Page 125 of Angel Betrayed

“Bull—”

The massive doors flew open. A man strode inside. No, not a man. An angel. With midnight wings, blond hair, and a lover’s face.

“Leave us, Delia.”

“Uriel, she’s not?—”

“Leave. ”

And Delia left. Very, very quickly. Seline straightened her spine. She was aware that this Uriel had to be someone pretty damn important on the old angel hierarchy scale.

At first, he didn’t speak. He circled her, and his gaze swept from her head to her feet. After a few moments, he stopped in front of her and said, “You feel too much.”

A choked laugh slipped from her. “What can I say? I’m a succubus. Feeling is kinda my thing.”

“No.” Flat. “You were a succubus. You shed that coil when you left your mortality behind.”

Oh, she did not like the sound of that. Seline leapt forward. No, maybe she actually flew. Weird. She grabbed his arms and glared at him. “I don’t want this.”

“You do not want heaven? Paradise?”

Yeah, okay, maybe saying no to that did sound kinda crazy.

“And you do not want the chance to punish the wicked? To follow in your mother’s footsteps? To show the sinners the error of their ways?”

No way. Who was she to judge sin? “I’ve had enough punishment and vengeance. I just want—” Sam.

She didn’t say it, but Uriel’s eyes narrowed, and she wondered if he had read her mind. Especially when he said, “You know what he’s done.”

She nodded.

“He can’t be redeemed. His future has been foretold. One day, he will bring hell to earth.”

“Y-you don’t know that.”

“Yes.” Absolute certainty. “I do.”

Her knees did a little jiggle, but her resolve didn’t falter. “I know what he can be. Sammael isn’t evil.”

“We shall see.”

She didn’t like this angel too much. “Rogziel was the twisted freak. Why did he get to stay in heaven while Sam fell?”

“Because Sam was given a chance for redemption. He lost his wings, but he kept his life.” His gaze actually seemed to see right through her. “No such concession was to be made to Rogziel. He would die, but not at the hand of another angel.”

“So what? Sammael was your executioner?” Let a Fallen kill him instead of an angel. Nice way around that whole not “another angel” bit. “You used him to kill for you.”

“It’s what Death has always done well.”

“He’s more than that!”

Uriel exhaled on what could have been a sigh. “I do not expect your transition to be easy.” A faint smile curved his lips, but no emotion flickered in his eyes. “Though you are a first, angels are usually?—”

“Born here, got it.” She waved her hand. “How did I get here?”

“Delia suspected the truth about you from the first. She could feel the power in you, and then when you linked with your hound, we could all see the possibilities.”

Oh, “we” could? The wings were a light weight on her back. One that felt strange. Wings.

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