I looked away. ‘Same as always. I can handle it.’
‘Have you considered that perhaps you’re not supposed to? That you don’t have to bear the pain like some kind of punishment?’
I shook my head. ‘Things are the way they are. Leave it at that, Phoenix.’ I leaped off the bed and was at my sink in four short strides, grabbing a glass of water. After taking a shaky gulp I turned back to my angelic visitor. ‘Please just go.’
He stood and took a step towards me before stopping again. He tossed the ball in his hands one more time, then threw it to me. I caught it and studied it. It was an intricate work of intertwined rope.
‘What is it?’ I asked, turning it in my hand.
He moved to the window as if pulled towards it, reminding me of my angel maker, who did the same thing.
Does Phoenix miss the human world?
‘It’s a Gordian Knot. No beginning, no end, a constant cycle that appears impossible to unravel.’ He took a deep breath. ‘There was a prophecy once that whoever undid the knot would become the ruler of Asia. Alexander the Great came along and instead of attempting to untie the knot, he simply took his sword and sliced right through it. And conquered Asia.’
‘Okay. So, why are you giving it to me?’
He glanced at me, then back to the window, watching the quiet pre-dawn streets of London. I already knew there would be no sleep for me tonight.
‘The Gordian Knot is now a symbol for the unsolvable and yet doable for the right person, with the right tools, who is willing to be quick and decisive.’ He turned to me, his hands clasped as I looked down at the ball of rope again. ‘Things are about to change, Violet. The question not one of us knows the answer to right now is, just how much?’
When I looked up, he was fading. Before he disappeared, he pointed behind me and winked. ‘Door,’ he said, and was gone.
That moment, there was a knock on the door. I looked at my watch, barely believing that there was now something else to deal with.
It’s 5 a.m., for Christ’s sake!
I walked to the door and checked the peephole. Shock doesn’t really cover it. A sense of dread was close to what I felt as I yanked the door wide.
‘What the hell are you doing here?’ I demanded.
CHaPteR fIVe
‘Be sober minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.’
1 Peter 5:8
Onyx had barely sat down on one of the my wooden stools when I pounced.
‘How bad is it?’
Steph was the only person who knew my address. She wouldn’t have given it to Onyx unless something terrible had happened and she couldn’t get to me. My mind ran wild and my first thought had been the worst, but I knew I would have felt that.
‘Lover boy is fine,’ he said, grinning as he answered the unspoken part of my question.
I ignored his comment. ‘Steph?’
‘Also fine, although still highly annoying. Even I can’t bear to go on one more shopping trip with her.’
I swallowed nervously and nodded. Steph and Salvatore were getting married. I was the one who was supposed to be there, supporting her, like she’d always done for me. But she understood. Well, as long as I promised to be there on the day. Which I had. It would be my first trip back to New York since … And I’d been trying to ignore the fact that I had no idea how I was going to manage it.
Lincoln was one of Salvatore’s groomsmen.
I bit my lip, thinking, and looked up at Onyx. He was wearing dark jeans and a fitted white shirt. He looked like I remembered; his hair black and heavily styled, his features dominated by his high cheekbones, but his eyes had most definitely changed. They were softer.
Why him? Who would Onyx travel halfway around the world for?
My throat tightened. ‘Spence.’ I wasn’t asking any more.
Resigned, he nodded once.
‘He’s not dead. I … I think I would know,’ I said quickly. I had healed him once, in Jordan, and though I wasn’t certain, something told me it had left a residue, a kind of connection that tethered us in some small way.
‘We don’t think so either. But he’s found himself in a mess, all the same. He’s been distracted for months, insisting on mission after mission chasing every lead to do with those tournaments that have been happening all around.’
I nodded to let him know I knew of them.
‘Last week he and his partner just upped and disappeared mid-assignment in Texas. He’s been off the grid since,’ Onyx explained, reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out an envelope, which he slid across the table. ‘Till this turned up yesterday. When I told the girl,’ he said, using Dapper’s nickname for Steph, ‘she told me where to deliver it.’
My hands were surprisingly steady as I picked up the well-creased envelope that had nothing but my name above the words, For her eyes only.