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“No, the angels.” I shook my head. “I was one of the last ones still alive, still fighting. Molraz came for me, and I tried to flee. He destroyed my Celestial Sword and ripped my wings off.” The pain had been so great, I thought I was going to die right then. “He joked he would keep them as a memento from the best Cherubin he had fought against in centuries.”
“That’s why you want to find him. You think he really has your wings.”
I shrugged. “You tell me.” His body stiffened. “You’re the one who saw my wings. Was it his house you saw?”
Levi averted his eyes. “I don’t know whose house it was.”
“I know you don’t. Anyway, after he got my wings, he tried to kill me, but I fled.” I didn’t want to give him all bloody details of that horrible experience. And what I had with me when I ran. “Like a coward.”
“How did you escape them, sweetheart?”
“I ran as fast as I could until I found a cliff with a river below. I jumped.”
He frowned. “And they let you go?”
I shook my head. “No, they came after me, but … I don’t know. Luck was on my side?” Once I would have said Adona had been watching over me, but these were her warriors, following her orders. I didn’t know anything anymore. “I ended up farther down the river, and I didn’t stop moving for days. At some point, they lost my trail.”
I had been half dead, and if I hadn’t bumped into a witch who nursed me back to health and minimized the scars from my wings, I would probably have died.
“You were certainly very lucky.”
“I know.” But to what end? To live the rest of my life on the run? “After I healed, I tried contacting my mentor. I wanted to tell her Rhodes had betrayed us all, but turns out, Rhodes told them I was the traitor. I don’t know the details; I can’t contact anyone in Elysium. I heard this from people who have heard from others, but apparently, Rhodes said I had made an alliance with Molraz and attacked them. I was the reason only he had survived, but he saw that as a sign to hunt me down and make me pay for my crimes.”
“That’s why you’re running.”
I nodded. “I need to find Molraz and make him confess about his alliance with Rhodes. Then with my wings, I can enter Elysium.”
Rhodes would be arrested and punished, and I would be welcomed back home.
“What do you think Rhodes wanted to do? Kill a bunch of angels? That was it?”
My face grew hot. “Molraz probably knows Rhodes’s plan, or at least a piece of it.” I had no idea what his plan was, if he had already succeeded, if he had killed the angels. I believed he needed the item I had stolen, and thus hadn’t achieved his goal yet, but it had been so long. At some point, he would find an alternative.
That was another reason I needed to go back. I had to know.
“How long ago was that?”
“Five-ish years.”
Levi scoffed. “Who said Rhodes hasn’t succeeded already?”
I knew he hadn’t, and I was the reason for that. But that part was better forgotten. “He hasn’t, or the entire supernatural world would have heard about it.”
“I guess you’re right.” He fixed his eyes on mine. “So here I am, a higher demon helping a Cherubin uncover a dirty plan and take down the traitor to save heaven. That will not be good for my reputation, sweetheart.”
A small smile spread over my lips. “I bet you can tarnish your reputation again. Do something big, and everyone will forget you played the hero for a few days.”
He leaned a little closer and lowered his voice. “Are you telling me to be bad, sweetheart?” His gaze flicked to my lips and warmth spread over my stomach.
“Maybe,” I whispered.
Levi inched closer as he licked his lips, his eyes back on mine. I arched my back, erasing the distance between us.
A broken twig echoed through the backyard, and Levi and I jumped to our feet.
A small fox spied from behind a bush before leaping back into the woods.
I placed a hand over my racing heart and inhaled deeply.
