Page 34 of Fated Angel

She doesn’t need to see the flash of ferocity that passes over his handsome features. Colt’s words ring with truth. As if they’re a vow.

A huff reaches them. “This will be quicker if you stop looking at each other like that,” Gabby’s father grumbles from several feet away.

Gabby turns to him, ready to give him a snappy retort when she realizes he’s stopped. That when she didn’t automatically follow, her father didn’t continue.

So she takes Colt’s hand and sashays forward, turns toward a door before she reaches her father, and enters what she already knows is a reading room. To her relief, it’s empty.

The obsidian won’t determine her actions.

And neither will her father.

Inside, she and Colt stand side by side beside the large table in the center. She places her bag on it, hating that she draws it closer so there’s as little distance between herself and it as possible.

It’s to keep the Spear close, she tells herself.

It’s because you know we are about to become one.

Her father enters, scowling. “I can feel you’ve not only retrieved all seven shards of the obsidian, but that you’ve also fused it.”

There will be no stopping what happens next.

Gabby ignores the hissing words that slide through her mind, keeping her gaze on her father. “What was the deal with Nathaniel and Uriel?” she asks, needing answers before they move on.

Her father clearly had some ulterior plan all along. One he didn’t share with her.

Archangel Gabriel sighs. “I was hoping to help.”

Gabby waits, biting back the sarcastic response that manipulating isn’t helping.

"Nathaniel and Uriel were in search of a relic. Uriel, unfortunately, was apprehended during their quest." He pauses, his eyes revealing a depth of understanding that extends beyond the mortal realm. "Every plan requires a contingency."

Colt narrows his eyes. “A contingency?”

Gabby’s father draws in a deep breath, expanding his chest. "The Spear of Destiny was created by the essence of Light. Obsidian, as you know, is darkness personified. If the obsidian’s power fuels the Spear, unintended consequences could follow."

“You told me to find the obsidian,” Gabby points out with a frown. “That it’s the only way.”

“Unless we’re able to infuse the Spear with the essence of Light,” her father responds.

Colt straightens. “What essence of Light?” he asks, his voice flinty. He sounds as annoyed as Gabby that this has been held back from them.

Because he’s manipulating you!

“There’s a relic,” Gabby’s father says, inscrutable as ever. “It’s cloaked from the world, safeguarded against those who would misuse its power."

Gabby absorbs this revelation, her mind racing with the implications. There’s a chance she doesn’t have to use the obsidian?

The roar of denial that rips through her almost makes her lose her balance. Instead, she tenses. Tightens every muscle.

Her father may have kept this from her, but he’s also given her hope.

“What relic?” she asks, having to work to keep her voice level.

Right now, the fate of the three worlds hangs in the balance. The threads of destiny are interwoven with Light and Darkness, between the obsidian’s power and the possibility that Primordial Light still exists on Earth.

Her father’s face remains solemn. "The Holy Grail."

Gabby straightens, her gaze squarely on her father. The possibility of an alternative to the obsidian, a chance to avoid the temptations and dangers it carries, is a beacon of hope she didn’t know existed.

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