“That’s just bullshit. You are not tainted,” Cass protested, surprising Kushiel. “You help souls find redemption. Your soul only shines brighter for the selflessness in your actions. You care about every soul in your charge, and you help anyone who needs it. Never be ashamed of that, Kushiel, and fuck anyone who makes you feel bad for it,” Cass declared.
Kushiel almost smiled. Cass was so passionate, even if he wasn’t quite correct about Kushiel.
It was like Cass heard his thoughts, though, because he said, “You may not believe me yet, but I will make you believe it eventually. You shine, Kushiel, more brightly than any other angels, and anyone who doesn’t see that is a fool. You are beautiful, inside and out.”
Kushiel felt tears come to his eyes, and he had to blink them away. He could only murmur, “Thank you.”
“Obviously some afterlifers have made you doubt your worth. I’m sorry for that, and it isn’t right. You’re beautiful, Kushiel,” Cass reiterated. “And we will find your lost souls and whatever asshole decided to turn them into ghosts and take them from you.”
Kushiel felt like discussing that was the safer bet, so he followed that train of thought. “Yes, not all angels might understand or respect my work, but I cannot think of any angel who has such malice to take so many souls from Erebus and harm them in such a way simply to punish me.”
Cass hmm’d softly, clearly thinking. He turned and finished putting things away before looking back at Kushiel.
“I see two problems there,” Cass admitted. “First of all, you assume it’s about you. There might be a host of reasons whysomeone wouldn’t want souls to be reincarnated, most of which we probably can’t even fathom. I don’t think this is centered on you. I’m not sure why, but that isn’t the feeling I get.”
“You think an angel was targeting the souls themselves?” Kushiel questioned, perplexed. It wasn’t that he doubted Cass, it was just that he couldn’t fathom anyone not wanting to see souls redeemed.
“That is where the other problem lies,” Cass stated. “You assume it’s an angel. But it couldn’t be an angel, could it?” Cass asked.
Kushiel blinked at Cass. “It makes sense that it’s an angel. They would be the ones with an issue with me. Or, if it is about the souls, perhaps they don’t feel the souls are worthy of leaving hell.”
“Yes, but that’s just it,” Cass reasoned. “They were in hell. As far as we know, you are the only angel who can enter hell. An angel couldn’t have taken the souls from Erebus, because they couldn’t have gone to Erebus at all.”
Kushiel was shocked, and the pain of betrayal hit him. “It was a demon who took the souls,” he realized. He had thought of the demons as his brethren for so long, but Cass’s logic was undeniable.
Cass nodded. “Yes. We aren’t looking for a rogue angel. We’re looking for a rogue demon.”
Chapter 11
Cassius
Kushiel had looked totally shocked that it could be a demon responsible. Cass thought that was pretty telling for how he had been treated by angels as opposed to by demons. People didn’t tend to think the worst of their own people, yet Kushiel clearly did.
Cass had excused himself at that point to get ready for the day, and Kushiel had seemed to need the time to process, anyway. Cass needed his own time to think, too.
He didn’t usually get visions when he was talking to someone, but he was positive he had seen one of the angel’s memories when Kushiel had been talking.
Kushiel had a whip in his hand and a man kneeling in front of him, and each time Kushiel swung the whip onto the man’s back, the man flinched in pain. However, instead of the marks appearing on the man’s back, they appeared on Kushiel’s back, which was a bloody, marked-up mess. Yet the angel hadn’t flinched once, though his face had been carved in pain.
Kushiel helped souls find forgiveness by taking part of their pain onto himself. It was so damn noble and generous that Cass thought he fell a little in love just knowing about it.
Then Kushiel had said that he was “tainted,” and Cass might have gotten a bit passionate. He hoped he hadn’t scared his shy, nervous angel, but it had hurt to realize that Kushiel thought that of himself. He was better than every other demon and angel Cass had ever met. Kushiel wasbeautiful, and Cass would make him see it.
Cass finished getting ready—he’d taken a quick shower and gotten dressed, because he still had a coffee shop to run. He needed to talk to Steph about hiring someone else. She would pick up the slack over the next week or so while he dealt with all of this, and she didn’t mind the overtime, but they really needed a better system in case both of them were ever unavailable. She’d opened the shop this morning, and they had a college kid who was competent enough to close later, but Cass still had to do some paperwork and payroll to do today.
He finished trying to tame his hair—maybe time for a haircut?—and headed back downstairs to the kitchen. Cass squinted a little and saw that Kushiel had his human form on for the public. His angel was wearing white, loose pants and a dark gray sweater, which looked totally sexy against the angel’s light gray skin. Cass had the urge to run his hands through that dark hair, but he resisted. Barely.
“Very sexy outfit,” Cass winked. Kushiel seemed shocked, and then that adorable pink tinge spread over his gray skin.
Fuck. Cass was so in over his head. Everything he learned about Kushiel only made him more attractive.
“You really don’t mind coming to the coffee shop? It would be fine if you wanted to stay here and relax. Although I would love to have your company,” Cass added. He didn’t want Kushiel to think he wasn’t welcome.
“I would be glad if I could be of assistance,” Kushiel said, and Cass took him at face value, leading the way out of the house.
It was beautiful out—a sunny and warm day, and perfect for a walk to the shop. Kushiel kept pace with him, but he kept looking curiously at Cass.
“What is it?” Cass asked. “You can ask me anything. Something is obviously niggling away at you. I promise you I’m not offended easily, and I’m happy to share.”
