“Will she join you?” Sebastian drawls when they part, stalking each other. His blue eyes look past Breckin. “Will she turn her back on her calling for you?”
My stomach drops. Phantom butterflies within my chest flit about, tugging me toward Breckin while, at the same time, holding me back.
“You don’t know?” Sebastian laughs. “He didn’t tell you.”
Is he talking to me or Breckin? My question goes unasked as Breckin’s wing lifts, blocking my view, and more voices shout from above.
“Vivie, move back,” Breckin orders above the others.
Breathing through the pain of my broken arm, I hide behind a tree. My legs refuse to move farther.
A moment later, a hand cups against my mouth as an arm wraps around my waist from behind.
“It’s me,” Elias says, picking me up off the ground and swiftly moving away from the fight.
“Elias? No. Help Breck. Where are you going?” I claw at his hands. His grip tightens, and I kick at his feet as he runs farther into the forest. He can’t fly—we won’t go far—but he runs with speed. Breckin’s voice fades into the background, and my soul shreds, ripping a sob from my chest. Fear consumes me. “Elias, please. What if something happens to him?”
“His father is here,” he pants, an edge to his voice. Is that bitterness? Elias thinks of Breckin like a son. It’s in his tone. “Hamon will take care of the reaper. Breckin is fine. I need to move you to safety.”
His words make sense, and he is attempting to help, but my body doesn’t listen. I have no control over my reaction. My legs kick, and my head butts against his chest as I flail. A deep-seated knowledge that Breckin is being threatened has awakened, and my soul fights to return to her other half. Elias curses as I lean forward, throwing him off balance, and his arms loosen. Taking advantage, I punch at his arm and jump free of his grip. It was a mistake.
Falling to the ground face first, I land on my stomach, and black, all-consuming pain rips across my arm. Moisture and warmth immediately cover my skin. My sleeve is soaked in blood. I roll to my back, screaming in agony as I push the sleeve up. A bone protrudes through the skin.
“I’m trying to protect you,” Elias hisses, falling to his knees and reaching for me. I flinch. Elias’ face changes, his worry wiping away and leaving an unreadable mask. “I’m sorry, Viv,” he says gruffly.
My head shakes. “I need Breck, please,” I beg, willing my limbs to move, to run back toward the faint sound of yelling, but the pain is too much. My muscles lock.
“Everything will be okay,” Elias says, lifting his arm. Everything goes silent.
When It’s All Over
Breckin
My father, an avenging angel full of malice and power, is a jarring sight as he lands in the snow between Sebastian and me. I risk a glance at Vivienne and find Elias dragging her away. Relieved, I focus on Sebastian.
“Hamon.” Sebastian nods in deference.
Father glances my way. His mouth twists as he takes me in. I spit blood on the ground, aware the look I’m receiving is because of my weakness. My energy pulls, healing the wounds Father frowns down upon.
“You challenge the son of an angel, reaper?” He questions, his words full of distaste.
“I defend myself. Your son interfered with my job—”
“My son saved his soul mate,” Father interrupts. He tucks his wings and moves forward. “You are inferior to us in every way. Did you think you could win something from me?”
The reaper’s eyes go wide. His jaw slackens as he looks around the forest. Elias and Vivienne are gone. Father stands before him with an angel blade at his waist, and I’m ten feet on his other side. He’s trapped.
He leaps into the air, but it’s too late. Father grabs his ankle and throws him to the ground like a sack of grain as I rush forward. Sebastian scrambles back, but Father is a blur. The divine, even fallen ones, are more powerful than lesser angels, and before I can blink, Father has the reaper from behind, pulling him into a standing position.
“You damned her,” Sebastian says between gritted teeth, glaring as he claws at Father’s arm. “You should have let her die.”
“How? How did I damn her?” I shout as Father jerks back, choking the reaper. “What is her calling? What do you know?”
Sebastian grunts, his lips parting, but his words never exit. My father’s arm arcs around his shoulders, and the glow of an angel blade flashes as it slices across his chest.
“No!”
Sebastian’s eyes glow, flaring wide, before closing as he crumbles to the ground, leaving the remains of the human host he inhabited before us.
“Why did you kill him?”
“Your soul mate was hurt.” His gaze flicks over my shoulder. The snow is red with blood. “Find her and send Elias back.”
My jaw clenches as I study him. There will be time for explanations later. Leaving him behind, I grab my phone and jump into the air in search of Elias and Vivienne.
“Your battle skills need work.”
I turn at the displeasure dripping from Father’s words. I’d assumed he’d be gone a while, taking care of the mess with Sebastian—even he answers to someone. Or so I thought.
Controlling my contempt, I nod. “There hasn’t been much need for fighting here.”
He killed Sebastian, with a simple slice to the chest. It was nothing for him, but it’ll cost me everything, eventually. Including Vivienne.
“There will be.” He walks to the opposite side of my bed and looks down at Vivienne’s still form. She’s a mess, with her knotted hair and dirty, tear-streaked face—but she is beautiful. And she is mine. I tense as he reaches for her now healed arm. The primal urge to challenge him for the audacity to touch her consumes me. Father or not. My face must tell the story, because he pauses, withdraws his arm, and inhales deeply. My teeth grind.
“You will prepare. You will train.” His eyes never leave her face. “If you plan on keeping her.”
Is that a threat?
“I have until April,” I remind him needlessly. He can’t bind me to his ranks until I turn eighteen.
“I can send fighters here.”
“No.” I stand, disliking the advantage he has with me sitting by the bed. “Thank you,” I say, merely to appease him. “We’ll be fine. I’m sure he told no one about her.” Other than you, of course.
He doesn’t realize I know. He assumes Elias is useless at anything other than watching over me, because he no longer has wings. Elias—the Dominion angel who ended thousands on both sides of the war between Heaven and Hell—a glorified babysitter. How does he not see it? Elias is the one who told me the reaper knew exactly who I was the day I healed Vivienne. Elias is the one who found out what Sebastian did with that knowledge.
The reaper went to Father and cut a deal.