“Did what?”
“Stayed sane behind that seal. I wasn’t even completely frozen, and I felt like I was going to lose my mind.”
“I may hate them, but I had others behind the seal with me, a way to communicate, and hope. You had none of those things.”
“True.” Still, I admired that he hadn’t walked out of his imprisonment completely stark raving mad. He was pissed, yes, and who wouldn’t be? “But I still don’t know how you did it.”
“There’s nothing most of us won’t do to survive.”
With those words, he bent and lifted my golden sword from the ground. His eyes met and held mine before he handed the sword out to me. I opened my mouth to say something, but words failed me. Instead, I smiled as I took the sword from him and started toward Raphael. The angel’s face was stony when he turned toward us.
“I’ll be better once we get some clothes back on you,” Wrath said.
I shot him a look. “I didn’t take you as someone who would enjoy clothes.”
“I enjoy some of them and tolerate others, but I much prefer whenyou’rein them.”
“And I would have thought you’d like me more out of them.”
Despite the awfulness of this situation, I couldn’t stop myself from playfully bumping his hip with mine. I’d nearly died, but here I was, walking, talking, and moving again. I had to celebrate that because soon I would have to destroy my friend and sister.
Wrath grinned at me, and his eyes twinkled with amusement. Wrath, ahorseman, had twinkling eyes.
Oh shit, I thought when my heart did an odd little flip-flop. I’d assumed things were bad before, but I suspected they were about to get worse. It was one thing not to be able to resist him because he was my Chosen; it was another tofallfor him.
“You’re right, I do prefer you out of them. However, I much prefer youinthem when we’re around others,” he said and glanced at Raphael.
“He doesn’t know I’m a woman.”
“Oh, he knows; he just hides it better than most.”
I didn’t think that was true, but I wasn’t going to argue with him about it when we were so close to Raphael… and Caim.
Raphael finished righting Caim, but because of the way Caim froze, Raphael had to prop him against another statue to keep him upright. He rested a hand on Caim’s outstretched wing and bowed his head.
“I am sorry, my brother,” Raphael said.
So was I. The fallen angel made me nuts; he knew how to get under someone’s skin better than anyone else I knew. He’d been an enemy, then a necessary evil to use against Lucifer, and after a time, I started to consider him an ally. Then, somewhere along the way, without realizing it happened, I began to think of him as a friend. I was going to miss the annoying asshole.
And I dreaded what was to come with him and Fiora. What if destroying them was the wrong choice to make? What if keeping them alive was worse?
“I’m sorry, my friend,” I said as I rested my hand on Caim’s head and gulped back the lump forming in my throat.
From the corner of my eye, I caught a flash of movement. Lifting my sword, I spun to face the new threat but froze when I spotted one of the hellhounds stepping away from the palace and shaking bits of gold from its thick coat.
Then my eyes crossed as they focused on my blade. The flecks of gold breaking away and falling to the ground revealed the silver blade beneath. I lowered my sword as hands clawed out of a statue twenty feet away. An arm stretched high as the rising sun caught and reflected off black claws.
The hound caught in midleap broke free and jumped ten feet into the air before coming down. Its head swung back and forth while the other hound paced in front of the palace and eyed the emerging demons with its hackles raised.
“What the…?” Wrath’s voice trailed off as more demons broke free of their golden tombs.
I lifted my sword higher as I eyed the demons. We had no idea how many of them were enemies or friends.
“Shit,” Wrath hissed as he stepped closer to me.
Suddenly, Caim shuddered, and his wing shot higher into the air. He stretched his neck and released a caw that rebounded off the mountains, also coming to life beneath the disintegrating gold. It would now be possible to climb out of this place.
Caim’s back arched as he transformed himself from a raven and back into a man. He wheezed in a breath before pushing himself to his feet and glowering at the emerging demons. The demons didn’t look as confused as they should have if they’d been unaware of their surroundings.
