texts supporting your claim.”
Books? That seemed… unlikely. This angel was clearly baiting him, but Severn was in no position to argue. “My claim?”
Remiel approached the bars, confidently placing himself easily within reach of Severn’s grasp. “Seraphim made demons to love, not fight.”
Severn had never heard of such a thing, and as changed as he was, he struggled to believe it. The legends told of how Seraphim made demons after his angels began to suffocate humans with their overprotectiveness. Demons were meant to stop his angels from getting out of control, and he spectacularly failed there too.
“If that’s true, why are we at war?” Severn asked.
Remiel appeared to genuinely consider the question. He drew in a breath, expanding his chest behind his folded arms, and slowly exhaled. “We’re at war because love is the most powerful emotion of all. Powerful enough to topple civilizations. Eradicating it was the only way.”
“Wait… just… let’s be clear here. Angels killed love out of fear it would destroy them?”
Remiel held his gaze. “You’re not the first demon to love an angel, and Mikhail is not the first angel to love a demon.”
Severn’s grip on the bars tightened as his heart raced. Angels had loved demons before? “Then why are you doing this? Why am I in this cell?”
“It has always been a guardian’s sacred duty to protect humans from demons, and from themselves, if necessary. Love kills, therefore, we kill love.”
This knowledge, if true, was revolutionary. It could change everything. Demons had always loved angels? Angels and demons could love each other. Such things were… shocking, but if true, if there was proof in Haven… The proof could end the war.
“If we were made to love, what happened?” Severn asked.
Remiel cast his gaze to the prison ceiling and briefly wet his lips. When he faced Severn again, a cruel delight shone in his eyes. “Seraphim fell in love with a demon, the first demon, his own creation—the Rayvern King, Aerius. But the guardians witnessed their love and feared Seraphim would succumb to it, and as they were made to, they did what was necessary to protect angel and humankind.”
Seraphim’s mysterious disappearance. The myth that he was somewhere out there still, waiting for the right time to return. It sounded like angel bullshit to cover up their own mistakes because it was. “Guardians killed Seraphim?”
“Guardians will always do what is right. They tried to kill Aerius, believing on the demon’s death Seraphim would forget his love. Seraphim stopped them, but at a huge cost.”
“His life.” Their love had been so true, Seraphim had sacrificed himself for it? Gods, the implications were huge. If Seraphim and Aerius had been truly, deeply in love, then this whole war was a terrible mistake. Severn was suddenly glad for the bars holding him up, else he might have sunk to his knees and sobbed. “Is this true?” But of course it was, at least a version of it that Remiel believed, because angels did not lie. “You’ve seen evidence?”
“As true as an old book penned by a demon can be.”
Remiel stood closer now, although Severn had been so lost to his words, he hadn’t noticed him move in. The angel reached between the bars. His soft knuckles brushed Severn’s cheek. The urge to brush him off fought with the urge to pull him closer, and so Severn did nothing, letting the trickle of sizzling pleasure ripple down his spine. Remiel’s lips parted and his pupils expanded some more, savoring the sensation that should have been abhorrent. “Your kind are so easy to love.”
He withdrew his hand back through the bars. “Guardian’s rewrote history, proclaiming demons the enemy, and emotions are forever stripped from angels.”
“You can’t know all this,” Severn whispered.
“Not with certainty, but I do know your love—your allyanse—is the most honest thing about you both, and tomorrow, it dies with you.”
Chapter 20
Mikhail
Sunlight made Aerie shine, and it should have been glorious, but a darkness consumed Mikhail, made worse when his own angels brought out Severn—bound and gagged—from the cells and marched him toward the edge of the vast platform.
After weeks in the dark, Severn squinted into the sunlight. His eyes widened at the sight greeting him.
Almost every angel in Aerie had gathered to watch his execution, including Vearn, who’d been increasingly distancing herself from Mikhail. She stood closer to Remiel now, too, her allegiance apparently decided.
Remiel’s ranks hovered in the skies, ready to intervene should anything go awry.
Severn looked about him, scanning hundreds of his friends, his ranks, angels