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“You need to go,” I urged. Talking was easier now, but my body was still racked with agony, and I was struggling to breathe.
“We will,” he replied. “We’ll go when she gets here. It won’t be long now.”
My eyes left his face, and I looked around. They’d brought me outside and laid me in front of the house on some blankets. Another was tucked around me, but my body felt like ice. “Cold,” I whispered.
“Here, little one.” Remiel knelt down beside me, and then he lifted the blanket and stretched out next to me, trying his best not to jostle me. He inched forward until he was pressed against me, and I sighed and closed my eyes as the heat of his body flowed into mine.
“Fucking little whore,” my father spat, and my eyes snapped open as terror rushed through me.
Remiel wrapped an arm over me. “He can’t hurt you anymore, little one. Never ever again, I promise you.”
I looked over to where his voice had come from. He sat on the ground about twenty yards away, his hands bound behind his back. Eleth stood there as calm as anything, pointing the rifle at him.
“Call her a whore again, and it’ll be your blood on this rifle,” he warned, his voice icy.
“She’s a slut,” my father snarled, and Eleth brought the rifle around, striking my father across the face with it. He toppled over into the dirt, cursing and spitting blood into the ground. Eleth readjusted his grip and pointed the gun at him again as if nothing had happened.
“What...” I began but gave up. It would take too much to finish the sentence.
“We’re waiting for Sariel,” Ade answered grimly.
“We won’t have long to wait,” Jophiel added, gesturing toward a strange golden glow in the distance.
I watched in fear and awe as the host of angels approached, gliding gracefully through the sky. They were heading straight for us, and tears fell from my eyes as I realized my men would never escape now. There were too many.
“What on earth?” Jophiel muttered as the host suddenly descended a couple of miles away, disappearing into the forest we had laughed and loved in only a few hours ago. My heart ached as I recalled the love and happiness on the faces of the men who stood around me, their expressions now ones of weariness and worry.
Ade walked to the edge of the trees and listened, then he turned back. “Stay with her and keep eyes on this piece of shit. I’m going to go see what’s happening.” He paused and then walked over to my father. “Just in case I don’t come back...”
He punched my father in the face. My father’s head snapped back, and he crashed to the ground. My mouth fell open as Ade kicked him twice, leaving my father winded and gasping for air on the ground.
He bent down. “That was for hurting her. Be thankful I don’t have the time right now to deal with you the way I’d like to.” He stood up and stalked off toward the trees.
“No,” I murmured to Jophiel. “Don’t let him go.”
“It’s okay, sweet one. Ade’s a trained soldier, and he’s pretty stealthy. Don’t worry, just concentrate on staying awake.”
He was right, I found my eyes closing even as he spoke to me. The darkness beckoned me into it, but I fought it this time, desperately trying to stay awake.
“Just let her fucking die,” my father called right before I heard the sound of a soft impact and then a groan.
“I’d advise you to keep quiet,” Eleth said coldly.
My father laughed. “It’s not as if you’re going to kill me, is it? I know you are cowardly deserters, but I still don’t see you as murderers. You’ve surprised me though. I thought you’d be long gone when your lieutenant arrived.”
“Yeah, well, we couldn’t exactly leave with Dylan in the state you left her in, could we?”
“Stupid bitch. Leave her where she is, in the dirt just like her whore of a mother.”
“Not a whore,” I murmured, raising my head a little.
“What the fuck did you say?” my father asked, his head snapping around. The look on his face would normally make me shake, but not anymore. There wasn’t really anything else he could do to me, even if he got past Eleth, which wasn’t going to be possible.
“She wasn’t a whore,” I said clearer.
He spat blood on the ground. “Wasn’t a whore? She opened her legs to everyone. Even when a smarmy lawyer came to town, asking her about her family’s old property up in the hills, she couldn’t wait to bend over and get railed by him.”
“No,” I replied, closing my eyes.
