Page 32 of Under His Wings

“Did you help? Yeah, of course you did. Tell me how.”

“I ran cooking lessons for low-income families for free. Not those ‘make the fanciest cake’ ones – I tried to make it as practical as I could. So they could learn about properly canning products, or how to store things so they lasted longer, or how to use all the parts of the vegetables they had. I know it could never be enough but at least they went home with new knowledge and with the spoils of the lessons to eat. Then I decided to do more and started campaigning for some changes...”

“What happened?” I could tell by the angel’s expression it wasn’t anything good.

“I was murdered. Over feeding children. I think dying like that had a lot to do with how I almost fell just after Ascending. My end... disillusioned me and seeing that angel and demon making a game, a bet, out of my existence... it was the last straw.” The angel’s lips quirked into a grim expression. “You know, it was pretty hard to convince Gabriel to let me gallivant on Earth, because Heaven has a system where Ascenders can’t visit Earth for a hundred years after the Ascendence. They say it's so the Ascended won't be tempted to intervene in mortal matters, but I argued that didn’t apply to me due to my amnesia.”

“Are you tempted to intervene now?”

“No. I think I left that life behind. I have to look forward now. We have a lot to do, darling.”

“I still can’t believe you want to willingly put yourself between angels and demons.”

“I’m not trying to be a wall but a bridge. Will it be hard? Yes. But we have eternity to do it, Hellion.”

I kissed his nose, something like true happiness bubbling in my chest.

“And I know how you like challenges.”

Chapter 20

You would think brokering the treaty between angels and demons would be a grandiose thing but the reality was much more lackluster.

“Why do I have to do this?” I complained. “Isn’t this why we have Tirael?”

I was practically buried in stacks of paper. Who would have thought that so much bureaucracy was required for such a little thing as ushering in the dawn of a new future.

“Leave Tirael alone, Hellion. He has his own share of work and you know his assistance is essential.”

At just that moment Tirael appeared as if summoned, carrying a cup of steaming hot coffee with him. Zachariel sent me a pointed stare. I couldn’t even say anything because the coffee cup was for me.

All right, so maybe Tirael wasn’t so bad with a bit of training. He was just so eager and respectful. Ugh. Every time I tried to exact my revenge it felt like kicking a puppy when he turned those big, wide eyes on me.

Once Tirael was gone from the room, I could stop pretending to look like someone who deserved to be called Sir. I slumped onto my desk once more and pouted at Zach.

“You know, I feel like some incentive is in order. I am not made for this. I need to be free to run around and cause chaos,” I said.

“Oh? ” Zachariel lifted an amused eyebrow at me. “What do you have in mind?”

“Zach, Zachariel, light of my life, dearest, baby, we are stationed next to a kink club and we have been there only for business. This is sacrilege, just pure torture!”

“Ah, I see. Do you want to make a social visit so we can have tea with the owners?”

“Zach!” I exclaimed.

The asshole laughed at my frustration. He really enjoyed teasing me too much.

“And after that I will show you off to everyone there, how does that sound?”

My body instantly thrummed with arousal as Zachariel stood behind me and leaned down to whisper in my ear. His hand went to my neck and even without him putting his power in me, like a Pavlovian reflex, my mouth started salivating at his mere touch against my marks.

I leaned into his touch eagerly, set on getting this party started right here, right now.

A loud chime was like a bucket of water over my horniness. The sound signaled that someone teleported into the antechamber and so far only a few people had access to go there.

Gabriel stormed into the room as if his wings were on fire.

“You’re not going to believe this. Michael and Lucifer have agreed to meet.”

A quick look at Zachariel showed me my conflicted emotions mirrored on his face. Those two talking? This was huge.

I couldn’t tell if our endeavor was going really, really well or if we were on the brink of a disaster.

“Bring it on,” I grinned.

To be continued

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