From the expansive bedroom, I stared out over the Jardin des Tuileries, at the charred stumps of trees and the frozen earth. Aereus had put all his efforts into his death garden, completely neglecting the world outside the Louvre.
Outside, a group of cherubs drifted past the window, heads cocked. As I’d moved around the castle, I’d tried to study the cherubs’ movements. Sometimes, they glided together in groups, speaking in unison. It was as if they shared some kind of mental connection. If I had to glamour myself as a cherub, I’d never be able to work as a synchronized drone among their numbers. They seemed to patrol the same paths within the Louvre, their movements predictable and unified, the product of a shared mind.
But occasionally, a taller cherub with silver-streaked hair would float by on her own. The taller ones seemed to move about more freely, taking on some sort of supervisory roles. I never heard them speak, but their pale eyes held a keen intelligence I didn’t see in the smaller cherubs.
Behind me, the door creaked, and Adonis crossed into the room. Tanit and Kur followed close behind him.
At the sight of Adonis unharmed, my chest unclenched a little. “How exactly did that situation resolve?” I asked. “It sounded like you were both breaking the walls with each other’s bodies. I’m surprised your wings are intact.”
Adonis rubbed his chin, narrowing his eyes at me. “Of course my wings are intact. I can hold my own in a fight. One scuffle with Johnny and everyone’s acting like I’m broken. I’m an immortal who’s lived for—”
“For four thousand years, since the Amorite conquest of Ur,” Tanit chimed in. “We know.”
A few bruises marred Adonis’s skin, but he seemed to be healing quickly. “As to how I resolved things with Aereus, after we battered each other senseless for a while, I simply told him that we needed his help to keep Kratos in check.” Adonis leaned against the wall, folding his arms. “He seemed to like the idea of being needed. Pathetic, really.”
His pale eyes stood out sharply in the room’s dim light.
Tanit and Kur dropped into large armchairs on the other side of the room, their bodies illuminated with the twinkling light of a chandelier. Tanit had definitely landed herself a better room than ours.
“It’s a good thing we’re not being kicked out,” Tanit said, eyeing me sharply. “So far, you’ve only found a bookshelf. Is that right?”
“An important bookshelf,” I corrected. “Why keep a bookshelf in a war room? Aereus is obviously not a reader. He’s more of a ‘sticking sharp things in people’ type than an intellectual.”
Kur leaned back in his chair. “I see it didn’t take you long to work out that Aereus is an idiot.”
“I need to get back into the war room,” I said. “When I asked if anything could stop him, his eyes definitely went to the bookshelf. He was thinking about it, and it made him nervous. Maybe there’s something hidden within the books.”
“Maybe,” said Kur without much conviction.
“You’re not going back in.” Adonis’s inky magic tinged the air around him. “I already regret leaving you alone with Aereus in that room. He’s worse than Kratos. This time, I’ll go on my own.”
I crossed my arms. “And how will you get in there discreetly? You can’t even glamour yourself.”
Adonis tilted back his head. “I have other skills. Aereus has invited us to dinner tonight to discuss the fallen angel problem. I just need you all to keep him distracted, while I use shadows to cloak myself. As long as he’s with you, I know that he won’t be surprising me in his war room.”
Kur threaded his fingers behind his head. “I could challenge him to a wrestling match. I’ve noticed he likes throwing men around.”
“A wrestling match,” I repeated. “At this dinner party.”
Kur sneered. “Nothing can keep him occupied like a chance to prove his physical prowess.”
“That’s a start,” I said. “And maybe Tanit can flirt with him. I already took one for the team earlier, and I’m not eager to revisit it.”
Adonis smirked. “Let him think that you both belong to me, and that he has a glimmer of a chance of stealing you from me.”
Tanit hissed, her eyes flashing with blue light. “I belong to no one.”
“We all know that,” Adonis soothed. “But you can play the part. Let Aereus think he’s stealing something from me.”
I paced the room, the cogs turning in my mind. “If we both moon over him and ask him about all his glorious war stories, we’ll have his attention completely rapt.” I met Adonis’s gaze. “All you have to do is return with the stones, without anyone noticing.”
We sat at a long banquet table laden with food, my stomach already full of shortcrust pie and fruit. Torches lined the stone walls, and below them, a row of human guards stood pressed against the walls, their faces gaunt and scared.
I cast a nervous glance at the ceiling.
You know how sometimes people use the “sword of Damocles” as a metaphor, a threat of an impending demise hanging right over your head?
Tonight, we had literal swords hanging over heads as we ate. On the high ceiling above us hung an assortment of weapons—battle-axes, broadswords, maces—all of them dangling from iron chains that I could only hope had been forged with care.
The dinner hadn’t begun until ten p.m., which had given me plenty of time to search the entire palace from top to bottom, glamoured as a cherub. I’d found no stones, no references to stones—just a crapload of violent art festooning the walls. The hours glamoured as a cherub had cost me—sapping my energy with magical effort. Now, fatigue burned through my body.
So I sat at dinner, with my most charming smile on my face, trying to block out our utter failure so far.
A human female, her neck ringed with an iron collar, refilled my glass of wine.
Tanit sat on the other side of Adonis, candlelight gleaming in her dark eyes. “So glad Adonis took me with him on this trip.” Her toneless inflection suggested otherwise. “You know, being the lover of the angel of death doesn’t always come with many travel opportunities.”
Aereus’s lip curled as he gripped his copper chalice. His hand clenched, bending the metal in his fist. “Two lovers? You have two?”
Adonis flashed a satisfied smile. “Why not? Might as well enjoy myself until my seal is broken.”
Okay. We didn’t want to go too far down this path or we’d end up with shattered walls, broken angel bodies, and no allies.
I took a final bite of my pie. “I’m just so glad you’re agreeing to help us. If the other horsemen come for us, I’m not sure what we would do. But with you two working together, you can simply unite against them, imprison them until they come to their senses.”
Aereus leaned back in his chair, surveying us. “Then you should stay here. Sadeckrav Castle has superior magical fortifications to your humble pile of rocks, Adonis. We’ll figure out a way to capture them, to weaken them with…” His gaze darted around the room, uneasy. He didn’t want anyone to know about Devil’s Bane. “We’ll weaken them, until the mortification of their bodies reminds them of their mission here on earth.”