Grace and Glory (The Harbinger #3) - Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,115
from clay by a skilled artist, but there was a trace of coldness there that made his beauty almost brutal. His attractiveness was no surprise. Upper Level demons were universally attractive, no matter their gender or the viewer’s sexuality. They were the embodiment of temptation, and Layla was just as gorgeous, but in an ethereal way. She looked more angelic than me, and she didn’t have angel blood in her... Well, except for the Fallen blood she apparently drank.
They stepped forward, hands joined. I wasn’t sure which one saw Zayne first, but they both stopped at the same time. They were too far away for me to make out their expressions, but I was betting shock and awe were etched into their features as they stared at Zayne.
Neither of them moved as I looked for the very scary third arrival, but they were alone as the portal closed behind them. Did that mean they failed?
“Holy shit,” Roth whispered, his attention fixed on Zayne.
Layla stepped forward, her hand falling free of Roth’s. “Zayne?” she whispered, not making it very far. Roth captured her hand, holding her back as he stared at Zayne. “Is that—?” Her voice cracked. “Is that really you? How?” She jerked her head toward me. “Did Grim help you?”
“Layla-bug?” she whispered as I repeated the rather cute nickname in my mind, and then it appeared as if her face crumpled. A knot of emotion swelled in my throat as she pulled against Roth’s hold, reaching for Zayne.
“He doesn’t feel right.” Roth stopped her. “What do you see around him, Layla?”
“I...” White-blond hair swayed as she shook her head. Her gasp reached my ears. “I don’t see anything.”
“You wouldn’t, because I’m not a Warden any longer,” Zayne said, standing still. “Roth knows what I am. Apparently he’s always known what we once were.”
Layla’s head jerked back to Roth and then swung back to Zayne. “Wardens were once angels who Fell, but you’re not an angel. You don’t have an aura—”
“That’s because he’s a goddamn Fallen.” Roth yanked Layla back then as he stepped in front of her. “With his grace.”
“What?” Layla demanded, sidestepping Roth.
“Yes, he’s a Fallen,” I chimed in. “And yes, he still has a whole lot of heavenly fire in him, but he’s still Zayne.”
“Impossible,” Roth bit out.
“I’m standing in front of you, so I don’t know how you think that’s impossible,” Zayne responded. “But to make a long story short, I was restored, given back my Glory. They let me Fall and keep my grace to help fight Gabriel.”
“They let you?” Disbelief filled Roth’s tone. “A restored angel Fall and keep the grace when the only other being that equals that monumental bad life choice is—”
An intense burst of white light streaked across the sky, startling me. I looked up, flinching as another bolt of light ripped through the darkness, slamming down to the ground not too far from where we stood. A boom of thunder rattled my very bones and then the sky erupted in lightning. I jerked back, heart leaping.
“We’re going to have to finish this conversation later,” Roth said.
Dozens of lightning strikes hit the ground, the impact a continuous roar of thunder. Static charged the air, raising the tiny hairs all over my body.
Zayne was suddenly beside me as another thick crack of lightning hit a nearby tree. The oak split straight down the middle and then went up in flames.
Thunder roared through the skies, and the ground...the ground rolled, knocking me off balance. Zayne caught me by the waist, holding me as steady as he could while the earth seemed to quake to its very core. There wasn’t even time to really feel fear or to wonder if standing in a field surrounded by trees was a good place to be in the middle of an earthquake. Everything stopped as quickly as it started. The lightning. The thunder. The earthquake.
Heart thumping, I glanced up at Zayne. “Um...”
Twin bright lights appeared behind us, funneling through the darkness. A creepy, crawling sensation shimmied over my skin as Zayne and I turned to where his Impala was parked. The headlights were now on. So was the interior light.
“That’s odd,” Zayne commented.
A second later, the radio kicked on, volume near eardrum-bursting levels as it rapidly changed channels like someone was in there spinning the dials.
Except no one, not even a really bored ghost, was in that car. It was empty of the living and the