Fearless (14 page)

‘An angel of light taught me how years ago, but I think he did something to me at the same time, because ever since that first meeting we've been able to communicate through the realms.'

This makes me raise my eyebrows.

She nods. ‘But it's too risky to do so from the palace.'

‘Yeah, of course.'

‘Luca has the strongest mind of any angel I know. I haven't risked linking with anyone since Luca appointed me your handmaiden.'

‘Thank you for telling me. You give me hope that I'm going to get out of here.'

‘Ebony …' Mela's voice trails off into silence, but her eyes are telling me what I don't want to hear.

‘He's not lying about the gates, is he?'

‘No.' Her sad smile is back.

‘So this is why you have to tell him everything, so he doesn't suspect who you really are and put the entire rebel army in jeopardy.'

‘I knew you would understand.'

‘So what you're saying is that I can't escape for a minimum of a hundred years, and your rebel army can't help me in case Luca discovers their identities. I'm on my own.'

‘As long as I'm here, dear girl, you're not on your own.'

‘No offence, Mela, but it doesn't sound like you have my back, not with an entire army to protect.'

‘Ebony, for now I can guide you, give you purpose for being in Skade and make your life as queen as fulfilling as it can be.'

‘Fulfilling? Mela, I don't want fulfilling, I want escape. Freedom. Home. I want my prince back in my arms. Nothing else matters.'

As tears threaten, I bite down on my fist, and suddenly I just want to crawl back into bed with my knees curled up to my chest and my pillow muffling my sobs. I move to the door, square my shoulders and turn halfway round. ‘Thank you for your guidance offer. I'll let you know if I need it.'

‘Ebony, please –'

‘Don't worry, I'll keep your secret, but, Mela, tell me, if I plan an escape and you find out about it, will you tell Luca?
Will you warn him? I really need to know whether or not I can trust you.'

She comes over and stands in front of me with her eyes open and clear. ‘Ebony, I would
never
reveal your secrets.'

I nod, taking a deep breath of relief as I stare down into her soul and see she's telling the truth.

16

Nathaneal

I walk straight out the atrium door without stopping. Michael hurries to keep pace.

‘Thane!' Shae goes to run after me but Michael stops her.

What do you want me to tell her?
he links.

It's not Shae's fault rescuing her sister means the death of a human. I stop and wait for them. ‘Ebony would not want this. She would choose to stay in Skade for the entire hundred years if she knew a human death was the price to release her.'

‘She will never know from me,' Shae says.

I turn to face her. ‘Really, Shae? You could be around her every day and keep such a secret? And when she asks how we got the gates to open and close, where will you be looking? Will it be into your sister's eyes? And if she asks you to look at her, what will you do? Avoid her for the rest of your life?'

Tears begin to flow down Shae's cheeks; I pull her into my arms and soothe her with my power to bring comfort. She doesn't resist.

‘Secrets kill trust in relationships,' I explain once she is feeling stronger. ‘And when Ebony finds out, because for
sure she will, your sister would never forgive me. I would not be able to forgive myself. It would finish us.'

‘I'll talk to her,' she says. ‘I will make sure my sister understands it was the only way to free her.'

‘Angels swear to protect humans.'

‘I know that!'

A crowd of curious Archangels begins to gather around us. Michael gets us moving. ‘Of course Prince Luca has
everything
to do with this,' he snarls. ‘The gates to his world were created by the High King, but to Luca's specifications. He knew precisely how to make those cells regenerate only with human blood and tissue. So to break into Skade one would have to commit an act so heinous as to turn one's soul black.'

‘I can't ask a human to do this,' I tell them.

‘What if we found a human who is, say, terminally ill?' Shae suggests.

‘Then we would try to heal them, or at least extend their time with their family.'

‘What about a convict facing a death sentence?'

‘Who also manages to have a heart full of love?'

‘It's possible!' Shae is desperate. Rescuing her sister is slipping from her fingers. And mine.

As we stride through paved streets, glass-encased tunnels, gilded bridges, I barely notice my surroundings. All I want is to get out of here and talk to the best engineers Avena has.

The Archangel Teeliah meets us at the gate, where Michael thanks her and Shae runs off down the stairs.

‘I'm not giving up, you know,' I tell Michael.

‘I didn't think you were, cousin.'

‘Ebony must be freed, for her sake and for all of humanity. There has to be another way, and I'll find it. I will.'

His hand comes down on my shoulder. ‘And I will help you.'

Shae stops and blocks my passage with her hands splayed on my chest. ‘Thane, I get how this is a harsh, unforgiving option, just don't discount it completely. Please.'

I breathe in. I breathe out.

‘She's my
sister
, damn it! Tell me you will at least think about using the
hanival
.'

‘I was so hopeful coming here.'

‘As was I,' she whispers, fear etched in her eyes as they shift to the case Michael has tucked into his belt. ‘He gave us permission to use the tool. He trusts we will do the right thing. If we puncture a hole in the gate, we must seal it or chaos and evil will run wild and free on the Earth.'

‘We have to be careful when it comes to human life.'

‘If we don't save Ebony, Luca will create an army that will destroy the world.'

‘I'm not dismissing this outright, Shae, and that's why it's killing me inside.'

Michael raises the
hanival
case in his hands. ‘What should we do with this?'

My eyes drift over Shae's face. Her tortured doe eyes, her long slender fingers across her mouth, are so like her sister's they turn my heart. How did it come to this? A choice I must make but cannot bear. ‘We keep it. A last resort. Now I need to think.' I leap into the air, unfurling my wings over their heads, and I don't look back.

17

Nathaneal

The house is quiet when we touch down. I check the garage and find it vacant. This is a good indication that Jordan is still at school. Michael secures the
hanival
in the safe inside my study's secret storeroom while I check the rest of the house. It's impossible for angels to lie, and yet some have learned to mask the truth in such a way that a lie is the result. Occasionally the truth does more harm than good, but how does one differentiate between an act of kindness and one of deceit? I'm not sure yet what I will tell Jordan when I see him. Finding he's not home is a relief.

The
hanival
was Jordan's hope too. He will be devastated that I won't be using it unless I can come up with an alternative way to seal the gate.

I run up to the third floor to check on Ebony's parents. I put them in the suite down the hall from my bedroom to stay until they're well enough to make their appearance in the human community again. Their recent imprisonment in Skade, beneath the Mi'Ocra Mountain, left them t
raumat
ised and near death.

Jez is looking after them. I find her leaving their room, quietly closing the door. ‘They're sleeping now, but
recovering well considering what they've been through,' she says.

‘How are they taking the news?'

‘Hard at first, but recalling their own rescue from Skade helps to keep them positive.' I nod, and she continues, ‘The good news is they're ready to take the next step.'

‘Officials will grill them.'

‘They understand to be vague on details and memory. For believability's sake, I've left purple bruises, a few s
cars an
d signs of head trauma. But they're longing to be home an
d st
art rebuilding their lives.'

It's what they told me too in our conversation before I left for Empyrean. I rub the back of my neck to ease the tension there.

‘They plan to stay at their neighbours' place – Reuben and Dawn.'

‘Amber's parents.'

‘Yes, while they supervise construction of their new house. I'll look in on them regularly,' Jez volunteers. ‘If they're not recovering sufficiently under human care, I'll speed their healing along, help keep flashbacks to a minimum. They're going to be fine.'

‘Thanks for taking such good care of them, Jez.'

She shrugs. ‘It's my job. We take care of humans.'

We hear Isaac, Solomon, Jerome and Sami arrive on the front deck and head downstairs to greet them, but slow our pace when Isaac runs in ahead and Shae leaps into his arms.

‘Hold me tight,' she whispers.

He catches my eye over the top of her head.
How bad is the news?

I'll brief everyone in my study as soon as the others arrive.

Uri and Tash walk in next. Michael directs them to my study. Jez follows Tash inside while I wait at the door.

‘We should restore our energy,' Michael proposes.

‘There's no time for food. Immediately after the briefing we leave for Skade.'

Michael nods slowly. He has something to say, but Solomon arrives at the front door and he goes to greet him.

Isaac hears and asks softly, ‘When was the last time you ate anything, Thane?'

I glance at him from the doorway, making sure to include everyone sitting at the table. ‘I don't need food. It's been three days already since he took her. It's as if time is on a spinning wheel that's accelerating exponentially.'

‘But you need your strength for this mission, Thane. We all do.'

He's right. Of course he's right. But the thought of de
laying
going after Ebony for even a second longer than absolutely necessary is driving me crazy. ‘OK. We can eat while we discuss our course of action.'

Uri and Tash volunteer and take off to the kitchen.

Everyone is eager to know how we got on at Empyrean and if we have the
hanival
with us, but they know we will wait for Uri and Tash to rejoin us and for Gabe to arrive. Meanwhile, I ask for an update on the tasks I left with them.

Isaac goes first. ‘I've been helping Gabe with the new prison facility. It's almost finished.'

‘No problems?'

‘You'd be surprised how many rooms the Brothers had already constructed after the Prodigies' last attack. We've
closed off all the tunnels leading to or from the monastery, except for those that now form the spine of the new prison. It's a labyrinth down there but completely escape-proof.'

‘Have you started questioning the prisoners yet?'

‘Affirmative.'

‘Anything useful?'

‘Some.'

‘Brief me on the way to Skade. And the Thrones?'

‘Nothing yet. They will be hardest to break.'

‘Keep working on them. They'll talk eventually.'

Gabe arrives and pulls out a chair. ‘Have I missed anything?'

Tash and Uri walk in with steaming platters of food. The scent is intoxicating, lifting the mood in the room, and while everyone digs in I ask Uriel for the engineers' report.

‘They're not finished yet.'

Gabe groans. ‘They've had three days.'

‘Yes,' Uri says, ‘but they've had to consult with specialist biochemists.'

‘What for?' Gabe looks at me, while Uri shrugs and across the table Michael catches my eye. I nod and all eyes turn to him.

He starts from the beginning, explaining what happened when he, Shae and I put our petition before the High King. He holds nothing back; to do so would be disrespectful to our colleagues. Gathered around my table now are the angels who will help me formulate the plan to bring Ebony home. They need all the facts, including how the gates' composition is of living matter and what it would take to seal a puncture of the size we require.

When he finishes the only sound in the room is our breathing.

Until finally Tash asks, ‘How many realistic options do we have?'

‘That's what we need to discuss,' I tell everyone. ‘We need a new plan other than the one the High King gave us.'

A few of them start talking simultaneously.

‘Just in case anyone is thinking that a human sacrifice is an option, I'm telling you now it isn't.'

‘There was once talk of a back door into Skade,' Isaac recalls.

Solomon says, ‘Luca destroyed it about a thousand years ago, after rebels leaked the location.' He shifts his glance to me. ‘My prince, forgive me for asking, but why aren't we discussing our High King's option?' He looks around the table, making the others suddenly squirm. Principals, the angelic order Sol belongs to, have a more pragmatic approach to solving problems than Seraphim, who are more aware of our own and others' emotions.

Tash explains. ‘It's a lot to expect of a human, even if we did find one who fit the criteria.'

‘Oh, come on, people,' Gabe says. ‘There
is
one who might do it willingly, and you all know I'm talking about Jordan but are too scared to bring his name up in front of my youngest brother.'

‘We're not scared of Thane, you fool,' Jerome hisses. ‘We're respectful. We are in our brother's house, which just happens to be Jordan's home too. If anyone brings Jordan into this discussion, it shouldn't be any of us.'