Page 74 of Revelations

Olivier’s head tilted to one side, as his eyes assessed her completely as if trying to determine if she really was a half-wit. “That is what I have been trying to tell you. Someone else murdered you. When Kael found out, that boy went on a bloody rampage. Now, I was pissed off, but nothing like Kael. He decimated everything in a two-hundred-mile radius. I do not think there had been a greater disaster since the destruction of Babylon.” He paused to see if this was all sinking in. Satisfied that his student had finally gotten the gist of the lesson, he continued. “It was not until later when he saw you in some pub in England, I think. I am not sure who was more surprised—him or me. Of course, it took longer for me to find out; decades, actually. When I questioned him as to why he did not tell me immediately about you—and trust me, the questioning was quite brutal—he coyly stood by his decision to—what were his exact words? Oh yes, he said he wanted you all to himself to toy and torment for eternity.” At that last, Olivier threw his mane of hair back again and laughed heartily.

That last sentence slammed home as true. Kael certainly would go to any lengths to torture her. He had been playing with her for centuries. Still, he hadn’t been the one to kill her. A part of her had believed him capable of the deed, but she had never accepted it.

Stunned into silence, Greylyn could say or do nothing. Her feet were cemented to the ground, her arms frozen at her sides.

Olivier abruptly stopped laughing. With a heavy sigh, he continued, “Kael and I worked together to keep you out of my dear brother’s line of sight. Once he found out, he was furious. He sentarmies after both of us. When tried for his negligence, Kael never wavered from his story. Well, you know my brother…that was not close to being a satisfactory answer.”

The thundering in her heart came to a screeching halt for a split second before revving up to supersonic speed. Kael had defied Lucifer? How was he not roasting over a barbeque pit for eternity?

Olivier walked over to her. He took a strand of her wayward hair that had fallen out of the scrunchie and twirled it around his finger while looking her deeply in the eyes. A chill spread up her spine.

“After a couple of decades in the deepest, darkest corners of the Pit, Kael was released for good behavior…and went right back to following you around the globe like a damned puppy.”

She could not tell if the lilt in his voice at the end of his statement was admiration or revulsion.

Still reeling from the onslaught of surprise, the gist of it stung her to the core. Words liketoy and torment for eternityplayed on repeat in her head. A sick bubbling rose in her stomach like molten lava ready to crest over the edge of the volcano. The pressure in her head blinded her temporarily, as every instance where she had faced him flashed in her mind’s eye.

Kael always brought destruction and death wherever he went. She had witnessed it. Shehad seenhis cruelty. Now, knowing that he had made it his personal business to delight in her suffering as she tried to save those in his path…there were no words for the anguish fulminating through her. He would pay. She would make certain of it.

But he defied Hell itself to spare my life.

The earth shifted on its axis, as the two seemingly contradictory realities converged. He’d saved her life, and had kept her from Lucifer’s clutches, but only to prey on her for all of eternity. What kind of sick, twisted game was this?

Olivier stood, patiently waiting for her to soak it all in. His smile grew wider with every passing second. That was why his conciliatory tone threw her off. “Now, no need to be like that. By the look on your face, I am assuming thatyou are ready to rip Kael to shreds, while keeping him alive to make him watch the tissue and muscles being stripped from his body.”

“Now, there’s the best idea you’ve had since we met,” she shot back.

“You are missing the point, dear Greylyn.” His eyes narrowed to mere slits, allowing only a sliver of neon light to escape. “Even if he only lives to cause you pain, why save your friend? Perhaps, he has been lyingto meall this time. Just perhaps, it is not about hurting you at all. He has painted quite the paradox, has he not? Acting as if he desires nothing more than to cause you untold suffering while protecting you from those who could deliver the ultimate pain in never-ending waves? Boggles the mind, does it not?”

Really, this entire conversation was riling her up. Olivier was having a grand time playing with her, and that angered her more. She was no one’s plaything.

With venom boiling in her veins, she spit out, “Then, what is all this about?”

With a flourish of his hand, he shrugged. Clearly, he suspected the answer, but was not about to tell. “That is not what is important here.”

Irritated at being given the runaround, she fumed, “Then precisely what the hell is important? Why are we even here?” Greylyn glared.

“Oh my, what a pretty thing your eyes do when you are angry. Emeralds to sapphires, it is quite extraordinary.”

“Shut up!” Every fiber of her being wanted to lash out at Olivier, at anything that would stand still for her to pummel into a bloody pulp. She was not a damn chess piece to be moved forward, back, and diagonally at someone else’s will.

“Just paying you a compliment.” His Cheshire cat grin only served to infuriate her more.

With her fists clenched at her sides, her fingers twitched for the dagger strapped to the waistband of her jeans at the small of her back.

Her dagger against an all-powerful fallen archangel? No, even in her infuriated state, she knew that her chances against Olivier were non-existent.

Heaving a deep sigh, she continued. “You putting me in time-out for something Kael did? Rather counterproductive, don’t you think?”

The overbearing hulk stalked over to within less than an inch from her face. His musky cologne, intermixed with the aromas of cigars and scotch on his breath maligned by a hint of sulphur, filled her nostrils. Evil permeated the air between them. Greylyn instinctively backed away, but he grabbed both of her upper arms and yanked her against his broad chest.

“Actually, dear,” he snarled, “We are in the midst of a test. You see, I need to know what is going through that skull of Kael’s. What is motivating him? Is he acting inmybest interest, his, or …yours? I cannot tolerate disloyalty or one of my own playing me as a fool. If Kael is truly my servant, he will not mind that I have you trapped here. He will stay away. If, however, you are his primary concern,then he will come to rescue you and prove his falsehood to me.”

A test? Seriously? All of this fuss to test Kael’s loyalties?

“I hate to tell you this, but Kael doesn’t even know I’m here. Also, he’s not going to care where I am, as long as I’m working on your damned prophecy.” A speck of doubt, hope even, lodged in the back of her mind.

“For his sake, I hope you are right.”

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