CHAPTER 10
River
“If the angels are trying to communicate with me, it explains what happened when we were in Magnus’s cavern,” I said sometime later when I felt strong enough to talk now that we were away from the oracle.
Kobal’s body stiffened against mine as he led me around a turn in the rock tunnel. I still had no recollection of the strange dream, or whatever it was that had caused me to leap to my feet and say “The angels,” before collapsing.
“Why do you say that?” he asked.
“I’ve kept my ability to share another’s dreams shut down since I shared that one with Lucifer.” I didn’t even dare to use it to reach out to my brothers for fear I would somehow draw Lucifer in too. “The angels may have been trying to get me to open it again, or maybe they were trying to communicate with me in a different way that caused my reaction.”
“Maybe.”
“How did you know Angela had something to do with the angels when you saw her?” I asked.
“Because of her scent. The angels in here, and you, have the scent of rain or water about them. Your scent is crisp whereas the fallen angels’ has been tainted, but I detected water on her. Whatever abilities they use for the guides, they can’t disguise their scent.”
“I see.” I tilted my head back to look at him. “You don’t want me communicating with them?”
“I don’t trust any angel, fallen or not.”
I didn’t bother to remind him I was part angel and identified more with my angel side. We were both aware of that; it was what would keep me mortal after all.
“They could be trying to help,” I said.
“They could,” Hawk agreed from behind us.
“Or they could be looking to eliminate Lucifer’s line, permanently,” Magnus said. I frowned as I glanced at him over my shoulder. He stared pointedly back at me. “Even after what Caim said, are you still trying to convince yourself the angels above are all that is good and right in the world?”
“No,” I said. “I know they’re not, but we already have enough enemies; we could use some allies, and there is a chance they could be trying to help us.”
“I don’t think the angels want to kill River,” Hawk said.
“Still relying on that misplaced human faith in the angels?” Magnus inquired.
“Still resorting to that douchey demon attitude?” Hawk retorted. “And no, I’m not. I simply don’t think they want to kill her.”
“Why not?” Corson asked.
“Because if they felt it would solve everything, they would have attempted to kill her by now, but they haven’t.”
“And they have tried to protect me,” I said. “Angela tried to stop me from going into the canagh nest before Vargas and I entered it.”
“See,” Hawk said and gave Magnus a gloating look. “The angels would have let her stroll on in there without any warning if they wanted her dead.”
“There’s no way to know what the angels are trying to do. I still don’t trust them,” Magnus said. “We should have killed Caim.”
“We weren’t going to reach him before he flew away,” Bale argued.
“The fallen have always underestimated the intelligence of the demons and believed themselves above us. Let them think we believe Caim will help us,” Kobal said.
“You think he was lying about helping us?” I asked.
“Don’t you?”
“Maybe, about some things. In others, I think he told the truth, or at least parts of it. He knows we don’t trust him. If he’s playing us, he’ll report that distrust to Lucifer. If he’s not toying with us, I think we’ll find out what was true and what wasn’t soon enough.”
“That we will,” Kobal replied and pulled me to a stop before a large slab of gray rock.
