Michael (The Airel Saga, Book 2) - By Aaron Patterson Page 0,51

reached to the hem of the hood and pulled it back.

It was Michael.

I wasn’t surprised. I was saddened instead.

His eyes were ablaze, darker and redder than his cloak. Set in the unfailing beauty of his face, it gave him such a striking appearance of beauty intermingled with hateful ugliness that I desperately wanted to look away; it was more than I could bear. His face was a mockery of beauty, a thin shell only just masking truly baleful intent.

Michael…what have you done? Where have you gone? What’s become of you?

He stepped forward.

I met him stride for stride.

In a conference of commanders before the battle, we met alone on the field. The Bloodstone hung profanely on a tether around his neck. His pasty skin seeped black gooey beads of sweat. His voice was not his own, it was hideous and spastic. “What do you want from me?”

“Nothing, Michael. Nothing.”

He spat prodigiously on the ground and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “You never believed in me, did you? You doubted. You worried. Well…” his eyes wandered over my body, giving me the creeps. “Now you have what you’ve always wanted. You were right. It was self-fulfilling prophecy. Besides…” his expression was wicked, “I am The Alexander…”

My heart was frantic; I didn’t know what that meant. Did I make him this way? Was he forced back to the Brotherhood because I couldn’t get past my own fears? Because I had never trusted him?

“Maybe if you would have been able to use more self-control…” His tone was mocking.

A flicker of movement. Ellie stepped forward. To my horror, she began advancing toward Michael.

“Ellie… Ellie, no!”

She looked back over her shoulder and I saw her smirk, but she kept going. Michael held out his hand to her and she took it. At his side, she turned to face me. Her eyes were deep red as well.

I was crying now, searching for Kreios, but he was gone. He had abandoned me again. They had all left me; I was here alone with all this evil. Why was I always the one who got discarded, the forgotten one, the one who never quite fit in?

I wanted to throw up.

Instead I threw down the Sword and fell to my knees. “Michael! I will not fight you…I love you!” I choked on my own sobs as Ellie threw her head back and laughed.

Michael’s face was then stripped, stark fear running rampant across his features. “Stand up, Airel, pick up your Sword!” His voice was harsh.

But I couldn’t. The whole earth had stopped. It was the end of all things, and nothing mattered anymore. The sky began to tear like a veil, rolling back like a scroll…

CHAPTER IX

Arabia, 1233 B.C.

“I AM NO LONGER a little girl, father!” Eriel stood with fists clenched, eyes on fire.

Kreios stood before her, his heart burdened with worry and doubt. He was not in a mood to argue after having flown to the city in pursuit of his daughter. He feared another explosion of conflict between his people and the Brotherhood; he wondered what his beloved daughter might do, how she might instigate something deadly—intentional or not.

He gestured to her, palms out, a sign of peace. “Calm yourself, daughter. Please.”

She growled at him in exasperation and then looked to her uncle Yam.

Yamanu’s body language implied he wanted no part of the argument. He sat in a low chair smoking his pipe with a benevolent amused look on his face.

Kreios hated that calm-in-the-storm demeanor, especially when Yamanu wore it so smugly.

“Daughter—”

Eriel spoke through clenched teeth. “Can you not see that I will be free of you, one way or another?”

“You are my daughter and you will obey me. Still.”

“Father!”

“We leave in the morning.” Kreios turned to go.

She cursed at him, stopping him. “I am not going with you. You can do nothing to force my will any longer.”

Kreios could feel his control slipping, anger and desperation rising. “Daughter, Eriel, I warn you…”

“Uriel, not Eriel! I am not asking, father. This is my decision and it is done. It is only one letter, but it is my letter.”

Kreios sighed. It was no use trying to get her to see reason. No matter what she called herself, she would always be his little Eriel.

“And let me tell you how it will be from now on, father. I will stay with Uncle. He will keep me safe. Is not that what you want above all else? For me to be safe? Or do you really wish