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Chapter 1
Astrid
Whenyoursoulbelongedto the King of the Angels, you shouldn’t do stupid shit. Most of us knew not to be lustful, fail a mission, or steal. What youdefinitelyshouldn’t try to do was escape. Not unless you knew for sure your ass wasn’t going to get caught, but I was too determined to let that stop me. Freedom wasn’t very far from the horizon when I was dragged back to the Kingdom of Solace and manhandled all the way through the giant, golden gates of the castle.
There were several rules you couldn’t break if you lived here. If you did, you would be exiled from the angel lands and your soul would belong to the King of the Demons. Fortunately for me, I didn’t break one of those rules, so at least I still had a chance to beg for forgiveness. But unfortunately, trying to escape myjobwould still come with a harsh punishment, something with which I was extremely familiar.
At least I wouldn’t be stripped of my wings. Right?
My knees bashed against the cold marble floor as I was thrown in front of the king. With my hands bound behind my back, I wasn’t able to push away the brown hair that had fallen over my eyes.
A long, exasperated sigh echoed through the giant throne room as it left the king. “What did she do this time?”
“She tried to escape again, sir.”
I pursed my lips together to blow away my wayward locks so I could see him and hopefully figure out his mood. My eyes quickly darted to his golden wings, which were spread wide with a slight flutter to them. His blonde hair that fell just past his pecs didn’t seem to have a sheen to it, which meant one thing: he was frustrated as fuck with me.
The look on his face told me he also wasn’t surprised by my actions. Probably since I’d been caught three other times. “What is your excuse for this attempt, Astrid?”
I did what I always did when I was in trouble—I lied.
“I was just flying too close to the border, that’s all. Since it’s a cloudy day, I wasn’t watching where I was going and didn’t notice how far out I had gotten.” I gave him a gleaming, angelic smile that was lit by the rays of sun shining through the window, revealing that it definitely wasn’t cloudy. I reminded myself to come up with better liesbeforeI’m caught in the future. “I won’t do it again, sir.”
The king’s eyes darted to the asshat that apprehended me. “What really happened?”
The guard shifted uncomfortably before he cleared his throat. “She was beyond the gates and extremely close to the Enchanted Circle when she was seized, sir.”
The king seemed like he would rather jab his own thumbs into his eyeballs than deal with any more of my shenanigans. “We can’t keep playing these games, Astrid. You failed in your earth life and you can’t go back, no matter how hard you try. With every idiotic thing you have managed to do, you’ve receivedeverypunishment we have along with extra trainingandguidance. Yet, somehow you’restilla worse angel than you ever were a human, and that’s saying a lot.”
“I know, I know. It won’t happen again.” I saddened my eyes so the impact of my lies was more believable. “I’m sorry.”
“Your apologies aren’t worth much anymore.” He shifted and crossed his extraordinarily large legs. I had been an angel for six years and thrown to the king’s mercy hundreds of times, yet I still wasn’t used to how massive he was. “I can’t keep punishing you over and over with no results. The archivist can’t even keep up with scribing your foolishness. They’re running out of scrolls!”
Calmness was a virtue for all angels, but especially for the king. The muscles on the side of my lip tightened at the fact that I made him raise his voice. It was rare when he did and, rumor has it, only I could make him that angry. My half smile quickly faded when his demeanor changed. A gloominess settled on his face as his bright green eyes glistened. It was something I had never seen before in my many,manytimes being in trouble.
“Astrid Jillian Westfall, you are sentenced to punishment by ostracization.”
The guards around me gasped as my heart thundered in my chest. “What? You can’t be serious!”
The king took a deep breath and rose from his throne. The tight line his lips were pressed into confirmed the fact that he was one hundred percent serious. “Bring her to her feet!”
The guards hesitated before they yanked me up.
“King Hariel, please!”
A shining tear rolled down the king’s cheek. “I’m sorry,” he whispered and a realization, along with panic, hit me.
“No! Not my wings!” Even though I hated being here, my beautiful wings were the only thing that made me happy.
He raised his massive hand and gestured toward me. Golden sparkles of magic danced around my body, blocking my vision. My shoulder blades tingled for seconds before sharp pain replaced the feeling. Every ounce of angelic purity was removed from me as hundreds of white feathers fell to the floor. Now that I was wingless, an emptiness filled my soul.
“My king,” I whispered as I sniffed back tears.
“You’re a citizen of Abaddon Kingdom now, you are no longer under my reign. Avaress Vance is now your king.”
“NO!”
Another swift motion of the king’s hand and I was standing outside of a giant black castle. The angel guards who were once holding me steady were now replaced by two demons that seemed just as shocked as I was.
