Of Alliance and Rebellion (10 page)

It flamed no more. As Jayden laid it across his open palms and extended it toward Anahita, the metal of the ancient sword did not even gleam. This weapon, forged by the Most High Himself, was ... ordinary.

Anahita felt her throat go dry. “Will it ... will it even
work
?”

Jayden nodded. “I am Fallen, Anahita. Take the sword in your hand.”

Anahita tried to ignore the sandpaper-like quality of her tongue and reached out a shaky hand. If this weapon no longer worked according to its purpose, Anahita’s mission was doomed before it could begin.

The minute Anahita wrapped her fingers around the hilt of the sword, green and gold flames erupted along the length of the blade. The metal glowed with an otherworldly heat, and an inscription in the ancient language—which read
What the Tree gives, the Sword takes. What the Sword takes, the Tree gives.
—seemed to spark with purpose.

But that was not the most astonishing thing that happened when Anahita grasped the sword. Her Compulsion pushed at her. It knew she had a mission to accomplish and that the weapon in her hand would help her to accomplish it. For the first time since receiving her mission, Anahita felt the pressure to set her mission in stone and allow the countdown to begin. It was
strong
.

Anahita gritted her teeth and pushed it back with all of her might. And then she nearly dropped the sword, for another disparate Compulsion stretched within her.
This
Compulsion, rather than urging her to kill the humans assigned to her, pressed her to protect Max. To Guard him.

“Oh, Lord of the Most High,” Anahita muttered, the sword shaking in her hand.

Jayden stepped toward her, his brows crashing together, his hand reaching for her. “What is it?” he asked harshly. How must she look to wrench such a response from her usually stoic brother? “Anahita?”

Her natures. Her cursed dueling natures. She was so ashamed of them, she had never discussed them with anyone. Who knew that each side of her—both Warrior
and
Guardian—would have their own Compulsions? Would someone have been able to tell her to expect this if her own pride had not gotten in the way?

It did not matter now. “No, no,” Anahita moaned. She could feel her Compulsions swirling around each other within her—almost as though they were facing off. Her Warrior side pressed her to allow her mission to kill Max to set; her Guardian side begged her to take Max on as her Ward.

Which would win?

“
Anahita
!” Jayden grasped her by her upper arm and pulled her toward one of the armchairs in front of his desk. He exerted pressure until Anahita’s knees collapsed beneath her, and she crashed into the plush leather with no grace.

But when he reached for the sword to take it from her, Anahita snapped, “No!” She jerked it out of Jayden’s reach, nearly cutting herself in the process.

Jayden’s eyes grew wary. “Careful, angel,” he said while backing away slowly.

She could barely register the change in Jayden. She could only clench the hilt of the sword and pull the weapon in as close as the flames would allow. She needed it. She had to use it.

She had to protect Max from it.

No! She had to
kill
Max with it. Her head felt as though it would split apart as a jagged shard of pain shot through her.

“Angel, you promised to tell me when your Compulsion set,” Jayden said from behind his desk, his hands held out, palms down, in front of him.

Anahita blinked up at him until he came into focus. “Why do you call me
angel
?” she asked, her voice cracking with the force of concentration it took to utter the words.

Jayden straightened, obvious hope flashing across his face. “Are you still—Anahita?”

“Of course I am,” Anahita said, frowning. Her hand hurt, and she looked down to see it clenched so hard around the hilt of Jayden’s sword that her knuckles blanched white. The flames of the sword had switched from green and gold to red and black. When had that happened?

Both of her Compulsions pressed against her skull again, but the momentary distraction of talking with Jayden gave her the strength she required to push them both back. She imagined forcing them into a chest and locking it.

Immediate relief flooded her, and in that same moment, the sword’s flames went back to green and gold.

She heard Jayden push out a breath from across the room. Oh, heaven. She had almost allowed her Compulsion to set.
Without
thinking through her plan first. Whether her Guardian or Warrior side had won was irrelevant. Angels who allowed their Compulsions to rule them in deciding their missions were dangerous.

Jayden’s expression softened. “Do not look so shocked, Anahita,” he said softly. “Did you think fighting the Compulsion would be easy?” He smiled gently. “You did well.”

He had no idea. She did
well
? She was going to be destroyed. If she could not join her Warrior brethren by completing her mission, what good was she? Becoming a Warrior had always been her dream—a dream she wasn’t supposed to have but did nonetheless.

And now, one human threatened all of that. Max stood between her and her dream by either leading her to her Fall or, possibly even worse, turning her into a Guardian.

Perhaps she should be grateful that the man who could be her potential downfall had looked at her with complete disgust and spoken cruelly. She had never understood women who were with men who were mean to them. It was not attractive—at least, Anahita did not find it so. Enough women were with these men that maybe they
did
find it attractive.

And she
certainly
had not enjoyed the physical side of their encounter. It had left her more frustrated than she had started and feeling shame—an emotion she did not want to repeat.

Women liked sex? It didn’t seem likely to Anahita. She peeked up at Jayden through the fringe of her lashes and considered him in a new light.
Does Grace like sex
?

She didn’t realize she had projected the question until Jayden’s face grew grave. His lips parted for a moment, and then his teeth clashed together, and he fisted his hands. “Are you sure you do not want me to kill him?” he ground out.

That same shame that had been with her since she’d touched Max lit through her. “
I
will kill him,” she muttered, gritting her own teeth when both of her Compulsions reacted to the words.

Just then, she felt herself being summoned by Remiel, the leader of the Warriors. Anahita felt her eyes dart back and forth as the feeling that she needed to meet with the Warrior grew stronger and stronger—until it was nearly a Compulsion all its own. This ability to summon other angels was one of Remiel’s gifts and one of the few gifts Remiel revealed to others. The angel was notoriously enigmatic, and many suspected he had myriad gifts from the Most High that he used in secret so as not to reveal any weaknesses.

He did not shy away from using this particular gift, however. Anahita had been summoned by Remiel many times, and never for a heart-warming chat.

“I, uh—” Anahita broke off to clear her suddenly dry throat. “I must leave ... go elsewhere, I mean.” They both knew Anahita could not leave, not with Max located in the building. “Is there somewhere private I can go?”

Jayden’s gaze grew intent, and Anahita blocked him from her thoughts. He did not need to know Remiel’s arrival was imminent. “You will be staying here for a while?”

The very thought struck panic in Anahita’s chest. More time with him meant more time to Fall for him. Nevertheless, “Yes.”

Jayden nodded. “Then, you will need a room.”

Anahita felt her eyes widen. A room? Something of her own? She had never had something to call her own. “Very well then,” she said with false calm.

Jayden smiled again, and she knew she had not been as calm as she should have been. He began to walk out of the office, and Anahita knew she was to follow him. As they passed through the main room, Anahita’s eyes naturally found Max’s form where he was still beneath the Trees, talking in low murmurs to Eli and Jericho while Luke stood at Max’s shoulder, nodding along with something Max was saying. At the sight of him, some of the anxiety Anahita had been feeling since leaving his presence loosened. Max’s head began to turn in their direction, and Anahita looked away before he could catch her staring at him. Again.

Jayden was speaking and appeared to have been for quite some time. Anahita caught his words in the middle of a sentence. “—is a fully functioning military compound with medical staff, research specialists, and promising young soldiers. The other two Impulse pairs used to stay here at the compound, but both families have moved to houses in consideration of the children. Grace and I still live here, however, so should you need anything, we will be here for you.”

Anahita was still puzzling over the sentimental way Jayden had said the world
children
when she noticed they were walking through what appeared to be a barracks. Jayden pressed a palm to a door in passing. “Our quarters,” he said, before stopping at the door adjacent. “You can stay here.”

Anahita frowned up at him. “You want children?” The invasive question escaped her before she could call it back, and Anahita wished the words had stayed in her head—though that may not have kept them from Jayden’s knowledge, either.

Jayden’s eyes widened. “It is that obvious?” he asked while rubbing the back of his neck with one hand.

“Jayden, it is forbidden,” Anahita said in a low voice, trying to keep the censure from her tone.

One side of Jayden’s lips tipped up. “And so is Falling for Temptations. I have already done that. What is to keep me from other forbidden things? I have nothing left to lose and much to gain.”

Anahita’s frown deepened. Jayden’s reasoning made sense in a bizarre way. Yet, to create a Nephilim—it had not been done in millennia, and would not go unmarked by the brethren.

Jayden shifted his weight. “It is not in the works, by any means,” he said dismissively. “In the meantime, I greatly enjoy the humans’ offspring. They allow Grace and me to care for them frequently, and it makes both of us happy enough for now.”

A sudden stab of impatience came with Remiel’s next reminder that she was being summoned, and Anahita knew by instinct that Remiel waited for her just beyond this closed door. He was one of the few other angels that also possessed Anahita’s gift of teleportation. “Yes, well,” Anahita said in what she hoped was a light, lilting voice that did not betray the urgency she felt to meet with her leader. She placed her hand on the doorknob of her quarters. “I will see you later then,” she said lamely.

Jayden cocked one eyebrow but nodded. “Yes, later.” The sound of a door opening brought both of their attention to Jayden’s quarters. Grace stuck her head out into the hall, her riot of red hair catching the light in the hallway and appearing flame-like around her head. A rumbling sound came from the general region of Jayden’s chest.

“Much later,” he said over his shoulder to Anahita, already walking away from her and toward his Temptation. He never looked back as he playfully pushed the now grinning Grace back into their residence, following her in and closing the door behind them with a resounding boom.

Anahita stared at their closed door for a few heartbeats, an unknown longing weighing in her heart. Then, with a shaky intake of breath, she turned the doorknob and entered the dim interior of her quarters.

It took Anahita’s eyes no time to adjust to what appeared to be a tiny apartment, with a shadowed, winged form standing in the midst of a smattering of living room furniture.

“You are late.” The indictment was delivered in a deep, rumbling voice, but it was delivered emotionlessly. As was to be expected, of course.

Anahita, however, found it impossible to be emotionless at the casually delivered phrase. She felt a wave of what had to be annoyance. It prickled up her spine and bit at her mercilessly. The words, “I did not know we had an appointment,” left her mouth before she’d knew they were forming.

As Remiel stepped forward into a shaft of light from the nearby window, she could see that he’d raised one eyebrow, and a sick feeling collected in the back of her throat. Had she just spoken to her superior—the angel who would determine if she would join the Warriors or not—in that disrespectful tone?

“Apologies, brother,” Anahita murmured, making sure to keep the sick feeling from tinging her tone. “I am feeling the pressure of the Compulsion. It is ... taxing.” Truth—it had to be. However, it was not the whole truth, and she hoped Remiel would not pick up on that.

“Your Compulsion,” Remiel said, nodding slowly. “Yes, that is why I am here.”

Oh, heaven. This was going to be bad.

Remiel lowered himself into a nearby armchair and then gestured for Anahita to take the couch opposite him.

He was offering her a seat in her own home? Or ordering her to take it—again, in her own home? That Anahita was so proprietary over a space she had just been given was not rational. She could not, however, keep those feelings at bay, and resentment that he would do such a thing moments after she’d been given this boon burned hot in her chest.

And, yet, she walked to the couch and settled into the supple cushions.

She expected him to speak right away, but he stared at her, his blue eyes so cold and lacking calculation that Anahita found herself squirming in her seat. How could he be so calm and so intimidating at the same time?

“I have not set my Compulsion,” Anahita blurted into the silence.

Remiel dipped his chin. “This I know.”

Silence again. Was it warm in here? Anahita would swear that it was sweltering. “I, uh ... I need some time to organize my ... thoughts first.” The words were a chore, each one requiring careful planning.

Remiel tilted his head to the side. “This does not have anything to do with your Temptation.”

The words were not spoken as a question, and Anahita knew that was by design. It was quite brilliant, actually, she had to admit. By stating it as though it were a fact, Remiel had made Anahita feel shame at the simple truth that the statement was
not
fact. Thus, she felt an overwhelming desire to reassure Remiel. To explain everything to him. She tamped down that instinct. “Of course it does not,” she said firmly, her hands clenching beside her thighs on the couch cushions.