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He can’t hurt us while we’re here,I reminded her.
She swallowed.We don’t know what he’s capable of, Sariel. He just openly disrespected the King and Queen. He’s unhinged.
She was right. Azazel’s entire being seemed to be struggling. I wondered briefly if he was warring with his angel.Unhinged or not—
Sariel, don’t you know that your father technically taught humankind how to use and combine metals? How to make weapons? He’s like the embodiment of the faes’ weakness.
Her words made me pause, my eyes narrowing on Azazel as he sat back in his chair, his arms folded across his chest and his eyes trained on Mikey.
He may be powerful, Aria, but he’s also losing his sanity. And I think he’s starting to realize that.
That makes him even more dangerous, unpredictable, and terrifying. An insane fallen angel.
I didn’t have time to respond because Tarragon and Blossom entered the room. Blossom hadn’t shrunk to her human size, so she lumbered into the room, leaving pieces of dried bark in her wake. When they took their seats, Tarragon glared at Azazel.
“Why are you here, fallen angel?” he asked, disdainful.
“For my family, of course,” Azazel answered, eyeing Mikey and me.
Mikey snorted a laugh, and Azazel flashed him a sharp grin, one that Mikey and I understood too well to mean, ‘Shut up, the grown-ups are speaking.’
Hemlock, Foxglove, and Commander Grel entered the room behind the King and Queen. The advisors wore Guardian gear and matching scowls.
“I have it on good authority that your family came here of their own free will,” Tarragon said, lifting a perfectly arched brow.
Tyler cleared his throat. “Excuse me,” he said. “My niece has some misguided notion that I want to hurt her, which is why she ran. She doesn’t know better. My brother and his girlfriend died before they told us she existed, so she spent years with a foster family and was eventually adopted. She doesn’t know better.”
Holy fuck. Holy fuck, they’re lying through their teeth,Aria said frantically.
We shouldn’t be surprised. It’s the only way they can get their hands on us. Never mind that you’re a grown fucking woman,I growled back.
Tarragon shook his head. “What does that have to do with anything? She’s a consenting adult; I can’t force her to leave.”
Tyler opened his mouth to argue, but Blossom overrode him. “They have made a pact with the fae and cannot leave until it is fulfilled, no matter what is said.”
Silence descended on the room at Blossom’s declaration.
I never thought I’d be grateful for agreeing to give them a child, yet here I am,Aria admitted.They didn’t know that would work, did they? I mean, seriously?
They could spin this many ways. They could claim we kidnapped Mikey and that I’m next in line for the seat on the Upper Council or that Marilyn and Neo are to be persecuted on the Upper Council’s terms because of their crimes against them.
But they won’t because that implies we’ll die, and Tarragon and Blossom consider us too valuable. Valuable enough that they’d protect our friends to ensure we stuck around and fulfilled our end of the bargain.
It’s pretty hot how fast you thought about that solution.
She blushed.
“They’re children!” Azazel snapped, enraged. “You’ve taken advantage of them!”
Tyler’s eyes had fallen on Aria, and his glare was heated. I suddenly recalled his expression as he’d tried to slit Aria’s throat.
My angel and I quickly came to a hasty agreement; If we ever found him alone while he was here, we would get rid of him. I would take him out myself.
My angel licked his teeth as he shared an image of a mangled, unrecognizable version of Tyler.
I smiled. I couldn’t help it. Satisfaction trickled down from my brain into the rest of my body.
“They haven’t been around long enough to understand what they’ve done,” Tyler argued, his eyes locking with mine. Whatever he saw made him pause, his eyes narrowing. “They didn’t even know you existed before now.”
