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I opened my eyes, hoping to get some answers from him that weren’t half-truths. “It’s been a very confusing and emotional couple of days. I’ve never been one to play games, and if I’m dead, then I think that’s probably never going to change.”
He let go of his flaming spear and it didn’t move. It stayed there like Samael was still holding it. “I’m not playing games. Let’s have a seat.” He waved a hand through the air and a table with two chairs appeared. They were the hammered industrial metal kind that were common at coffee shops and cafes. Utilitarian and sturdy. I guess that’s how this archon rolled.
“Okay.” I pulled out a chair and sat across from Samael. It wasn’t like I had anything better to do.
“Why do you love my daughter?”
I guess we were switching topics away from my lunar tie. It didn’t matter anyway. I was dead.
I wasn’t sure what good answering the question would do, but he was Cosette’s father. So, it made some kind of sense. And maybe it’d help him find someone else for her. “Because she’s loving, caring, strong. She’s put herself at risk with her family and her people to help us, and never once asked for anything in return.” She’d sacrificed her freedom to help us fight those demons, and now was forced to live at court in a life she hated. She’d never once complained. She never even told the rest of our friends what she was going through at home because of what she’d done for us.
“She’s always giving too much of herself to everyone around her, and no one sees through the words that she says. No one thinks about the meaning behind them or about what she’s purposefully not saying. And she needs that.” I thought I could give her that and make her laugh. I saw who she was under it all, and she was good and fun.
“Every time I make her laugh, I feel like a superhero because she needs that laugh. She needs more joy in her life. She can be frustrating and stubborn, but the kindness and self-sacrificing really makes up for all of that. I just… I
love her, but I’m here now, so I have to let her go. But, if you could pick someone amazing for her that would be…”
He nodded. “Okay. Yes.”
I blew out a breath. My eyes burned, but I wouldn’t let any tears fall in front of Mr. Stone-faced Archon. “Okay.” Cosette was going to find someone who would make her happy, which meant everything was fine. She’d be okay. So, good. I rubbed the palms of my hands on my jeans, trying to keep all the emotions off my face.
This was a good thing. It hurt, but it had to happen. I couldn’t keep her bound to me when she was still living.
A pair of scissors appeared in Samael’s hand. The blades were silver, short, and looked pointy and sharp. Almost like a tiny dagger when they were closed. The handles were ornate and golden, and if I wasn’t mistaken, they glowed a little.
He reached through me, grabbed something I couldn’t see, and then it felt like I was being pulled toward him.
The pull increased until I was leaning over the table. “What’s going on?” I gripped the edges of the table to keep myself from sliding across it. I wanted to trust Cosette’s father, but I’d just been stabbed by a golden sword, and for something like that, once was really enough.
“Just one second. I have to find the right one. Hold still.”
And then he put the scissors way too close to my eye. I whipped my head back as far as I could.
“Watch it with the scissors.” I snapped at him.
“Oh, I’m watching.” He jabbed the scissors toward me and snipped.
The cut sounded inside my head. It rattled and echoed inside my skull and rippled down through every bone, muscle, molecule of my body, like I was about to shift but couldn’t. Yet way worse than that.
I fell back into the chair—nearly toppling backward—breathing hard. “What the fuck was that?”
“What’s going on?” Eli appeared at the table. His hair was a tangled mess and his once-white shirt looked rumpled and he had dark circles under his eyes.
He looked like shit.
Eli turned to me and his face was turning tomato red. “Fuck you very much! I’ve been running around like crazy trying to find you!” He spun to Samael, and I was glad to have his attention away from me.
That was one pissed off archon.
Eli picked up the table and tossed it across the white abyss. “I thought you said he’d be fine!”
“And he is fine.” Samael motioned toward me slowly.
“But he’s dead.” Eli stepped toward him.
The flaming spear whooshed into Samael’s waiting hand, but he stayed in his chair, watching Eli lose his shit like it was no big deal.
As fun as it would’ve been to watch them beat the shit out of each other, now that Eli was here, I wanted answers. “Why did you send me on such a shit mission? Why take me to Gales when I was just going to die?” I wanted to be mad at him and blame him for everything that went wrong, but it wasn’t his fault.
