desert island, so the possibility tempted me. “Those are Ducklings. The burst of healing will come soon.”
“Oh, Raphael already stopped by my room. He introduced himself and took the scar away.” She lowered her uniform top and showed me the smooth skin on her collarbone.
I might grow horns, leather wings, and start eating mortals. “When did he approach you?”
“A few minutes ago.”
“In your bedroom?”
“He said you sent him. Bye!”
My serenity left with Julia as she jogged toward her squad. I scanned my Court. Soldiers lined the lawn, chatting at leisure, so, healed and well, though their ripped clothes and bloody weapons told me they’d only just returned, the gates closed behind them for the count. Raphael had left. What had he found out? Did he figure out Julia remembered?
My skin prickled, and I tilted my head, sensing Raphael still in my Court.
“Up here,” he said.
I rocketed upward, my power licking the armor atop his wings. “I’m going to rip your wings off.”
“The girl and I exchanged two sentences, but the quarrel between you and me could take millennia. Mortals won’t survive. Find your peace, Michael. You need it.”
I did need it, though I wouldn’t admit that to him. As I breathed deep, my power scanned the property, reerecting the southern wall I’d damaged. Fixing it calmed me, and I landed on the roof to sit next to him.
He gave me a side-eye. “Who freed Lucifer?”
“Whoever weakened the Veil.”
“And he came straight into your Court.”
I grunted. “He’s always thought of himself as invincible. Never learned a lesson.”
Raphael brushed off a stray feather. “Are you going to hide the girl from him?”
Too late for that. “Maybe.”
“Michael, she is a mortal.”
“And I am here to make her short life as beautiful as possible.”
“How holy of you.”
“You’ve practiced sarcasm, I see.”
“I’m adapting.”
“To?”
“Life with mortals,” he groaned as he stretched his shiny wings. A peacock.
“My mortals don’t use this form of speech,” I said. With a few exceptions.
“That’s because you’re a tyrant, and they’re afraid to even breathe around you.”
“Is there a reason why you’re annoying me?”
“I never needed a reason before. Are my rooms ready? Great. I’ll see you for supper. I’m fond of lamb.”
Chapter Seventeen
The next day, at three in the morning, I awoke on my own and ran with my squad. As the miles piled on, people slowed down, but since I’d passed weeks of Michael’s training, I continued up front. My sergeant, a tall fit blonde, seemed pleased, and we ran together. She didn’t initiate conversation, and neither did I. The battle I lost had motivated me, made me realize how defenseless and clueless I was, and if I wanted to find my address and my parents, I would need to learn the military ropes. Everyone in this Court, including Georgia, was a soldier. Everyone besides the civilians living in the city. I didn’t live in the city. I lived up here, next to the commander, and I better prepare for the Marked menace everyone else here prepared for.
When the bells rang, and the groan of hundreds of voices on the field said breakfast, the sergeants shouted to form lines, and everyone moved toward the second level. I’d been receiving food inside my room, but that wouldn’t be the case anymore.
We passed the training section where angels fought, some on the ground, some clashing right above our heads. The first time I’d been here, I’d witnessed sparring, but this felt different, more vicious, with angels swinging real swords and throwing spears at each other. Blood splashed on my cheek. I wiped it off and scanned the sky for Michael. He didn’t train. Of course he wouldn’t. His body looked trained enough.
“Move it,” my sergeant barked. Oh, I’d been standing and staring up. Mumbling a sorry, I jogged after my squad, who dragged their feet, and like sheep, we filed into the second level and away from the field, where I had run for what felt like hours. People stopped to gag and some broke ranks to vomit on the side. I swallowed bile and moved toward the line formed before a man I remembered from the day the world changed, the one who told me to go see about my wound.
He held up a ladle. “This squad faced the Marked and lost most of its men. It will eat last.”
“It’s the new girl’s fault,” a soldier up front said. “She infiltrated our ranks. Got fucking lost, I heard.”
Hoping nobody noticed, I stood within earshot of this conversation, and now I felt