Page 63 of Even Angels fall
Because, as I step onto theparvis,with the sky turning red from the sun setting at my back,black feathery wings out, bloodied from my first partial shift, and daggers in hand, I can see the fear in the men in front of me.
They wanted me, they’re going to get me.
That might be more than they bargained for, though.
“Who are you?” The man I saw vehemently talking to Elhyor earlier is almost stuttering his question, and I find it almost comical that he didn’t even know who to look for when he asked that I was handed over to him.
I open my arms, and my wings behind me, to show exactly who I am.
“I’m your worst nightmare, and you asked for me,” I say in a voice that drips with smugness.
I know I shouldn’t. These clothes can only do so much. They’re bulletproof, sure, but some of the men have firelances, and I sure as hell won’t try to test if the clothes are fire repellent, too.
“You?” the man asks in a shaky voice as he looks behind me. “You can’t be.”
“Tell that to my father. I think he’ll love your point of view,” I answer back.
That seems to bring him out of whatever trance he was in at the sight of my wings.
“Get her,” he yells to men, who are just behind him.
I could fly if I wanted to escape—if I could manage that with no training—but that’s not why I came here.
My mission was to kill Elhyor, not to get everyone in here killed. I think my father would prefer if I let everyone die and just finish Elhyor after everything, but I’m not so cold-hearted that I would let that happen.
I’m also not a damsel in distress who needs saving.
I can do the damn saving all by myself.
38
Elhyor
Luc runs to my office, panting, and with something in his eyes akin to panic.
“She’s outside. No one saw anything until she fell,” he says between two heavy intakes of air.
He’s one of the younger bat-shifters and already has his wings out for the battle to come, but his words make no sense.
”Who?” I growl, more than ask, as my guts already know the answer to that question.
”Your bride.”
I don’t even hear him finish the two words before I’m already out of my office and running to the entrance.
What did she do? And why on that damn earth did she give herself away? We had everything under control, and I trust my men.
I’m past the doors in just a few seconds, and I let my wings pop out of my body. I try not to have them out all the time, becausethey’re bigger than bat wings and it’s not always practical inside, but I need the scary effect they have on most people right now.
Or maybe not.
I was expecting Angélique to be tied down as I arrived outside. I wasn’t prepared for the scene that unfolds under my eyes.
There are dozens of men trying to get to her, but it seems that they have stopped trying to tie her in any way. Their ropes are left on the ground, and I count five bodies lying next to those ropes, and I’m mesmerized by the speed with which Angélique is moving and disposing of each of her opponents. She only has two daggers, but in a blur, I can see her avoiding a blow with one while plunging the other into someone’s chest. By the time the man drops to the ground, her dagger is already in someone else.
But what is even more mesmerizing are her wings.
I get why she hadn’t been taught how to shift now.
