“Is he dead?”
“Yes.”
“And there isnobringing him back,” Magnus said.
“You’re an asshole,” Bale muttered.
“It’s true,” Magnus replied. “Unless you can catch and cut open that drakón, and then fish out the manticores that ate him, andthen…”
“We get the point,” Hawk interrupted briskly.
“What about Verin?” River asked. “Will she be okay?”
“That’s for her and time to decide,” Lix replied.
I didn’t respond. I knew time never would have eased the vast emptiness I’d experienced when River died.
I stopped when we were out of earshot and turned to the angels. “How long have you been guiding River?” I demanded of Raphael.
“Only since she met Angela,” Raphael replied. “My brother and fellow Archangel, Uriel, used his power to guide her the best he could.”
“What about when she had that dream, stood up and said ‘angels’ before passing out?” I asked.
Raphael rested one of his hands on the hilt of his sword as he glanced at Caim. “Uriel was unable to guide Angela into Hell. He didn’t have enough power for that. We used the collective power of three of us to try to communicate with her through her dreams, and failed. River must be the one to seek out others to join her in her dreams. We used that same combined power to increase our ability to communicate with her at the gateway earlier.”
“That’s why Angela became visible to everyone,” River murmured. “Uriel tried to show me how to close the gateway before I entered Hell.”
“Yes, but at that time, we didn’t know it would take life’s blood to close it. We had hoped a smaller amount of your blood would suffice.”
River’s hand went to the hole in the front of her blood-soaked shirt and rested over her healed flesh. “Life’s blood,” she murmured. Her fingers traced the hole in her shirt and her skin paled further. “Whendidyou know?”
“When your blood failed to close the gateway. We knew it would most likely require a great sacrifice.”
“So you knew how Lucifer opened the gateway into Hell?” Caim inquired.
“No. When he opened the gateway, he used his ability to distort things to keep us from seeing what he did. We came to suspect blood and life were necessary to close it when everything else she tried failed,” Raphael said.
“Why did you save me?” River asked. “I’m Lucifer’s last descendent. If I stayed dead, then his line died with me, isn’t that what you want?”
“Lucifer still lives. We have no idea how long it will be before he is stopped or how many other offspring he might have in that time.Youare the one who can counteract or recreate some of the same things he can, and you stand against him. There is no guarantee any of his other children would stand against him too. There is also the chance, that like your human father, Lucifer’s children may workforhim. Without your blood, and it isincrediblypowerful blood, there may be no stopping him. There is a reason he was known as the Morning Star and favored by the being. His powers have never been matched by any other angel. It took a great effort to cast him out.”
“The rest of us were more easily disposed of,” Caim stated.
Raphael didn’t acknowledge his words as he remained focused on River. “And Lucifer’s power resides in his descendant. You had to be saved, no matter what the cost.”
“And what was the cost?” I demanded.
“Me,” he said simply. “I had hoped, with the combined power of my fellow angels, that I would have the strength to heal her from Heaven, but I didn’t. I had to leave Heaven to save her, and I cannot return.”
CHAPTER 36
Kobal
“So, you are a fallen angel now too?” River asked.
Raphael’s nostrils flared and his gaze slid to Caim. “No, I could never be one of them. My wings will remain intact, and I will never allow myself to become corrupted as they have.”
Caim rolled his eyes and folded his arms over his chest. “Oh, Raphael, so certain of yourself in all things. Remember, pride goeth before the fall. Wait until you feed on your first wraith, because you will have to in order to survive. If their nefarious souls don’t start to wear away at your otherworldly perfection, something else will trip you up one day. You are no longer in Heaven, with none of its temptations and all its endless boredom. This is the mortal realm; there is much to enjoy here my arrogant, prick of a brother.”
