“We have to rise above the flood soon, Brenn. What are you doing to manage the tide?”
“Me magic is na holding against Sheol—even wi’ Finn and da other fellas’ help. Da ground dere shakes wi’ fury. All is at stake now. I need me queen by me side when worlds collide.”
“Fate calls,” she murmurs.
“Dere is someting else.”
“What?”
“Da fact dat ye saw Atwater troubles me. He can na be trusted. Whahever deal ye make wi’ him, he’ll fail ye.”
“He wants me to join your army—to lead it by your side. He acts as if he has made a promise to you—that he owes you something. He believes we cannot prevail without the Gancanagh in this fight.”
I blink. I was na expecting dat. “He leads well wi’ little lies. Like a blind man, I have followed him before. I would na have ye make da same mistakes as me.”
“Maybe he’s been playing a larger game than either of us realizes, Brennus.”
“Dat’s da problem wi’ Heaven. Ta dem, dis is all a game, Genevieve.”
“It’s a fragile thing—this life.”
“’Tis even more precarious in undeath,” I say wi’ a quirk of me eyebrow.
“Get some sleep, Brenn. You look tired.” She reaches a glowing hand out ta me, touching me cheek. I feel da heat of her soul in da hollowness of me body. It eases da ache in me for a moment. “I will see you soon.”
Her clone rises from me bed and travels tru da wall, out onta da city street. Shadows creep in on me wi’out her light ta keep dem at bay, and I’m forced to obey whahever spell ’twas dat she placed upon me. I close me eyes and I drift off ta sleep, dreaming of her.
EVIE
I don’t return my consciousness to my body after leaving Brennus. Instead I think of a golden-haired Seraph with one eye the color of sky and the other the color of clover. My clone moves through the night, retracing the path I’d just taken. I’m a blowing feather, floating downward, into the house that I left a short time ago—Xavier’s house.
I go through it, passing from room to room, each one more destroyed than the last. My light illuminates the night as I float back outside, onto the rooftop patio. I find Xavier, his shoulders rounded as he grips the railing overlooking the water. His hands have bent the metal. Snow falls around us. He’s shirtless, his crimson-colored wings shifting in the frigid air. He must be cold.
“You should go inside. It’s freezing out here.”
He whips around, facing me. The savage pain etched upon his face is almost more than I can bear. “Where are you?”
“Not far from here.”
“Show me where you are and I will come get you.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Please go inside,” I beg. I hate seeing him like this. He’s an open wound.
He takes a few steps nearer to the image of me. “Not until you tell me where you are.” His warm breath clashes with cold night, causing white wispy vapor to curl away from him.
“I need you, Xavier. I’m dead if you don’t help me.”
His face stiffens as he attempts to rein in his emotions. “Tell me what’s happened.”
“I know about that night—the night I was suppose to meet you at the bridge. I never made it there.”
“You have the boatswain.” He inhales as if he can take his first deep breath in a long time.
“I do,” I say in Angel. I know I’m not supposed to tell him, but I have to in order to make him understand.
“You remember Simone? You remember us?” he asks in Angel. His handsome face is hopeful.
I close my clone’s eyes in concentration, breaking off a small fragment of her. I open her eyes again as I thrust the glowing shard of my energy into him. It pierces his heart like a dagger, disappearing inside his chest. He glows brighter for a moment. His face is one of shock until the memory plays out to the end. The light dissipates from him and he sags a little, unharmed, but trying to make sense of all he saw in my memory. When he looks at me again, the hopeless ache that was in his eyes is gone and reckless joy replaces it.
“You told me you made a deal for us, but you couldn’t tell me anything else.” He would hold me in his arms now if he could. His hands open, and then close tight. “I will destroy your inescapable and Byzantyne. Your soldier will ascend, and then it’s you and me together for eternity.
“Reed is my aspire.” My voice is as haunting as my clone body.
“Only until he ascends. Once that happens, his binding mark will strip from your skin and you’ll be released from your obligations to him. You’ll be his champion no more. You can choose your love.”
“I’m in love with him, Xavier.”
“You love me.”
“I do love you—”
“It’s always been us, Evie, even when you were tied to your soul mate. No one knows you like I know you.”