‘Young man!’ Isaac bellows, his voice reverberating around the room, his dark eyes boring a hole in my skull. ‘Your frustrations are only delaying what needs to be decided at this meeting. No one wanted you here. But Nathaneal insisted we let you hear our plans to help ease your anguish, and we obliged him. So, as our guest, I strongly suggest you sit down and shut up.’
I pick my chair up and thrust it down harder than I intended and now I don’t know where to look.
‘Jordan,’ Jez addresses me, giving me somewhere to focus my eyes, ‘we know how you feel about Ebony.’
I shake my head. They can’t. No one can possibly understand this. I don’t even get it.
‘Jordan, your love for Ebony is intense. We see that. We feel it pounding away in your chest, pouring out of your skin, and we understand you better than you realise. But think about this – angels love one other for all eternity. Imagine how deep and passionate and powerful an angel’s love has to be to endure thousands upon thousands of years. Sometimes that’s why a partner is found for us.’
I glance at Thane, and this time I take in his red-streaked eyes, the shadows around them, the sunken, skeletal cast of his face. I don’t remember ever seeing him so carved up.
Amber’s eyes fill with a fresh crop of tears, but she refuses to look at me.
Thane starts allocating jobs for the angels to do while he and Michael are away. Solomon is to keep trying to get in touch with his informant in Skade and find out whatever he can about Ebony, where Luca’s keeping her, and how she’s holding up. ‘Anything, Sol. Anything at all, and wherever I am, you let me know.’
Solomon is huge, his hair black and all curls, skin like chocolate and sea-green eyes. Not only is he much bigger than the other angels, but he doesn’t resemble them either, with his top-heavy build. He doesn’t have the slender physique of the Seraphim. ‘I have this covered, my prince. As soon as I hear anything I’ll be in touch.’ And when he says, ‘I’ll reach you,’ I believe him.
‘Thank you, Sol.’ Thane glances at me. ‘And when you do hear, inform Jordan and Amber immediately.’
‘Sure thing, my prince.’
‘Uri,’ Thane says, moving around the table, ‘check conditions in the Crossing and find us the fastest route to the island. Tash, supplies for three days. Isaac, you’re in charge of weapons, and work with Gabe on the construction of the prison downstairs. Keep me informed. Jez, you’re responsible for Ebony’s parents, Heather and John. Let me know when they’re well enough for a human hospital to take over their care.’
He goes on but he hasn’t selected the rescue team yet, and that’s what I’m waiting for, because there’s no way they’re going to get Ebony without me. I don’t want to argue in front of everyone now. I can do that later, after he and Michael return with the hanival. At least now I know I can travel through the Crossing, as long as I’m wearing a lamorak, and … one of them is willing to carry me.
Thane stops suddenly and tilts his head. Shit, did I slip up scrambling my thoughts? I brace myself for the straight-out rejection I’m expecting, but the other angels hear something too and flick curious glances at each other. Then Thane looks directly at Isaac and lifts his eyebrows. Isaac shrugs and heads to the door.
The door swings open with a bang before Isaac gets there. In the corridor, Brother Bernard throws his hands in the air as a female angel barges in, looking spectacular in skintight metallic bronze body armour. Her brown hair is up in a ponytail that reaches past her waist, with two deadly-looking swords crossed over at her back. She surveys the room, zeroing in on Thane.
Amber cups her mouth and whispers across the table, ‘Who’s that?’
‘Ebony’s sister Shaephira.’
Shae walks over to the table, where she takes the seat Isaac was sitting in. ‘Whatever your plan is to retrieve my sister,’ she says to Thane, with a look that dares him to argue, ‘I’m going with you.’
Thane returns to his seat. Seeing the hurt she is feeling at the absence of her sister and knowing there are no words to soothe her, and that she is another person whose love for Ebony cannot be denied, he turns to Shae and simply says, ‘Of course. Welcome to the team.’
9
Nathaneal
Finally the meeting nears its end. The plan is set and everyone knows what he or she is doing. There’s just one more thing I have to do.
A few months ago, when I was forced to return to Avena to stand trial for revealing my powers to the enemy, the court handed me the punishment of repairing a forest destroyed by a cosmic storm. But that would have kept me away from Ebony for up to two hundred years and I couldn’t stand the thought, so I suggested the alternative punishment of undergoing a dangerous mission into Skade to rescue two humans that Prince Luca had kidnapped and taken prisoner. The two humans were Ebony’s adopted parents. Every team that had tried to locate John and Heather Hawkins thus far had failed, and so the court approved my request.
Unfortunately the mission took much longer than I had hoped.
Standing up, I indicate Gabe with my open palm. ‘Before we finish up tonight, I want to thank my brother for looking out for Ebony and Jordan in my absence.’
Smiles and murmurs meet my heartfelt statement. I motion to Gabe to stand. He does so reluctantly. ‘I know your heart wasn’t in it at first.’
He doesn’t say anything, but shuts his eyes as I hail him with my praise. It’s not like Gabe to shy away from adulation, but I have no idea what he underwent in those months of my absence. I never meant to be away so long. I told Ebony I would be a week. What struggles she must have endured when I didn’t return and time marched on. But my brother was in my house, keeping her safe. And most importantly, he gave her my message so she understood why I loved her before I even saw her, and how I loved her even more once I had. You and I will talk privately soon, Gabe.
That we will, brother. We need to.
I hold out my hand. He looks at it for a moment that feels almost too long. Then he clasps it and I tug him forward into an embrace.
Cheers erupt with applause.
When we pull apart, he lingers while I turn to face those still sitting, more eager than ever now to bolt out the door and embark on their tasks. But Gabe clears his throat and says, ‘Ah, brother, there’s one more item that needs our attention.’
I catch a glance he shares with Jerome, and my throat tightens. ‘What is it?’
Jerome forges a private link: You’re not going to like this, brother. You should probably sit.
My heart screams, No more delays! What more could go wrong?
‘I started out taking care of this issue on my own,’ Gabe announces, ‘but realising this problem was growing too big for me to handle alone, I enlisted a crew from my first unit to assist.’
Shae growls under her breath as Gabe explains how an unidentifiable entity with strength beyond anything he’s encountered before on Earth now lives, breathes and slaughters livestock on human properties.
Everyone has questions but contains them, knowing I’m becoming agitated at this delay.
‘We’ve come to refer to them as dark forces. It’s what Ebony and Jordan called them the first night the entity chased them home, the night it made its first human kills.’
Michael asks, ‘How did this dark force come into being?’
Jerome looks at me with something like pity.
Shae catches it and her condemning eyes soften.
Gabe explains, ‘It exists because of how my brother’s powers practically annihilated Prince Luca and his twelve Prodigies. In their severely weakened conditions they couldn’t return to their own portal. They didn’t even make it off the mountain.’
Murmurs start up around the table. They will be thinking the same as I am. How could I have overlooked such a basic rule of battle? Bury your dead. Collect your injured. Clean up your mess.
‘And while Prince Luca and his Prodigies lay helpless on the forest floor, evil leached from them, like the sludge that oozes from t
he bottom of a sewage pit. And somehow the energy and matter came together, creating a powerful and dangerous entity.’
Is it my imagination, Michael asks in a private mind-link, or is Gabriel enjoying this a little too much?
He loves a good story, Michael.
And is that what this is? It seems too serious to be telling it like a horror story round a campfire to a group of Cherubs, but then he is your brother. You would know.
You have known him longer. Right now, I just want him to get on with it.
‘The teacher Zavier came across the prince and his Prodigies in their dire condition and helped them into an underground cave, where they remained for several weeks while their bodies healed.’
‘Where was the dark force during these weeks?’ Isaac asks.
Jerome explains that they don’t know. ‘But once it was able to move, it instinctively sought nourishment. It picked up Ebony’s scent and, drawn to her as Luca is, hid by day inside caves in deserted outback areas, returning at night to feed and be near her.’
‘What is the situation now?’ I ask, wondering, bizarrely, if this dark force misses her as much as I do.
With his flair for dramatics and a captive audience, Gabriel announces, ‘After it split in two, it began taking shape. First the two appeared as if they were becoming angels, but ever since Ebony’s been gone, the two have become four and taken human shape.’
‘Oh my God!’ Amber’s shriek pierces through stunned silence.
Monsignor Lawrence says, ‘Can you imagine what would happen if they ingratiated themselves into human society?’
It’s a frightening thought that Jordan takes a step further. ‘If they breed with humans, will they create a new species?’
No one answers. No one knows. And no one wants to imagine that happening.
The Monsignor asks, ‘Where are they now? Can they be captured?’
Jerome explains, ‘They have found refuge in the Cedar Oakes hinterland, up in the rocky hills where there are caves and dense forests.’
‘Why there?’ Jez asks. ‘What’s the attraction?’
From the opposite end of the table Jordan calls out, ‘It’s the closest they can get to Ebony.’
My eyes shoot back to Jerome. ‘Is he right? They’re hiding out on the Hawkins’ property?’
Jerome nods. ‘We think the dark forces are so attached to Ebony they’ve taken to living where they can pick up her scent.’
Amber says, ‘Ebony spent a lot of time in those hills, growing up.’
I almost feel sorry for them. The part of them that came from Luca must be what keeps them drawn to her. A plan begins to shape itself. ‘How much damage have they caused since moving there?’
My brothers exchange glances before Jerome shrugs. ‘Not much. Their feeding frenzy appears to have eased, though they’re still ravaging some local crops. Why? You have a plan already?’
Shae says, ‘How long will it delay us in retrieving Ebony?’
Nothing is coming before that mission, I assure her through a closed link.
I stand and thank my brothers for bringing this matter to my attention. ‘But for now the dark forces will remain where they are.’ Turning my attention to the Monsignor, I notice Gabe staring hard at Jerome. ‘Can you keep them on your radar, Lawrence?’
The Monsignor nods. ‘I’ll inform the Watchtower immediately.’
To everyone I explain, ‘As soon as we have Ebony home we’ll deal with the dark forces. Meanwhile, Uri, set up a team to keep an eye on them. Instruct the team to remain out of sight but to repair any damage they cause.’
‘Will do, my prince,’ Uri responds.
By now everyone notices how agitated Gabe has become at me. ‘So that’s it?’ he says. ‘You’re just going to ignore the problem?’
I glare back. ‘That’s it for now, Gabe.’
He gives a derisive laugh, slamming his fist down on the table. ‘Are you mocking me, brother?’
‘Why would I do that?’
‘I spent months following the dark forces, cleaning up after it fed, resuscitating sheep and cattle and even a kangaroo. I brought my own soldiers in; at times there were forty of us. And now there are four dark forces and you sit there and tell me you intend to do nothing but have them watched?’
‘Gabe, it’s because you did such a good job of observing them and their habits that I believe we can let them remain where they are for a few days more.’
‘Who says you get to make these decisions? You’re not a king yet, brother!’
‘Being a king is not a position I covet. May all the stars and planets in this universe align if this be a lie … brother.’
In the awkward silence that stretches between us like a rubber band about to snap, I explain. ‘Gabe, I can’t spare the time or the manpower to go after these dark forces straight away. We don’t know what Luca is doing to Ebony, but I guarantee that every moment she is with him is torture. I have to get her out of there now.’
Amber’s soft whimpers reach him. He casts a piteous glance at her and finally nods. ‘You’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking. Ebony comes first.’
10
Ebony
Outside the apartment Luca points to the wall of glass on my left. It’s a sea of Skadean citizens as far as I can see. They fill the courtyards below and pack the streets surrounding the palace all the way to the city borders. They sit on rooftops and fences and even hang off poles, striving for a view of the balcony. The square itself is overflowing. Angels with children raised high, standing shoulder to shoulder, spill over the walls and hang out of every building.
‘They can’t wait to meet you.’
I choke down a gasp. I don’t want him to think I’m overwhelmed by this, or intimidated, or in any way impressed. But my legs are growing heavy, as if I’m walking through viscous cement. I struggle to keep pace with Luca. The effort makes me breathe in large gulps of air as if I’ve just finished a long run. And suddenly there isn’t enough air and I start to tremble.
Stop! Don’t let him feel you trembling. Concentrate on one thing, just one thing at a time. What am I doing right this second? OK. I’m walking … on … on … tiles, big square shiny tiles like marble. Luca has my elbow and his grip is forceful, his odour, wafting from him, makes me want to vomit, and run.
Focusing on the moment helps distract my mind, freeing my legs, helping my breathing return to something resembling normal. Most importantly, the one visible aspect, my trembling, settles down.
The apartments between his and my rooms have their double doors wide open. As we pass one, I glimpse lavish furnishings, flashy gold and crystal decor, masterpieces hanging on walls with marble floors and plush rugs. Luca notices my interest. ‘I prefer to keep them vacant, but occasionally an event will draw dignitaries and royalty from outlying provinces that will fill the palace to overflowing. Do you like them?’
Why is he always asking my opinion?
I should probably cut down on my sarcasm but it just seems to occur so naturally when I’m around him. ‘Is there such an event today?’
He stops, and his voice when he speaks is deep and low, with a definite dangerous edge. ‘It would be a mistake to underestimate the event occurring today, Ebony. These apartments are open because they require airing, that’s all. Now I’ve answered your question, you answer mine.’
We start walking again. ‘Well, they’re not what I would choose.’ At his questioning look, I explain. ‘They’re extravagant. It’s just not my thing.’
‘We’ll see if you still think the same way in a few years.’
‘I don’t plan to be here that long.’ Damn, I could bite my tongue off.
‘You’re forgetting the sealed gates.’
‘I’m not forgetting anything.’
He slips into my thoughts, prodding, poking and searching around. I stop and yank my arm from his grasp, shoving him out of my head as I step away. ‘I can walk on my own, thanks.’
He glares at me, b
ut I don’t buckle. I try my hardest not to allow him back in. Not touching him makes it easier. He seethes, his eyes flashing to black, and I know then it’s only a matter of moments before he forces himself through my barriers and inside my head, filling my mind with darkness, hurting me to teach me a lesson.
A guard steps up. ‘May I be of assistance, my lord?’
The guard’s interruption is so timely it makes me wonder if he understood that Luca was about to hurt me.
‘Thank you, Elijah, but all is well here.’
Moving again, we pass another lavish but vacant guest suite. ‘Does anyone other than you live in this palace?’
‘Over a thousand live within these walls. The royal guards sleep on the floor immediately below.’
I file this information for later use.
He indicates the corridor that’s behind us now. ‘This level will only ever house you and me. Even our children will sleep elsewhere.’
‘You’re going to be such a wonderful father,’ I mutter sarcastically.
He laughs. ‘You will like it when the nannies are waking at all hours to feed our hungry babies.’
The thought of babies with Luca makes me nauseous.
Conversation ends anyway as we come to a set of pearly glass doors with gold handles, guarded by another pair of Throne soldiers in their trademark black uniforms. Captain Elijah steps forward and pulls a key from a chain around his neck. He turns it in a silver lock, and the balcony guards open the doors wide. Sheer white curtains flutter and a hum of excited voices rolls towards me. When the guards spread the curtains aside, the crowds go insane. I’m so tense the muscles in my arms tighten and a tremor runs through them. I stop and shake them loose. Luca waits, then hooks my arm, and feeling my tension he asks, ‘Do the Skadean citizens frighten you?’
‘No. I’m not scared of them.’
‘Of me then?’
I can see some of the crowd over the balcony rail, a mass of enthusiastic faces, bursting with excitement to see their future queen – me.
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