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Yes, it had been afterward.
She glanced up and around at the shelvings. So the books were writing themselves now, for he had told her the Chosen were released of their service before he had taken over. What magic was that? And would her mating ceremony be represented thus—
Dropping her eyes back to the script, she read on… until she got to a passage that made no sense. Thus she backed up and reread it.
Then she read the lines of symbols a third time.
The Book. It was about… the Book.
And a demon. And a spell that required the evil that was called Devina to break up love in order to find it herself.
Lassiter’s name appeared next… and then the meadow of flowers was described. The wonder and heartbreak of the moment was perfectly captured, a beginning and an ending detailed in a poignancy of sadness—and yet it had worked out. He had come back unto her with a complete reversal of his previous intention, and ever since then, they had been together.
Anticipating a revisit of all their joy, she continued on—
The symbols that arrived next in her field of vision were such that her heart slowed… and then stopped in her chest. The now she reread, and a sickening dread formed in the pit of her stomach.
As she weaved on her feet, she had to throw a hand out and catch herself. Surely, she was misconstruing all of this.
And yet she remembered a statement Lassiter had made in reference to all vampires: I will do anything to help them.
Backtracking a page, she returned to the description of a demon and a spell whereupon love must be lost for the evil to find its own mate.
Lifting her eyes out of the tome, she stared ahead and saw nothing of the library. In the back of her mind, she heard Lassiter telling her… that he had done a bad thing for the right reason.
At the time, she had felt such a communion with him, for she had done the same and knew well the guilt and self-loathing that had radiated from him.
But what if he had felt as such not because of an event he had been recalling… but because of an event the angel was living in the moment.
He had brushed her off at the McDonald’s, as they had stood before the golden arches. But then, after he had been injured, he had professed his desire to return unto her. The about-face had been something she had been so grateful for that she had not questioned it—and thereafter, she had reveled in his change of mind.
The image of him standing before her during their ceremony, with his wings and his halo resplendently visible, burst into her mind. She had been so touched, so enthralled.
Turning the page back to what had frozen her heart, her eyes went to the passage… that read loud and clear what she sought to deny: Whereupon the angel resumed with the female Rahvyn, such that the race and the Brotherhood were protected from the demon Devina finding her own mate, for the love within the female Rahvyn must be kindled for the future to be best assured.
Her vision grew indistinct as tears marshaled.
Which was fine, was it not. There was naught else that she needed to read.
As she closed the book and slid it back into its proper place, she revisited the image the Book had shown her, of Lassiter in the cave, the firelight upon his face.
She had assumed it had been a beacon to draw her forth.
Now… she knew it had more likely been a warning that whate’er else she had endured in her lifetime, what the angel was going to wrought upon her was going to be a far, far worse devastation.
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
When Lassiter returned to the Sanctuary, he was wrung out. An accord had been reached with the Creator, but it had been a long, harrowing conversation, steeped in tension that, considering the stakes, had nearly collapsed his head. Or blown it apart.
But in the end, the Creator had allowed him to stay on the earth. The other two angels as well.
It appeared that Lassiter, and all the chaos he brought with him, was part of the balance in the universe, just as Devina, in her own way, and Lash, in his, and the Brotherhood and the King, in theirs, were part of the equilibrium.
Good to know that tormenting Vishous was part of the grand plan.
And then, as he was leaving, the entity that had brought all life and light into existence had winked at him. As if all along, He had been resolved of this outcome and had just wanted Lassiter to work for it.
Fine, dandy. Do you, big guy, Lassiter thought to himself as he re-formed by the courtyard’s fountain.
All he cared about was that he was sticking with his mate and the Brotherhood, and he couldn’t wait to tell Rahvyn the good news.
