The wind nearly stole her words, but I caught them before they vanished into the growing twilight. Anguish tore through me as I stopped walking and drew her close again.
I clung to her as I tried not to give in to my sorrow. No one should have to endure what she did. To be so all alone, trapped, and with no hope of freedom was the cruelest twist of fate for a woman whose heart had always been one of the kindest I knew.
“I was so happy to see you,” she whispered. “Those rare times when I came to, I would think of you and wonder what happened to you. I hoped you were alive, that you’d somehow survived, and then you were there. It was like a miracle.”
“It was a miracle I found you,” I said, and I was not one who believed in such things.
Her fingers dug into my back, and over her shoulder, I saw Caim studying us with a mixture of happiness and sadness, but there was also a glint of curiosity in his eyes as he watched Fiora. I frowned at him, but he wasn’t paying attention to me. I was half tempted to kill him myself, but his gaze wasn’t lecherous, and it remained focused on her face instead of her body.
I looked to Wrath, who would have a better understanding of what she endured, but at least he’d been able to move and had company and hope. Fiora had none of those things.
“He could turn it off, you know,” Fiora said.
“Who could?” I asked in confusion.
“Mytaz. He could turn off his power. When he first took me, he kept me below with him and forced me to serve him.”
I recalled Fiora with her hands outstretched and her head bowed as if she were handing over something when she was frozen.
“He told me if I kept him happy, he would allow me to remain free. Then, one day, he grew bored of me, and that was the end of it, but he could turn it off. He didn’t have to be a monster.”
“Sometimes there is no choice,” Wrath murmured.
I shot him a look, but he was focused on our surroundings. Was he talking about himself when he said that? Because he’d already proven he wasn’t a monster more than a few times to me. Maybe he was trying to convince himself there was no other path for him, but I knew the truth. And I suspected that, deep down inside, he knew the truth too.
When the wind howling around us kicked up snow that stuck to my frozen skin, I reluctantly released Fiora. Her head tipped back when Caim took to the sky again. She watched the angel with a mixture of curiosity and dread.
“I know it’s difficult to believe, but he is on our side,” I assured her.
“It’s so strange,” she murmured.
“I was there, and it’sstillstrange.”
She glanced toward Wrath again before focusing on me. “Lucifer really is dead?”
“Yes.”
“At least I woke up to some good news. Are Kobal and Corson still alive?”
“Yes, and we’re working with the humans now to save Earth.”
I filled her in on more of the details of what happened and the things she’d missed while we walked. My teeth chattered as I spoke, and Wrath grasped my elbow. He pulled me closer, and flames erupted from his hands and arms; I wanted to melt into him, but I pulled away.
“No, it isn’t fair to the others,” I said.
His jaw clenched, and I knew he was thinking that he didn’t give a shit about the others, but he didn’t try to pull me back against him.
“Don’t be stubborn, Bale,” Fiora said. “One of us should be warm.”
Caim descended from the sky to land beside Fiora in the snow. “I can carry you. My wings will keep you warm.”
Fiora shot me a panicked look as Caim opened his wings. I studied Caim but didn’t see anything perverted in his offer. He continued to keep his gaze only on her face as he stood there. The vulnerable gleam in his eyes normally would have softened me toward him, but Fiora was my little sister, and she’d already been through enough without having to deal with the insanity of Caim.
In the end, another gust of wind made her choice as it propelled her into Caim’s arms. He lifted her off the ground and closed his wings around her. Fiora disappeared beneath the black wings that shone with a rainbow hue of colors.
I glared at Caim when he glanced at me, but he didn’t grin back at me as I’d expected. Instead, he bowed his head and fell into step beside us in the snow. I could only see the top of Fiora’s head, but she had to be a lot warmer inside the feathery cocoon of Caim’s wings.
Wrath drew me close again as fire enveloped his arms and body. I melted into the heat he provided as the snow around us dissolved.
