by Alexia Purdy
She spent the rest of the day going through Isao’s books. The journals from Matt’s mother seemed much less important now that she had direct information from the Key Protectorate. Even so, she read through them as well; they couldn’t be too prepared. By the end of it, she was sick of reading about the Skein, and her stomach growled at the mere thought of food.
Isao jumped to his feet as though reading her mind. He snatched his jacket from the back of his chair and slipped it on.
“You stay here,” he said. “I’ll go grab some take-out. It’s probably better if you’re not on the streets. You can never be sure Ichiro’s men aren’t lurking around, searching for you. You’re still a target, and an obvious one. You might think about dying your purple-red hair. It stands out like a beacon.”
She glared at him. The word beacon was a sensitive issue for her now.
“I dyed it to fit in,” she grumbled.
“Um… I’ll be back. I doubt they have me on their radar.”
“That’s fine, I get it. No walking about for me. Some food would be great.” She waved him off as he headed out. It was a relief to get some quiet time to herself, and she folded the clothes she’d neglected while researching all day. Once she finished, she flipped open her cell phone and decided to call the hospital in St. George. They refused to update her, but a nurse in the background yapped about her patient still in a coma. She hung up. She had the information she needed and felt somewhat relieved that Matt was still safe.
She sat back onto the bed and absentmindedly stared at the covered windows. The drapes were thick and separated her from the outside world. Never had she felt so claustrophobic in her life, but she remained where she was, knowing that showing her face could cause them to lose their sanctuary.
Walking around the apartment, she examined several weapons hanging on the wall. She plucked a pair of short blades off their hooks and began swinging them around until she was lost in a hypnotic dance, practicing moves she hadn’t used in a while. She became so focused that she didn’t realize Isao had returned and was watching her, entranced by her movements. Honed over years of practice and training, the dance felt more natural to her than breathing. Her body swayed as the metal gleamed beneath the loft’s hanging pendant lights.
When she had finished, she could hear nothing but her own breathing. The exertion exhilarated her, and she felt at peace again, her riled thoughts already cast to the side. That was when she noticed Isao still watching her from the kitchen, sitting on a stool and clutching the bag of take-out food in his arms, afraid to make any noise as she trained.
“How long have you been sitting there?” she asked, grabbing the glass of water she had served herself not long before and throwing it down her dry throat.
“Long enough,” Isao said. He placed the bag down and began opening containers. He held a couple out to her. “Hungry? I didn’t know what your favorite dish was, so I took the liberty of choosing several common ones.”
Thalia made her way to the kitchen counter and slipped onto one of the stools. “Thanks. I’m not picky. This’ll be great.”
She grabbed a couple containers of noodles and chicken and began popping some into her mouth, still breathing hard from exertion. Isao filled glasses of water for them both and began eating slowly, still watching her with his dark eyes. He never stopped watching her, giving off the feeling he wanted to say something but refrained. After a few moments of eating and drinking, she placed her food down and wiped her face with a napkin, unable to ignore the feeling much longer.
“Just say it already.” She dropped the napkin on the counter with a huff.
Isao glanced up from his food in surprise. “Excuse me?”
“You’re staring again. Is it just a bad habit of yours? You look at me like you want to say something, but you just can’t spit it out. So, I’m telling you to just come on out and say it. I’m not easily offended. I promise.”
Isao chewed thoughtfully before placing his container down and clearing his throat. Another moment passed as he sipped from his glass of water, gathering his thoughts before finally looking back up at Thalia, any amusement wiped clean from his face.
“Look, when we get to the gate to the Skein, your keeper is going to be there. He’ll do everything in his power to stop you, but you must resist. He’ll invoke your bond, and you’ll have to fight it to break free. He’ll have more control over you than you’ve ever known and might prevent you from entering the Skein. I just thought you might want a warning.”
Baffled, Thalia almost choked on her water. What was he talking about? “Excuse me? I don’t have a keeper. No one tells me what to do.”
“Oh, but you do,” Isao said. Clearing his throat again, he continued. “The Archangel Ereziel has been your keeper since your parents died. You serve him and him only. You must break the bond between you if you’re to reclaim your throne.”
“What?” Thalia scowled. “Are you insane? Ereziel is not me keeper. I serve him out of choice not obligation. According to the Concurrence, I’m a traveler and free to do as I like. This is crazy. And what throne are you talking about?”
“Were you not lovers?” Isao’s eyes drifted away to stare at the Chinese take-out containers still steaming on the counter.
So… of course he’d ask about that and avoid my question, Thalia thought. Why would Isao even care what Ereziel meant to her? The archangel didn’t know anything about the Skein or that she was headed there. He was not her keeper, and she owed him no favors. Since her parents had died, yes, he’d given her place to stay, food to eat, and direction. He was the whole reason she was a mercenary trying to earn points to enter Purgatory, but that was beside the point. She was not obligated to continue working for Ereziel, so what was Isao getting at?
“And how is that any of your business?” she snapped, annoyed by the intrusion and not knowing what else to say.
“Well, if you must know, archangels only take a mate once in their entire immortal existence. If Ereziel chose you, it was for a very important reason. Becoming mates will cause you to be bound to each other forever. He does not need to be told what you’re doing because he already knows due to the bond he created with you. Unfortunately, you do not benefit from it in the same way.”
“I don’t understand.” Thalia felt her stomach drop. She’d never heard of an archangel bond to their mate. She had seen archangels take on many lovers, so that was impossible, wasn’t it? It made no sense. Was Isao lying to her? Yes, he must be. That, or he’d lost his mind.
“I can tell what you’re thinking. You’re thinking this can’t be true. That archangels take many lovers, women or men. Yes, they can have many lovers, but very few fall in love, and when they do, it’s only once, ever. With their mate. This creates a bond that can never be severed by time, distance, or circumstance. He is connected to you even now and knows where you are and what you’re doing. The moment we step into Central Park with the intent of entering the Skein, he’ll know, and he will try and stop you.”
“Why would he try and stop me?”
“Because if you enter the Skein, your bond will break. Entering another realm without your mate is the only thing that can break a bond. A throne of the Skein belongs to you alone. You’re a baron’s daughter. You’re automatically an heir to his or her kingdom. Crossing a gate to another realm like Heaven, Hell, or the Skein immediately severs your bond.”
“For the love of all that is holy, Isao, Ereziel is not my mate!”
Isao sighed, picking at his food, his eyebrows furrowed. “He is your mate even if you do not accept it. How else do you think he knows when you’re in trouble? Has he ever shown up unexpectedly when you needed him most? Has he not been there when you were thinking of him out of the blue? Did you not find it odd?”
“I find many things odd about Ereziel. But we’re not mates. I would’ve known.”
Isao laughed, crossing his arms. “And, pray tell, how would you have known if you’re his mate or not? There are no sig
ns to point it out. Only the archangel holds the branding of his mate.”
“What would that look like?” Thalia, to her dismay, was intrigued by this. How would an archangel become branded? How would one know if they were someone’s mate?
“When mated, the archangels hold a brand on their arm, right about here. Have you not noticed he always wears a gold cuff wrapped around that area? It’s so no one can distinguish who the mate is. It’s to keep them safe. He can track you through the branding mark; it represents your soul. Archangels may be eternal, but contrary to popular belief, most immortals can be killed. And trust me, many would love to kill an archangel’s true love.”
“And why would they want to attach themselves to someone? That would make them vulnerable… able to be manipulated. Everyone knows that to incur the wrath of an archangel is suicide, so why would they expose themselves in such a manner?”
He shrugged, stuffing another noodle in his mouth. “I don’t know. Revenge is quite a motivator. There are many who’d like to get back at an archangel, even knowing it would mean their own deaths. Then there are men who just want to watch them suffer as they have. Jealousy. Who knows? There are a variety of reasons why one would want to break an archangel’s heart.”
Thalia scowled, her food already feeling heavy in her stomach. “If he’s bonded to me, there’s really no way I’d know?”
“Well, you might have some sort of mark, but it wouldn’t be obvious like his brand. Or you’d possess a gift he’d bestowed upon you. You’d have specific powers or abilities. Or even wings. You’d join him in the ranks of the archangels.”
“See? Ha!” She dropped her chopsticks on the counter. “There, you see? I have no wings or any sort of specific powers. And I certainly have no marks.”
“That you know of. He may have hidden it from your awareness. You are bonded, no matter what you say.”
Thalia couldn’t understand Isao’s insistence. It was downright annoying, and she fought the impulse to shake a fist his way. If all he said was true, could she fight the archangel to enter the Skein without him? What would it do to him? What would it do to her? Or would it do nothing at all?
“You’re trying to scare me, aren’t you? Why?”
“I’m not trying to scare you. I’m afraid you’ll have to sever your bond, and it might not be comfortable for either one of you. I’m trying to prepare you for any obstacles that might find us on our way.”
Thalia settled into her seat, afraid to ask anything more. The more they dug into the mysteries of her past and the realms, the less she wanted to know. A few days ago, her only concern had been to locate Ariuk and kill him. Now her entire world had been turned upside down. What would she give to go back in time to when her parents were alive and get them to a place where they could hide safely, away from a world which had done nothing but step all over her? What would she give to see them again? Even though they were wretched for using her, they’d raised her, loved her, comforted her through her darkest times. A child doesn’t forget those kinds of things.
“The Skein… I have to get there no matter what, Isao. I must see where I came from. If there is such a thing as this bond you speak of, I’ll have to overcome it.”
“I agree.”
“Will you help me?”
Isao nodded, sipping his water quietly and judging her mood. There was an infuriating twinkle in his eyes. He could read her like a book, yet he was as closed as a vault. It wasn’t fair, and she wanted to have as much access to his soul as he had to hers. She’d have to wall up everything inside around these men. She belonged to no one, and she liked it that way.
“Of course, I’ll help you.”
“Thank you. You have to promise you’ll make me cross the gate when the time comes, no matter how much I fight it.”
Isao nodded, a wicked gleam in his eyes. “I swear it on my life.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Thalia returned to Matt’s forge late the next afternoon, after Isao left, stating he was going to get supplies for their trip to the Skein Realm. Unless he contacted her telling her otherwise, she was to meet him in Central Park just after sunset.
She was supposed to wait in Isao’s apartment, but unable to sit still for any longer, she donned a dark hoodie, covering as much of her hair and face as she could, and headed out. She managed to call the hospital in St. George stating she was Matt’s sister and needed an update. No one had shown up for Matt yet, and they were suspicious of her call, but eventually, one of the nurses admitted Matt was still in a coma, having suffered from an infection where he had been shot. They kept patients like him in a coma to preserve his brain function, especially with the head injury he’d sustained. They were hoping to wean him off within a couple of days.
At least she knew he was in good hands, but after dragging him into all this, she missed his company. Even Isao’s presence couldn’t make up for it. Sitting in the middle of the forge, she glanced around the soot-filled room, the smell of burning wood and coal still lingering in the walls as though it had soaked into them from years and years of blacksmithing. The silence was almost unbearable, and she wished she could talk to Matt and tell him what was going on; she wanted to know what he’d think about her returning to the Skein Realm. What would he say? Would he agree with the entire situation? Would he tell her not to go? She valued his opinion more than anyone else’s, and he was the one person she wished she could ask these questions of.
She closed her eyes, leaning forward with her head in her hands as her long hair fanned out across her thighs like a dark magenta wave. She didn’t know what the future held or what the Skein Realm would be like. What if she met her birth family there? What would they be like, and would they even know who she was? The worst part was the magic of the Skein Realm. Would she be able to control it, or would she be like a child, helpless against the creatures Isao’s texts had mentioned?
For the first time in her life she wished she wasn’t this stranger lingering in her skin, speaking like her, and walking around like it belonged on this Earth.
A scuff on the concrete spurred her out of her thoughts, and she jetted a glance up and around the forge. Someone was there, and that someone had bright angel wings with a faint smear of brown along the edges. The face in front of those wings was one she’d known for years and years. Getting to her feet, she stood to meet him, her hands balled up tightly as anger surged inside.
“Ereziel. What are you doing here?”
Her archangel sponsor stepped forward, his eyes nonchalantly gliding over everything in the forge, taking it all in with a profound disapproval. Was that hate lingering in his eyes? Was it jealously? How would he have known she was there?
The bond. Right.
“Is this where you go now? Into the arms of the blacksmith? Looks like there’s been a fire here lately. Did he fare well?”
Thalia didn’t know whether to run over to Ereziel and pound him in the face or just shake her head and walk away. Of course he was jealous. Now that she knew about the bond, she would make him pay in more ways than she could dream of at the moment. The fact of the matter was, she didn’t know whether she wanted to scream or beg him for mercy. He had to let her go to the Skein. If he didn’t, she’d never forgive him.
“How dare you? How dare you make things between us more than they ever were? I found out about our bond. Why did you keep it from me? You lied to me. When we were together, you never told me I was your mate.”
Ereziel perked up, but his smile faded almost immediately, another grim and stoic mask replacing it. His piercing blue eyes appeared to gleam in the scant light coming in through the soot-covered windows. There was a touch of malice lingering in them—or was it devastation—as he pressed his lips together, contemplating how to answer her.
“I meant to tell you many, many years ago, but you never made anything easy. You never would have been my mate had I told you that being with me would bring such consequences. You would’ve rejected me and walked away. So
I chose not to tell you anything. I chose to keep it a secret, and yet you still left, so I guess it really didn’t matter in the end, did it?”
“You should’ve told me. You should’ve been open with me from the beginning.”
“Would you have given me your heart then if I had?”
Thalia bit her lip. Her tongue had dried to the roof of her mouth. He had a point. Probably not. She would’ve run as far, far away as she could had she known being with him would mark her as his forever. His mate. An archangel’s mate, of all things. She had never wanted that and would do anything to sever it.
“You’re right. I thought if I walked away from you, you’d let me be. But you took that choice from me, and I’ll never forgive you for that.”
“I see. I’ve paid dearly for keeping such information from you. But that doesn’t change the fact that you are my mate, and you need to be by my side. I have been more than generous. I’ve let you wander the world and spend time with men like this blacksmith. Or even like that mercenary you’ve recently taken up with.
“Do you think they’ll do anything for you? Would they die for you? They will, you know. Die, that is. They are mortals. Inferiors. Their lives are fleeting, and you will watch them die after they grow old and become unable to be everything you need them to be for you. I only have to wait a lifetime to get you back. I was willing to give up that miniscule amount of time for you to realize where you belong. I am the only one you can be with. I’d heal your broken heart, and you would never have to suffer that kind of pain again. Just return to me, and all is forgotten.”
Thalia slammed her hand on a nearby wooden table, ready to grab the hammer and fling it at him. The charred wood cracked slightly, but she ignored it.
“That’s not what’s going to happen. You will break this bond between us, which I never consented to. It’s what I want, and you need to abide by it. As an archangel, I know you know a way around it, and I know you knew everything about my heritage and the Skein Realm, yet you withheld all that information from me. That doesn’t bode well for you, Ereziel. You should’ve been open with me. You should’ve told me everything from the beginning; who my parents were, why they brought me here, and why you became my sponsor the moment they died.
