AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Tanael looked at me; his gaze carried so much gratitude and tenderness that I felt dizzy.
"It's all right, Myrina," whispered the angel. "Even if the pain hasn't lessened after all this time, I mustn't keep it inside me. Otherwise, it will turn into a rot that eats me up from the inside out."
Despite these strong words, I wanted to give him strength and show compassion. So, I gently touched his arm and stroked his sleeve once with my thumb. The skin under the fabric was pleasantly warm. I hastily withdrew my hand as this touch reminded me too much of what had happened in the pavilion a few minutes ago. I could feel my cheeks getting hot. I couldn't let this man get that close to me.
As if Tanael had noticed my dilemma, he stepped away from me and turned back to my brother.
"I loved the wrong woman. That displeased someone, who then punished us both for our love." His voice held a tremor that was unusual for him.
"Let me guess. You wanted revenge, and then they banished you here?" Chris guessed with a foxy smile. Was he looking for a reason why Lucifer was called the devil?
"No. Revenge has never been my thing." There was a frightening honesty in his words. "But keeping myself away from my true love, as I was asked to do, I just couldn't do it. She had also been punished, banished to Earth. I searched for her for centuries, and when I finally found her, I got her back. I was then banished to the underworld, bound to the darkness."
"The darkness?" I looked around, confused. It was as bright as day here.
"The light in this world is an illusion," the angel explained bitterly.
A light also lit up the sky in Hades' realm, but there was no natural sun there either. If I remember correctly, Hades had gone to the underworld on the orders of his brother Zeus. Like Tanael, he had designed his realm with an illusion of light and gardens.
"It's time to visit your friend to study the papyrus with him," Tanael said, distracting us from the topic. Neither my brother nor I dared ask another question.
"Good idea," I agreed. "Where exactly are the dungeons?"
"I've already asked Stephan to fetch the young man from the depths of the cellar and take him to a guest room. Hecate is currently taking care of his consciousness. Come with me!" The angel headed quickly towards the villa and we followed him.
Chris was introverted, and I could see he was trying to give everything a place. To rebuild his world order.
I was also lost in thought, and two questions relentlessly circled around me: Had Tanael searched for the love of his life again, and had he found her?
Suddenly, Chris turned towards me. His eyes were wide open.
"Does he mean Hecate, the Titaness of the Greeks?" he whispered. Poor thing, he was spared nothing. I confirmed his assumption with a silent nod.
He swallowed audibly. He would probably hold up less well if he knew that our butler Stephan was a demon.
Tanael led us through a floor-to-ceiling patio door into a lounge and a staircase to the second floor.
He stopped two doors from his study and knocked, only to enter shortly afterward.
Edward was lying in a light blue four-poster bed. He was still wearing the clothes he had worn on our mission in the museum ship. His pants and shirt were covered in blood, as were his hands. Was he injured?
I rushed towards the bed and examined him up close.
"He's not wounded. The blood isn't his," I heard Hecate say from a dark corner of the room. My brother, standing next to me, flinched in horror.
"Whose blood is it then?" Even before I had spoken the question, I already knew the answer. Alex. Edward had tried to save Alex?
"Your face shows me you already know the answer, girl." The Goddess of Magic approached. She held a steaming cup in her hand. She moved to the other side of the four-poster bed and slipped her hand under Edward's head to pour him her brew.
"Wait!" I held her back. "We have to wash the blood off him first. We can't let him wake up like this."
"Myrina is right," my brother agreed. "It would be heartless to put him through the trauma of Alex's death again. The memories will catch up with him soon enough."
Tanael sighed, and Hecate was anything but enthusiastic about our idea, but she withdrew her hand anyway.
She looked at the master of the house with a challenging look.
"All right," he grumbled, and the next moment, Edwrd's clothes were clean, and the blood had been washed off his hands.
