She’d been having a difficult time adjusting to life here. It wasn’t Earth and our new way of life that was challenging for her, but the memories of her time trapped inside her golden cage. Our first few nights here, she had nightmares that caused her to wake screaming.
Those screams woke everyone nearby, and I often found myself sprinting for her room only to find her sitting on her bed, screaming over and over again. When I embraced her, she broke free of whatever grip her nightmare still held over her, and clinging to me, she sobbed. However, she hadn’t woken screaming like that recently.
Her smile faltered as I strode toward her. “Is everything okay?” she asked.
I stopped in front of her and studied the green eyes so similar in color to mine. “Yes, it’s fine,” I assured her, and she relaxed a little. “I wanted to talk about Caim.”
Her shoulders went back. “What about him?”
I wasn’t quite sure what to say. Who was I to say anything to anyone about who they took to bed? And I’d never before questioned a demon’s sexual choices. That wasn’t something any of us did, but this wasFiora, and she’d suffered enough.
I couldn’t stand the idea of her suffering. Yes, she’d taken demons to her bed before, but I’dneverseen her flirt with one of them or touch them in the way she touched Caim’s arm.
“The two of you are very friendly,” I said.
Her shoulders relaxed a little. “We are. He’s nice, and he’s funny. Those are two things I never thought I’d say about a fallen, but he’s not like the others, or at least he’s not like howIremember the others.”
“No, he’s not like the other angels. He is actually… decent.”
That was something I never believed I’d admit about an angel. However, with Caim, it was true. I liked him, but I’d still tear out his heart and shove it down his throat if he hurt my sister.
“He is,” she said. “He also keeps the nightmares away.”
My eyebrows shot up. So the nightmares hadn’t stopped, and whatever this was between them was far more than a flirtation.How did I miss that?
Because you’ve been busy with Wrath.
I buried my guilt over this; she hadn’t needed me as much recently, and now I knew why.
“And I haven’t said anything to you about Wrath,” she said with a pointed look.
“Wrath is my Chosen.”
Fiora didn’t say anything, but her gaze went past me to the restaurant beyond, and I knew she was looking at Caim. Panic clawed at my insides. Caim was a fallen, but more than that, he was an angel. Unlike demons, they didn’t have a Chosen. If Caim was Fiora’s Chosen, he could walk away from her without any consequences, but it woulddestroyher.
River marked Kobal as hers;I reminded myself. The queen had enough demon traits in her from when Lucifer sheared his wings to mark the king, but Caim was different than the other fallen angels.
He cut off his wings, but they grew back beautiful and with feathers, unlike the others who regrew bat-like, leathery wings. Throughout his transformation from angel to fallen, Caim retained more of his humanity and angel traits than the others. He remained more angel than demon; that was why he switched sides and helped us against Lucifer.
I would bet that, unlike River, Caim wouldn’t feel the call of the Chosen, and it scared me.
“Fiora, do you think Caim is your Chosen?” I asked.
Her gaze returned to me, and I saw the apprehension in her eyes. Before she replied, the double doors of the front entrance thrust open, and a blast of cold wind billowed into the hotel. I stepped back from the freezing air as snow swirled inside and settled around Raphael.
He shook gold angel dust and snow from his wings as he stopped before us with his legs spread and a thunderous expression on his face. “They’re coming.”
“Pride and Death?” I inquired, though I already knew the answer.
“Yes, and an army of craetons.”
My blood ran cold as I recalled Wrath’s words about them coming for him specifically. “How many?”
“At least a hundred, but the trees obscured my view; there could be more.”
“They’ve gathered an army from Eldorata,” I said.
“An army of the dead and freshly risen,” Fiora murmured.
