, but the sleek blades and polished handles meant nothing to me then. All I wanted was for the chaos inside of my mind to be quiet.

Chapter Twenty-Six

“This is a terrible idea,” Marnie whispered beside me, her face scrunched with actual genuine concern.

I gave her a reassuring smile that I wasn’t entirely sure I believed in myself. “I just need to talk to her. Stay out here, okay?”

Marnie’s eyes widened, and she stepped back reluctantly. “Okay, but if you scream, I’m coming in.”

I shook my head, suppressing a laugh, and with a deep breath, I turned toward Veronica’s dorm door in the Guardians Sector. My heart ricocheted against my chest as I knocked lightly. When no sound came from inside, I hesitated and reached for the handle. To my surprise, the door creaked open.

It wasn’t locked.

I pushed it open, stepping cautiously into the room. The inside felt heavy, and I immediately spotted Veronica by the small kitchenette. She was hunched over, carving something into the wooden tabletop with a knife. The rhythmic scrape of the blade filled the silence, and for a moment, I wasn’t sure if I should say anything at all.

“Bold move of you, coming inside.” Veronica’s voice broke thesilence. “Alone.”

I swallowed, nerves prickling my skin. “I just... wanted to check on you.”

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