He glared at her, and she glared back until the king rested his hand on Gage’s shoulder. “One day, you can go, but not until you stop aging.”
Gage stopped glowering at his sister to look at the king. “Okay, but one day?”
“One day,” the king promised and squeezed his shoulder.
The queen turned her glare on the king; she was a good foot shorter than him and easily a hundred pounds lighter, but she showed no fear of the mancreatedby the fires of Hell. Not for the first time, I noticed the purity and strength of her soul. Whereas most good humans had a white soul with some other colors mixed in, hers was a brilliant gold color streaked with shades of violet and blue. I’d never seen anything like it before, and I doubted I ever would again.
Gage and Bailey possessed some similarities to her soul, but theirs were whiter with gold encasing the edges. Flecks of violet and blue danced through the white. These were the souls of those descended from the angels.
“Where did the horsemen and angels come from?” Erin asked.
“That’s an excellent question,” Corson said, “and one we can’t answer.”
“We haven’t cleared all of the Wilds,” Wren said, “and there is still enough land for them to hide an army, but there’s no way they moved an army of that size across the secured land without someone noticing them.”
“And if they killed off all witnesses?” Vargas asked.
“Do you think they could find and killallwitnesses?” Wren inquired.
“I didn’t think they could do what they did yesterday,” Vargas replied.
“I don’t see them being capable of hiding that many troops in the Wilds,” Erin said.
“They might not have hidden all those troops in one place,” the king said. “Each horseman could have had a group of troops sequestered in different places until they were ready to move. A smaller number of craetons sequestered somewhere would have been more difficult to detect, but it would have increased their chances of someone stumbling across them.”
“So we have no idea how they managed to keep so many hidden for so long,” Hawk said.
“No,” the king admitted. “I think they’ve found somewhere to hide. Which means your mission is going to be more difficult than before.”
I took a deep breath as I surveyed the crowd below us. They’d decimated our numbers at the wall. We’d also destroyed their army, but so few of us were going to hunt down some of the worst creatures to ever exist. I rubbed the trickle of sweat away from my nape before anyone else could see it. They couldn’t know that a part of me was contemplating crawling into my bed, pulling the covers over my head, and pretending the monsters couldn’t see me like I had as a child.
“Should we also bring Lopan and Calah with us?” Hawk asked.
“They probably won’t leave River,” the king said. “But you can ask them.”
“I’ll ask,” Lix said and strolled across the dais toward the stairs.
“Where are Caim and Raphael?” Hawk asked.
“Caim is following the horsemen from a discreet distance; he’s leaving signs behind in case the rest of you have trouble tracking them. Raphael left to bring word to Shax about what happened,” the king said. “He’ll meet you after.”
“How will he find us?”
“He’ll probably have to come back to the wall and follow your trail from there. Shax and the others will probably be little help to you; it will take them too much time to find you.”
Hawk glanced at me; if he suggested I stay behind, I’d kick him. I didn’t care if it caused a scene or not.
“What happened to the telepathic demon with Magnus?” Hawk asked, and I breathed a sigh of relief when he turned his attention away from me. I gave a subtle tug on my hand, and this time, he released me.
“I haven’t heard from him in a week; I assume he’s dead,” the king said.
“Shit,” Corson said. “I hope the others are okay.”
“I’m sure they’re fine,” the king said. “You know telepathic demons don’t last in the Wilds.”
Hawk chuckled, but they all shifted nervously, and I sensed their unease over this development. “Raphael must have been pissed to learn he was the messenger again,” Hawk said.
“He said something about not being a carrier pigeon and hating Earth before he left. I felt bad for him.” The king’s smile said he felt the exact opposite as Wren, Corson, and Bale laughed.
