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“You could be so much more than what you are. From the moment we met, you’ve been denying your potential. But you can’t change what you are, Elise. You denied your angel blood, and now you are denying the gift that makes you the fighter you don’t want to be. When are you going to stop fighting yourself and start fighting evil?”
“I don’t know. Probably never. Before I met you, I was happy being just me.
“Before you met me you were completely unaware of what you are.”
“And now I know I’m a freak. God. Cosmos. I just want to go back to the computers. Why won’t you let me be who I am? I’m never going to be your perfect warrior woman.”
“You’ve never had any problem fighting me,” he points out. “You disobey and defy me at every turn. Why can’t you channel that contrary energy toward the enemy?”
“Because I don’t care.”
I sound petulant. I am petulant. Whatever. I don’t care.
With the worst timing in the world, Bryn enters the kitchen. Maybe he’s there for a snack. Or maybe he’s come to do some more lecturing. That seems to be the purview of these dark masters of the occult.
“Ugh!” I grunt at seeing him and carry on my way. I am done with being lectured by men who think they know me better than I know myself.
Cosmos
“Trouble in paradise?” Bryn asks the question with a raised brow.
“She’s not interested in training to use her powers more effectively in combat. I don’t understand it. She was almost killed twice, and she doesn’t care.”
I expect him to give me another lecture about teaching my bride a lesson. Instead, he is strangely sympathetic.
“This is all very new for her. She’s a logical little thing, and I am sure that this world she’s found herself in has shaken the foundations of her understanding of everything, including herself.”
“It’s so much wasted potential,” I say. “Maybe I should take her with me into the field.”
“No,” he shakes his head. “That is a terrible idea.”
“One way or another, that gift was not made to be hidden away. It is time we took the fight to Fleisch and recovered their relic. Once we take that away from them, they’re done. No more angelic blood trade.”
“Fleisch doesn’t keep that relic in a sandwich bag in their office safe. We don’t know where they have it, but we can guarantee it will be kept behind an endless series of doors and safes, walls within walls, and guarded by a series of ever more violent and nasty men and perhaps demons. It is impenetrable. In every way.”
“Except we now have someone who can cut through reality itself. It doesn’t matter what they have guarding it, or where they are hiding it. She can obliterate it. She can end this infernal war. It could be over. Fleisch could be destroyed. Forever.”
Bryn likes the sound of that. He’s starting to smile. He’s finally seeing what I saw the moment fire extended from her palm and formed a blade. My bride has the potential to be the end of evil, or at least, one very specific form of it.
“You do know you’d be risking her life.”
“I would not be. I would be with her. And you would be with me. And Thor. And perhaps even Anita, that little demon has potential all of her own. And the rest of the Brotherhood. I am talking about one final assault, one last stand, the culmination of a hundred years of destiny.”
Bryn smiles. It’s a rare expression on his face when he’s speaking to me.
“You’re right,” he says. “But she needs more than two hours of training. I want to see her at peak performance before we attempt to assault the very core of Fleisch. I assume she knows this is your intention?”
“Well…”
“Cosmos. She’d be putting her life at risk. You’d be putting her life at risk.”
“I’d never let any harm come to her.”
“You wouldn’t be able to stop it. Once a battle begins, casualties are guaranteed. And she would be the tip of the spear. You could lose her.”
“Look at her power, Bryn. She’s the answer to everything.”
Bryn holds up a warning hand. “Take it easy, Cosmos. She has a gift, but she’s not the chosen one. She might have angelic blood, but she’s still very human.”
“I’m just saying. At some point, we have to take the fight to Fleisch. We have to eradicate them. You think I carry around bloodied heads for fun?”
“You? Yes. Yes. I do.”
“Alright. I’ll give you that. But Bryn, she could change everything.”
He shakes his head. “She might be ready one day, but I can promise you today is not that day. Everybody at Direview has a purpose to serve, and none of us are going to reach our destiny any quicker by trying to rush. You’re right when you say a war is coming. But let it come.”
