Page 111 of Angel Betrayed

His teeth snapped together as Tomas’s voice rang through his mind. The Fallen was wrong. He could enter heaven, he could slide into hell, and he could walk the earth. He punished the damned, no matter where they were.

He saw the white columns up ahead. Waiting for him. His home.

Perfect. Peaceful.

Open, as it had always been.

Open.

“Not this time, Rogziel.” Delia’s cool voice stopped him.

His feet touched down on the marble floor, and she immediately appeared before him. Her wings stretched up high behind her, the way an angel’s wings always did before an attack.

The way his wings were stretching now.

“This isn’t the place for you,” she said in her flat, slightly cool voice.

He stared at her. “I don’t answer to you, child.” And that was all she was to him. A child. Barely a few centuries old. He didn’t care what Delia wanted. What she said. He was the one with the power.

As far as he knew, Delia had never even ventured into hell. Like many of the others, perhaps she was afraid of what she’d find waiting for her.

“No, you don’t answer to me.” Doors were behind her. Massive white doors that led to paradise. “Just think of me as the messenger.” No expression crossed her face. “This place isn’t for you,” she told him again.

He wanted to rip her apart. Make her scream. Beg.

Burn.

She took a step back. Ah, so she did feel his power.

But she shook her head. “Goodbye, Rogziel.”

He grabbed her arm. “No.” Because a lick of fear had cut into his heart. “I’m an angel. This is where I belong.”

Delia stared back at him. “You will soon be where you belong.”

Those fucking Fallen. He hadn’t done his job. Hadn’t punished them. So now he was being punished. “I’ll take them out! I’ll clear the earth of the abominations!” He spun away from her. He knew what to do. He still had his wings. He wasn’t cast out. He was?—

“Not all abominations are on earth,” Delia said softly.

He stilled as her words sank in. Rogziel glanced back at her. Rage bubbled and raked beneath his skin like claws. “You dare to judge me?”

“No.” Her voice was still quiet. “That’s not my job.”

Sammael. It was the bastard’s fault. He’d shifted the balance. Brought too much evil to the world.

Punish…

“The judgment is at hand,” Delia informed him. “Be ready.”

Then her wings rustled, and she flew away from paradise.

The instant she vanished, Rogziel charged those heavy white doors, but they wouldn’t open for him. They wouldn’t open. He clawed. He punched. His hands broke, and he bled.

But the doors wouldn’t budge.

“No!” His scream.

Maybe they changed the fucking locks.

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