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"Myrina is not the one you're looking for. She's of no use to you," growled Tanael.
"I know who she is, and she's not Lilith's daughter. But she is in contact with her. It has always been like this. But this time, I won't try to kill her; she'll finally tell me who Lilith's brat is." He glared at me, confident of victory, and I didn't want to imagine how he intended to get this information out of me.
But there was one thing I didn't understand. What did he mean by saying: It had always been like this? I had only known Aspasia for a few weeks.
"I'm sorry, but we can't make that deal." Without seeing Tanael's face, I knew he was smiling challengingly at his counterpart.
"Then so be it," Mr. Nash whispered, and suddenly, everything happened too fast for my human eye.
Even as the monsters started to jump, Tanael rammed his sword into the ground, creating a protective shield. Not far from me, a portal opened. On the other side, I could see Tanael's garden.
"Sam! Stephan! Take Myrina to the villa and call for reinforcements. Don't let her out of your sight. Nash will surely have sent a troop to the underworld. Contact Hecate. Tell her to come here. I'll hold off Nash and his companions until then," the God of the First Light called out to his friends.
Sam pulled me by the arm to the portal, which the demon had already passed through.
"No, we can't leave Tanael here alone!" I screamed in horror as I saw the monsters cutting the first gaps into the protective wall. Sam looked from me to Tanael, also unsure what to do.
"I hereby call in my favor, Myrina Johnson. I ask you to do me the favor of disappearing through this portal with Sam and Stephan. Now!" I suddenly heard Tanael's calm voice say.
Confused, I turned to observe him. His gold eyes were like a storm on the high seas—wild, powerful, and merciless. But I could still detect a plea in between—a weakness, a sadness—and it had to do with me.
When I had considered what he could demand his favor for, I had only considered demands that would benefit him. But here I was, realizing I had been wrong.
Without resistance, I let Sam pull me along through the portal. My feet had already touched the lush green grass when I fully recognized it.
Tanael Baldur, the man who turned away from us at that very moment, who put up his wings ready for battle to stand alone in the way of the enemy, had never done anything for his own benefit.
"Oh, Myrina, if there was a way to fulfill this wish to be allowed to love you, I would go to hell and back for it."
He wanted me—more than anything else—but he didn't take what he wanted because he always had the good of others in mind first and foremost. He was a good man who tried to protect me. But what exactly did he have to protect me from? From himself?
Did I even want to be protected and give up what I longed for? What would I sacrifice to be with him?
Everything, whispered my heart, my soul and my mind in unison.
It was as if I had been shaken awake.
Sam couldn't react fast enough, so unexpectedly, I snatched myself from his grasp and jumped back through the closing portal to Derinkuyu at the last moment. To the fallen angel who would face John Adam Nash and his monsters. For me, for everyone else, even if it meant his death. But I couldn't let that happen.
No one had noticed my return, so I hid behind a pillar.
"Do you really think you can hide her from me?" Nash called out to Tanael.
"As long as I exist, I'll make sure she's safe from you," growled Tanael. I carefully peeked past the pillar. The God of the First Light stood at my height, holding two daggers. He looked highly concentrated.
Mr. Nash stood on the other side of the protective wall while his monsters continued to try to tear it down. The cracks were clearly visible; it would not last much longer.
"Oh yes, little god. Betrayed by your own kin just because you love her." Nash laughed. "How strong is the pain when she looks at you and doesn't remember? Was it worth the high price?"
"You know nothing about her and about me!" Tanael's anger was deep in my bones. Nash was trying to provoke him, and it seemed to be working. But what could have upset him so much? Who was the Knight talking about? Tanael's great love?
"Make sure you don't lose your head. You know how deadly that can be for you." Nash's laugh was cruel.
Before I could think about it any further, one of the monsters Tanael had called Ankou cut such a large hole in the shield he could squeeze through part of it.
Tanael threw one of his daggers at the monster in a flash and hit it directly in the eye. Whimpering, it pulled its head back again, but now its comrades had tasted blood. Together, they rushed at the hole created, and even Tanael's second dagger could not stop them.
The angel took a deep breath, grabbed his sword, and pulled it out of the ground with a jerk. He had not yet fully raised his weapon to fight when the enemy attacked him unhindered. The protective wall had disappeared.
