Page 73 of Revelations

Hands fisted on her hips, Greylyn bit back, “Well, I’d be glad to hear your thoughts on the matter then. Why did he save Thomas’s life? What purpose did it serve?”

“Well, that is quite simple, really.” He waited on her to guess. When she said nothing, he finally blurted out, “You. He did itforyou!”

Confused, Greylyn didn’t know what to make of that declaration. A part of her wanted to believe it, but the logical part of her ruled it as impossible.

Shaking her head, she responded firmly, “No. I don’t agree with that. Kael wouldn’t do anythingforme. He has to have his own reasons.”

Olivier rolled his eyes dramatically. “Of course, he did it for you. So far, that is all he has ever done.”

At that, her head snapped up to stare at the gigantic being with flowing blond hair and dressed in an immaculate designer suit—incredibly out of place for a cave in the mountains of Tibet.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. If Kael did something, anything, it would only be to serve his own purposes…or yours.”

With an exaggerated sigh, he tsked at her. “You really do not know, do you?” His face contorted into a puzzled expression before a big grin broke out, reminiscent of the Joker villain from comic books. “How marvelous! You are completely ignorant.”

“Hey,” she started to object.

His chuckle reverberated in the vast empty cavern. “Now, do not get testy with me. It is not my fault that you are oblivious.”

The truth hammered at her skull, but Greylyn slammed the door against it. “Why would he do anything for me, other than if it would help your cause? He’s on your payroll, not mine.”

“Ah….denial.”

“Yeah, it’s a freaking river in Egypt.”

Sometimes controlling her sarcasm got to be too much. Greylyn knew that the last thing that she should do was to argue with a fallen archangel, but anything related to Kael put her on the defensive.

Bushy platinum eyebrows arched high on his forehead, just as one corner of his mouth ticked up. “So you are willing to buy the tale that he did it because he thinks you are an idiot?” His tone reeked of patronizing superiority.

“Maybe. I certainly don’t buy the crap you’re trying to sell that he did it for me.” Really, who would believe that?

“So the fact that he spared your life countless times, has not pummeled your friend Jasper into liverwurst pudding, and has even nursed you back to health after you were attacked more than once…none of that makes a dent in your opinion? Wow, what a fickle filly you are?”

Honestly, she found it hard to argue those points.

Olivier continued in a soft, confiding manner. “He even spared your life, when you were still human. Against Lucifer’s strict orders, too.”

To that, she had no response. Greylyn heard his words, but it took a couple of minutes to process them.He saved me when I was human? Against Lucifer’s orders? When I was human?

Clearing her throat as she now found herself near mute from astonishment, she stared at the gloating archangel as the gleam in his neon-green eyes mocked her.

“Yes, dear. You heard that correctly. I should know. I witnessed his defiance firsthand. You see, my brother wanted you dead, so the prophecy would die with you. Little did anyone know you would rise again, rekindling the prophecy. Kael disobeyed andno onedisobeys Lucifer.”

He fell silent for a couple of minutes, allowing his words to seep into her skin, her mind, and her heart—daring her to believe the truth.

“That was how he came to be in my employ. I wanted you alive, so you would fulfill your purpose. Our overall goal was the same, but still you ended up dead.”

Greylyn choked out the question, “Kael was supposed to kill me?” Her head swam as another idea slammed her. “Did he kill my parents?”

The thought that he had been the one to commit the deed made her blood run like ice water through her veins. Had the man, to whom less than forty-eight hours ago she had nearly given herself …had he been the one to kill her parents?

Shaking his head and rubbing the bridge of his nose as if trying to get a point across to a wayward child, he blustered so loudly, that the walls of the cavern shook. “Of course not! Have you not been listening?”

She had forgotten that he could probably read her thoughts, too. The way that he stared at her indicated that he was doubting her intelligence now.

“I will state it again as plainly as I possibly can. Lucifer wanted you dead. He ordered Kael to do the deed. Kael refused. The thing with your parents was well before his time.” Arching one bushy eyebrow, he added, “Honestly, I am not so sure Lucifer was behind their deaths, either.”

A ragged breath escaped that she had not known that she hadbeen holding in. “Kael didn’t kill me. He didn’t kill my parents? Then who did?”

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