Grace and Glory (The Harbinger #3) - Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,162

is without hope. He is the child of the people. They will decide what becomes of him.”

Hell, that didn’t bode well, then.

“There is always hope,” he repeated.

“Have you met people?” I asked. “People generally suck.”

He smiled. “People are amazing in their ability to change. Some are beyond that, yes, and they will answer for all upon judgment, but most...most can change. Most are already good, but if this child fulfills the destiny of the father, then, well, the great and final war will come.”

“Goodie,” I murmured.

“Either way, that is a while from now. Decades before the child will have to make a choice. Until then, live your life as bravely and tenaciously as you have so far. Live your life with purpose, my daughter.”

35

In a blink of an eye, I was poofed out of the bedroom, but not before my...my father summoned Lucifer to him. Which would’ve been a really nifty ability when Lucifer had gone missing.

But I wasn’t going to be mad about that right now.

Pretty sure my father had his hands full returning Lucifer to his rightful place. I was also sure that was going extraordinarily well considering how the first words out of Lucifer’s mouth had been, “So you’ve come to thank me for saving the Heavens in person. I’m honored.”

Lucifer hadn’t seemed all that surprised to see me alive. He was all like, “What up?” and then refocused on Michael.

And now I was standing in the middle of the...

“What the Hell?” I whispered, turning around slowly.

I hadn’t been sent back to the field, but sent to the...rooftop of the apartment?

My gaze skipped over the softly glowing string lights, the neatly lined beach chairs and bistro tables. Why had he sent me here? Zayne was nowhere near the apartment rooftop. He was at the field that reeked of sulfur and sickly sweet rot.

I threw up my hands as I turned again, toward the access door. I was going to have to call up a car and have them drop me off...in the middle of nowhere.

Or I could call Zayne. Duh. I reached for my phone and then realized that I hadn’t seen my phone since I’d been snatched.

“Dammit.” I stomped past a table, barely resisting the urge to pick it up and throw it across the rooftop.

I was superthankful and grateful for everything my father had done, even if some of it was hard to wrap my head around and a wee bit creepy, but seriously? He poofed me to the roof instead of where Zayne was?

I had two options. Either walk my ass back to that field or wait for Zayne in the apartment. Okay. There really weren’t two options. Wasn’t like I could seriously walk my way back to that field, and Zayne would have to come home eventually. I was just going to go out of my mind waiting for him.

Feeling like I was already going out of my mind with all that was swirling around inside it, I stalked across the rooftop. There was a lot I was going to need to work through, but right now, all I could think about was Zayne. I knew exactly what he had to be going through, because I’d gone through it, and I didn’t want him to experience that kind of agony any longer than he needed to. And at least he hadn’t vanished in front of me. He had to be in a panic and—

“Trinity?”

I tripped over my feet as my breath caught in my throat. Catching myself, I whipped around.

Across the rooftop, Zayne stood on one of the wide pillars, the wind catching and lifting his hair and the feathers of those glorious wings, revealing the streaks of pulsing, shimmering grace. In that moment, I was struck by how much he reminded me of the battle angels that adorned the ceiling of the Great Hall back in the Potomac Highlands. He almost didn’t seem real.

“Trinity,” he repeated, his voice hoarse but still one of the most beautiful sounds I’d ever heard.

I stumbled forward, my heart thundering. “It’s me.”

Zayne was so fast I didn’t even see him move from the ledge. He was there and then in front of me, and barely a heartbeat later, his arms swept around me. He hauled me to his chest, burying his hand and face in my hair as his wings folded around me.

“It’s really you. You’re really here.” A shudder racked him as I inhaled the wintermint scent of his. “This is real. Not some kind of