my feet, Uriel’s body, completely charred, didn’t move. Michael didn’t move. Neither did Nevaeh. The two angels would live.
She had died.
But death wasn’t the end.
It was just another form of energy, after all. I collected it, drew it into me, the dark fog accumulating around my feet. It rose and swirled around me while I chanted a resurrection song.
“No, Raphael, no,” Michael whispered, struggling to speak. “Please,” he begged.
“I have to. She must live.”
“It is forbidden.”
“Then I shall fall from grace.”
I knelt beside her, palm hovering over her chest, the dark fog of the fallen death angel pouring into the hole in her chest.
I worked tirelessly. I worked for hours, days, and nights, and I kept failing. I couldn’t raise her, I couldn’t heal her, I couldn’t help her. Why? Father, why?
On day three, I looked up from her body to see the garden cleared of bodies, the fleet assembled in it, Michael before them, left wing still sagging. An angel in a light-blue robe complementing his midnight-blue eyes and wings stood next to him.
“Gabriel,” I said.
Gabriel approached and stood before me, face solemn. “Give me your grief.”
“Not this time.”
Exhausted, I lay next to Nevaeh’s corpse and took her cold hand in mine.
I opened my mouth to ask Father to take me with her when the familiar buzz of immortal energy stirred against my palm, and a soul, this one young and immortal, brushed against mine.
Gabriel hovered above me, frowning. As an empath, he felt the change in me. “Yes?” he asked.
“She lives.” I smiled and shouted, “She lives!”
Chapter 21
Julia and I paired up for our evening jog. For the past ten days, jogging with her had given me energy and made me feel like I could take on the evening ahead. Near sundown, we slowed to a walk, our breaths coming in pants.
“Can I tell you a secret?” she asked, eyeing me with a wicked glint in her eye. “I love the weather in your Court. Though freezing my tits off over in Command isn’t so bad when Michael has to keep them warm.”
We laughed. Thinking of the magnificent Court of Sunder and its lord as mine was still a novelty, but accepting people calling me a lady instead of a soldier or just Nevaeh felt nice. My words and actions carried power, and I could do so much good with it.
“Do you miss the breakfast bells?” she asked.
I chuckled as we stepped onto the cobblestone street. “Sometimes I do. In the Court of Command, I think I got used to having my life in order, and the bells were a cue to eat instead of train or work all the time. Now, I train or work unless people remind me to eat.”
She threaded her arm through my elbow. “You’re my people now, so I’ll remind you to eat since I’m eating all the time. Oh, there they are, at your mom’s.” She pointed down the street to where three archangels sat around a large table, waiting for us.
One of the first good things I did was to take care of my mom. She was a hard worker and loved feeding people meals that made them happy. Mom’s Kitchen now shared a wall with Tony’s, and Tony flirted with Mom any chance he got. Secretly, she liked him, but played hard to get.
Julia and I sat at the table, and our eyes met in universal understanding, a signal women gave each other when they questioned or agreed without saying a word. Both of us immediately felt the foul mood at the table. Now what?
I assessed the three angels. Raphael didn’t wear a shirt or robe or anything to cover his abundant muscular chest. With his hair mussed and feathers sticking out behind his shoulders, he looked ruffled. The commander sported a gash over his chest, which I presumed he refused to heal, and Gabriel sat there, stoic, staring into black space.
Gabriel spoke first. “Are we ready to enjoy breakfast with normal people now?”
“Yes, Gabriel,” the two archangels said in unison, as if someone—he—willed them to say it.
My eyes widened.
“Are we going to behave more like the lovely mortals and less like the lunatics we are?”
“Yes, Gabriel,” the commander bit out, side-eyeing Raphael.
Raphael glared at the commander. “Yes, Gabriel.”
Gabriel shuddered, and his shoulders slumped. He took a drink of water and smiled a kind smile that lifted his eyes at the corners and showed his perfect teeth. “Excuse us, we were having another dispute you ladies will have to handle