Zoe glanced towards me, then Lincoln.
Lincoln nodded. ‘Phoenix is one of us,’ he said, simply, and through our souls I could feel that he meant it. They would never like one another for any of the reasons that made sense, but Lincoln understood Phoenix. And, oddly, he was grateful to him for loving me. Because, although it almost ended the world as we knew it, and he did kill me once, his love had also saved my life. Twice.
Zoe paused for a beat, before straightening and turning her gaze back to Phoenix. ‘Consider it done.’
Gray cleared his throat. ‘Listen, I know what we did in Santorini, holding back that tsunami, but I was in Miami in 1926 when a category-four hurricane hit and believe me when I tell you – a full-force hurricane isn’t like anything you’ve seen. Even with all of our forces combined …’ He shook his head.
‘You’re right,’ Phoenix answered. ‘But with your nature users and telekinetics at my back, you might be surprised what I can do.’
‘This is crazy!’ Steph yelled against the force of the weather as we stood up on the deck. In the past few hours the wind had continued to fluctuate unpredictably.
‘I have to speak with my angel maker!’ I yelled back.
‘What can you say? He might not be able to help you, Vi!’
‘Then maybe Nox and Uri can do something. They can’t just let this happen!’
Lincoln suddenly appeared behind us, grabbing us and dragging us back inside.
‘What were you two doing out there?’ he asked, closing the door behind him.
‘I’m going to see the angels,’ I explained.
He nodded as if he’d been expecting me to say exactly that.
‘And I need to do this one on my own,’ I added.
Lincoln’s eyes flashed up. ‘Does that mean you’re going to take me with you tomorrow?’
I nodded, resigned to the fact that for better or worse, we were a team and I wasn’t going to try to fight that any more. ‘We’ll talk about it, but yes. If I cross tomorrow night then we cross together.’
‘Thank you,’ he whispered, pulling me briefly to his chest. And I knew that it was about more than being in the fight. In many ways, it was our last hurdle of trust.
‘Would you give me a minute?’ I asked them both, stepping back. ‘I need to do this on my own.’
Steph hesitated, but Lincoln gently took her arm and steered her down the hall. ‘She knows what she’s doing, Steph.’
I heard Steph laugh as they turned the corner and say, ‘A little nooky and suddenly you’re the voice of reason?’
I didn’t hear the response, but I felt it, through what could only be described as a cheeky kiss through our soul bond.
I walked to my cabin and wasted no time, using my abilities to cross the realms.
But when I arrived in the blank expanse of space that I created with the angels, I found myself eerily alone.
I searched with both my Sight and my senses. ‘I won’t leave that city to die! This is not why I fight!’ I yelled into the nothingness. ‘They have families and people who love them. The world is a much bigger place than it was when you took down Sodom and Gomorrah. If you destroy New Orleans you will destroy much more than the land and the people on it!’
But there was no answer, and I knew that no matter how long I remained, no angels would talk to me today.
Lincoln sat me down and insisted we eat dinner. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten, nor could I stomach the idea of food, but as soon as he put a plate of pasta in front of me, I found myself grinning like a fool.
‘You cooked?’ I asked, looking down at my favourite pasta dish.
He chuckled. ‘No, not exactly. But I did have a long chat with the chef and may have given him an extra incentive to make something special.’
I regarded him suspiciously. ‘You paid him, didn’t you? How much?’
‘Enough to expect that every mouthful is perfect, so eat!’ he ordered, avoiding the question.
I twisted a mouthful onto my fork and dove in. ‘So good,’ I mumbled. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a proper meal like this.
Lincoln’s thumb wiped away a drip of sauce from the corner of my mouth and I blushed as he licked it off his finger, his eyes on me.
I cleared my throat. ‘So, do you still own the warehouse?’ I asked, watching as he finally looked away from me to begin eating.
‘We do,’ he said, between mouthfuls.
I straightened. ‘We?’
What have I missed?
‘Yes, Violet, we. As in: you and me. Everything I have is yours, which makes us considerably wealthy.’
My eyes widened. I’d always known that Lincoln had inherited a vast amount of money from his mother, but I’d never dared nor cared to try to put a figure on it.