“Mac also informed me that all communication with his government ceased three days ago,” I said. “He doesn’t know what happened, or if they still have a government, but it doesn’t matter.”
“Their old ways are over,” Bale said.
“Yes. After we retrieve River’s brothers, we will all sit down to discuss it further, but the humans will have to accept a new way of doing things, as will the demons. The humans will still have a ruler who will be the voice for them. I’ve asked Mac to take that position, and I believe he’ll accept, but I told him to think about it while we’re gone. Where is Verin?”
“Calah took her to my tent,” Bale answered. “I didn’t think it would be good for her to return to the tent she shared with Morax.”
“No, it wouldn’t,” I agreed.
“I’d like to come with you tomorrow,” Caim said.
“Fine.” I’d rather have him where I could see him anyway.
“I’m sure Raphael will also want to come, if he returns before we leave,” Caim said.
“Why?” Bale asked.
“He may not heal River again, but he will protect her with his own life. If she dies now, it means he left Heaven in vain. It’s why he protested leaving her at the truck stop. He wasn’t trying to start a fight, but he doesn’t believe himself to be your follower. He will followherthough.”
“Are you the peace negotiator now?” I growled.
Caim spread his hands before him as he spoke. “You may not know this about me, but amongst the angels, I was the one they came to when they had a problem to resolve. I am known as a good disputer.”
“I see,” I said.
“Or a smooth talker,” Bale said.
“That too,” he said with a wink at her.
She scowled at him in return. “Why didn’t you resolve the problem before the war broke out in Heaven?”
“I tried to settle the fight with Lucifer before it became ugly, but it got out of hand so quickly that I was incapable of stopping it,” he replied. “Truth be told, I never saw it coming. It was such a simple,stupidquestion, and it caused an all-out war. Raphael is unforgiving, often callous. You may not like him, I don’t, but he would lay down his life for her.”
“And why do you care so much about her?” I demanded.
“I chose this side. I will see it through, and I will make sure she is kept safe. She is kin after all.”
I didn’t know if he was the smooth talker Bale had accused him of, or if he was being completely honest with me. Either way, I believed him about Raphael, and he did seem truthful about his intent with River.
“You will come to trust me,” he murmured.
“We’ll see about that.”
I lifted the flap to my tent and ducked inside before either of them could reply. Kicking off my boots, I surveyed the small flames dancing in the lanterns on the side bar. A layer of dust coated the table, chairs, and other things I’d collected, but the inside of the tent remained otherwise unchanged.
The cot I’d slept on when River and I were fighting was still against the side wall. I didn’t know why she’d chosen the cot over our bed in the backroom, but she lay on it now. Her raven hair fanned out around her sun-kissed face, and her mouth parted as she slept. Now that she’d had a chance to shower, the fresh rain scent of her mingled with the lemon soap the humans used. Unable to move, I breathed in her fragrance and listened to the beat of her heart.
She looked so lovely and innocent, and she shouldn’t be here.
Her eyes fluttered open, their violet hue vivid in the dancing lantern light. A smile curved her lips when she spotted me. Sitting up, she swung her feet to the floor. “I’d planned to wait up for you,” she said. “I guess it didn’t work.”
I couldn’t respond as my gaze ran over her small scar, her freckles, the beautiful hue of her eyes. All things I knew so well, yet I absorbed the details like it was the first time I’d ever seen her. “You died,” I finally stated.
Some of the color faded from her face. Her hands gripped the edge of the cot before she released it and rose. “Kobal—”
“And there was nothing I could do to stop it. I could only stand there and watch as you plunged a sword into your heart.”
She took a step toward me. “Kobal—”
