Court of Sunder (Age of Angels #2) - Milana Jacks Page 0,50

room, I sought Raphael’s hand.

But Raphael was angry with me.

I’d made a choice. Although loyal to him, I’d stood beside the commander. I couldn’t stand idly by in the face of wrongness, and it felt wrong not to help Julia. The commander would’ve never brought her here if he had another option, so the fact he had said everything. He needed Raphael’s help, and since Raphael was the most powerful healer, I presumed it was a matter of life and death.

Michael laid Julia on the bed.

That was when I saw it. Blood stains between her slightly parted legs. Pregnant women didn’t bleed.

“How long has she been bleeding?” Raphael asked.

“She has contractions as if the baby is ready, but it is not ready, and she started bleeding on the way here.” Michael took Julia’s hand. “It is the course of nature to lose a baby. Many women have lost babies. It is perfectly normal, and we shall deal with it. I will make another. For as long as I have my soul’s mate, I will have…faith.”

“Can you help them?” I whispered to Raphael.

The commander snorted. “Of course he can. The question is not if he can, but will he?”

Raphael glared at him. “Get out and find something to do.”

The commander’s feathers stood upright.

I opened the balcony door. “My lord will work better if you’re not here irritating him.”

“I will not leave her alone,” the commander said.

“But you have to, or I will sit and eat whatever Richard brought for you while Julia delivers a fetus. I swear it, Michael. Get out of my house.”

Okay, we were back to madness. “This way, Commander,” I said, putting more force into my words.

The commander lifted and flew over the balcony railing.

Raphael rolled his eyes. “Nevaeh, close the blinds.”

I did.

Raphael stood at the foot of the bed. “Join Michael outside.”

A pang of something hit my chest. It squeezed, and I gasped for air as I exited the room and closed the doors. On the balcony, I found the commander hovering just beyond the railing.

I sat at the table. “Are you hungry?”

He grunted.

“I’m sorry about Julia,” I said.

“Julia will live, and so will our baby.”

I didn’t know if he believed it or if saying it made it easier for him to believe. He cleared his throat. “You’re stripped of all rank in the Court of Command.”

Ouch. I didn’t think he’d want to talk about me now. Perhaps it gave him something to do.

“How is my mother?”

“I don’t know. Not well, I presume, since loyalty to one’s Court feeds your family, though not as bad as she would’ve been had not she herself been loyal to me.”

“Is she still working?”

“Against my orders, you fed my prisoner. I will now presume you are his soul’s mate, but if you weren’t, he could’ve used you and killed you. Do you know this, soldier?”

“I know.”

“Why did you do it?”

“Reasons.”

The commander’s eyes widened. He expected answers, but I wouldn’t give him any. My days as a soldier of the Court of Command were over.

“I consider your actions acts of treason. Your mother stood in your place and took the punishment.”

“What was the punishment?”

“Death.”

I gasped, choking on shock.

The commander raised a hand. “I did not execute your mother. I exiled her from my Court.”

Sighing with relief, I picked at a piece of bread. “Where is she now?”

The commander shrugged. “She would have made her way to your new Court.”

My mother could be here any minute, maybe even now walking into the city.

“I don’t regret helping Raphael in the keep.”

“Your soul is his, then?”

“I don’t know anything about souls, but my heart is his.”

The commander fluffed up his wings. “I will not forgive treason.”

I smiled. “I know.”

Golden eyes locked with mine. “But I’m proud of the courage it took to defy my orders.”

“You craft the finest soldiers.”

“Indeed.”

“What will you do after Raphael heals Julia?”

“I will return her to safety. Raphael and I will declare a truce. With conditions, of course. He must resume trade with my Court and place his power back at the Veil.”

I walked to the railing. The daylight illuminated the garden, shining light on the angels Raphael had drained. “You will leave him to battle Lucifer alone?”

“One must defend one’s own Court.”

“One must heal one’s own soul’s mate.”

The commander approached me, golden eyes glowing. I stood my ground even when my knees wobbled. Since Raphael had come into my life, since Lucifer appeared in my dreams, my life had changed, and during the time with Raphael, I listened and learned