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I smile, remembering the story. “Dead serious. I think my parents still have a copy of that newspaper at home.”
“And they haven’t taught alchemy since,” Theo chimes in, sounding like he wishes they would start.
Hayliel pops another chip into her mouth, leaning back on her elbows with a calm look on her face.
Just then, an angel drops to the ground beside our blanket. Her dark, short, and spiky hair is unusual, yet oddly familiar.
“Dina!”
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you, babe. Now I find you’ve had a picnic without me?” Dina says, stealing a chip from the bag beside Hayliel. “How rude!”
“Theo, Raphael, this is my best friend, Dina.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m glad to see you’re eating well.” Dina directs the last bit to me, and it hits me. This is the angel I met with Hayliel in the cafeteria. Fuck. I’d completely forgotten about her. My ears burn, but I shake it off and smile.
She turns to her friend, her face shrouded in worry. “You okay, Hayles?”
“Surviving. It would have been a lot worse without these two. I just hope it blows over soon.”
“It will, babe. Are we still on for this weekend?”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“Same. Alright, I’ve got a professor I need to charm. I’ll catch you later.” Her gaze shifts between Theo and me, assessing us both. “Hurt her and die, fellas.”
Before she flies away, she smirks and throws a thumbs up to Hayliel, who only smiles wide in return. It’s only when she catches on that I’ve seen everything that her cheeks turn pink, and I smother my chuckle.
“How long have you and Dina been friends?” Theo asks, reminding me he hadn’t come over to meet them that day in the cafeteria.
Hayliel stares at her fingers, seeming far away from here as she thinks. “It feels like forever, honestly. I can’t really think of a time when I didn’t know her, but I know there was. I was fourteen, I think, and wildly distrustful. But she never gave up on me, and once I accepted that she wouldn’t, we were inseparable.”
She smiles, then shifts her gaze up to meet mine, and my heart seems to stall. Sunlight pours over my shoulders directly onto her face, turning her eyes from blue to gold for only a second before she lifts her hand up to shield herself. Never has there been a more realistic nickname than for this girl, my sunshine.
Theo lets his wings free, opening them to block the sun from her eyes, but I almost wish he hadn’t. Seeing her bathed in sunlight makes something stir deep in my chest. It’s unmistakable to name, yet potent enough that I want to bottle the feeling and always keep it with me.
I close my eyes, memorizing the image, and then let my wings out too. With the sun blocked, she drops her hand and gives us both a smile.
Theo clears his throat, and I wonder if he sensed the same thing as I did. “I’m glad you have a friend like that.”
“And now you have us too.” I wink and toss a grape in the air, effortlessly catching it in my mouth.
She giggles, and I can’t help the rush of satisfaction I feel at the sound. Something moves in the distance behind her, and I focus my attention on it. An angel lands near the Fallen house, his large, black wings flapping slowly as he glares in our direction.What the?
Hayliel turns to see what I’m looking at, her smile widening for a beat before it falls. Had his stare turned colder when she looked at him or was my mind playing tricks on me? My legs ache to move, to confront the grumpy-ass angel and demand answers, but one look at Hayliel has me second-guessing.
She’s pale now, her easy-going smile gone completely, and there’s something behind her eyes that I can’t interpret. What happened between this girl and an Assassins’ Guild intern? And why do I want to know so badly?
Instead of asking the questions I’m so desperate to know the answers to, I focus all my attention on putting the light back in her eyes. That asshole may have wronged her, but it will be me who makes her glow again. Not him.
An understanding passes between Theo and me as our gazes lock. Hayliel is our friend now, and it’s our duty to make her happy.
“So, sunshine … How good of a swimmer are you?”
10
“Whatdoyousee,Ezekiel?” my lieutenant, Azrael, asks.
I know he’ll want as many details as possible, so I take my time examining the scene before me. The Assassins’ Guild is our strongest protection against the creatures who seek to harm us. It’s made up of elite Fallen warriors who protect all of angelkind.
