Page 106 of Even Angels fall
I heard Eric grunt when Angélique threw him over her shoulders so I know he’s awake–-or somewhat awake—and his reflexes would kick in, but Sam and Eric were on the ground, not moving for quite a while and if I hadn’t heard them breathe from where I stood in the corridor, I wouldn’t have had much hope about them. Sam’s head wound is still bleeding now, and I’m almost sure that Gaspard passed out from the pain of his broken leg. I can see the bones poking out of his skin from between my claws, and it’s not a pretty sight.
He’s going to need a healer because if he shifts in this state, he’s going to heal all wrong, and his bones might stay bent.
The bullets have stopped flying around, and I can finally see Notre Dame from where I am, so I slow down a bit so I don’t shake my passengers too much. After another minute, I slowly lower myself to land onle parvisinstead of the rooftop because it’s not going to be easy to move Gaspard without damaging his legs some more.
I softly put all my passengers down as Angélique jumps from my leg and Luc runs from the double doors of Notre Dame.
At least, the kid is safe and sound.
My first reaction to seeing him is to yell at him to get Brice, because he’s the one usually handling wounds and calling the healer, but I stop myself before doing so, remembering that my best friend is nowhere to be found and that I should already be looking for him or at least that I need to start doing so as soon as possible.
“The healer is on his way,” Cassiopé says as she crosses the threshold of Notre Dame. “When Luc came back in panic I called, because I thought maybe someone would need him, and that I was like ‘better safe than sorry’ because time could be of the essence and I’m glad I did, because oh my hell, there’s so much blood…”
She finally breathes, and I shift back to my human form.
“You did good,” I tell her. I need to tell her about her dad, too, but she doesn’t give me time to say anything anymore.
“Where is my dad?” She looks around us as one by one the men who were in the second wave entering Versailles drop to the ground naked. They probably could have avoided public exposure by doing that inside, but they also probably think that they could get rinsed of all the blood they’re covered in outside first.
We don’t have a cleaning team inside of Notre Dame and everyone participates the way they can, so it makes sense that they wouldn’t want to get anything dirty, but that makes it much more obvious that we’re coming back with fewer people than we left with.
I shake my head in answer, and I can see Cassiopé’s eyes starting to shine.
I don’t want to give her too much hope, though, because we don’tknowfor sure what happened to Brice.
“Where is his body, then?” she asks, and her voice sounds almost accusing.
“We don’t know what happened to him and his team,” I start as I circle her shoulder, and she drops her head to my chest. I can feel the tears she was holding in a few seconds ago sliding against my skin. For humans it could look weird, because I’m naked, hugging someone in the street, but for shifters who spend half their time shifting—and by consequence naked—it’s not surprising. “He might still be alive, but we don’t know what Michaël has planned with any of them.”
I should tell her that if there’s someone Michaël is going to keep alive, it’s her dad since he’s my right hand, and Michaël definitely knows that but I won’t be inconsiderate of everyone else on the team and their family or friends so I can’t say those words in public.
I can’t crush everyone’s hope just to alleviate a bit more Cassiopé’s hope, so instead I redirect the conversation. As I start walking to the doors, I hold my hand in Angélique’s direction so she doesn’t feel left out, and she comes with us inside.
72
Angélique
This is all my fault.
I walk after Elhyor in a daze. I saw myself grab his hand when he held it for me, but then everything looks like it’s happening in a blur.
This is all my fault.
I accepted to marry Elhyor.
I said I would kill him.
And when I didn’t keep my word, my father decided to punish me by attacking Léandre.
And now we might have set fire to the servers, but we don’t know if they’ve been destroyed or if everything is still intact, and we’re missing eleven men and one of them is the father of the girl I came to consider my friend.
I can’t help the feeling that all those shitty things happened because of me.
And now I have to announce to my best friend that maybe in a few hours he won’t remember me.
It’s probably going to be harder on me than him. Or, it’s going to be harder for him to swallow it down and then he’ll forget all about it.
”Where is Léandre?” I suddenly ask. Because yes, it’s surprising that he isn’t here with us when we went there to try to find a way to save him.
