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“Are you out of your mind?!” I interrupted, taking a step toward him. He moved quickly, wrapping an arm around the Para’s waist and sliding her behind him. The move gave me pause, but I was already too riled up to stop. “I trusted you with the most important thing in my fucking life, Johnathan!”
He shrank under the whip-like nature of my voice. “Sariel—”
“Now mysoulmateis going to be executed, while you’ve been whoring around with the enemy this whole time? Get the hell out of my face!”
I took a menacing step forward. The rage I hadn’t felt well enough to feel when I’d seen Johnny lead Aria into the Estate, bound and gagged, resurfaced with a vengeance.
“How did you get out of your chains?” the Captain asked. “Did you burn them off?”
I glared at her, then I turned my head towards where I’d been chained. The shackles had indeed been burnt off. “Someone else was in here,” I said vaguely. “Now get out of my way. I need to find my goddamn mate.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you, Sariel,” Johnny started, his tone carefully controlled, expression blank. “She’s already on trial.”
I froze, a red haze filling my vision as his words registered in my head. Trial? “What the hell do you mean by that?”
“They’re executing her publicly. The Uppers are making a spectacle of the whole thing. It’s open to the general supernatural public, and the place is filled. Everyone is here to see you both get killed.”
“I’m supposed to be taking you to join her,” the Captain said as she inspected the charred chains. “There was no one in the hallway when we got here. How long have you been free?”
“I’m not telling you shit. Move.”
Power surged through me. I could feel my angel as he waded towards the surface of my control.
“We’re not— we’re not your enemies Sariel,” Johnny tried to explain.
I scoffed. I’d like to see him reason with my angel.
“We don’t have time for this,” Marilyn growled. “We’re trying to save everyone’s asses, here.Weactually have a plan, so follow along or I’ll knock you out and do this with you unconscious.”
My angel snapped. Marilyn lifted her hand, a spell at the ready.
“Sariel, they'll kill her,” Johnny said quietly, his words barely able to penetrate the enraged fog that had taken over my brain. “They’ll kill her if you don’t get it together. If you fight us, you’ll just take up time you cannot afford to waste.”
I let them execute their plan.
I was led to the auditorium in cuffs, which were mere imitations of the real ones that keep transformations and magic in check. I feigned complete exhaustion and a broken spirit, my head bowed.
I’d been trying to get into Aria’s head from the moment they’d told me about where she’d been taken. It hadn’t worked so far.
I was guided up some stairs, and then my cuffs were attached to more chains so that I was hanging like Jesus on the cross again. Only after the Paras left the platform did I look up.
My heart plummeted at the crowd of people that had gathered. The room was set up like an auditorium, with Aria and I on separate platforms and the Upper Council at the highest point. There were flat screen TVs around the perimeter and cameras in our faces.
The screens were showing the Upper Council and their ugly (not really, but I’d tear them off if given half the chance anyways) mugs. All except Lucifer and Azazel.
Some glee sliced through me. Azazel was seated to the left of the rest of the Council, all by himself. I hoped he was actually on trial. It was high time someone forced him to be accountable for his actions, even though I had the feeling they wouldn’t punish him nearly enough.
I was disgusted. That they would turn something like this into such a publicized event made me want to bash their skulls in.
I finally turned towards Aria.
My brain short circuited.
She was hanging in the same position I was. They’d cleaned her up. She’d been bathed, her hair had been dried, and then apparently curled. It was decorated with little white flowers and tiny braids, pearls tied to their ends. She’d been dressed in a long, sheer, white robe, but I couldn’t see what was underneath it from this angle.
She lifted her eyes to mine, and my mind exploded.
Therewasn’tanything beneath the robe.
