Page 67 of Light

The words sank in. He nodded slowly. Yes. Yes! More of the fog cleared. He would go, and he would bargain for her return.

Chapter 42

Gabriel

“Please,” he begged. “Please give her back to me.”

“If I but had her to give, brother.”

Gabriel fell to his knees, dropping his head until it touched the Earth. “Name your price.”

Samael’s low chuckle reverberated through the cavernous space. “I would never dare ask how you’ll suffer eternity in such a state. For I may well be the only other who knows your pain.”

Gabriel raised his head. “This is punishment for your mate’s banishment? I had no hand in it. You know that.”

“Brother,” Samael cooed. “You misunderstand. I seek to offer my condolences from one separated from his mate to another. We are kindred in this.”

“Give her to Alaxia. Let her soul rest.”

“I swear,” Samael crossed his fingers over his chest, “I would return her this instant, no price asked if she were in my realm. But she is not.”

Gabriel bowed his head once more. The forked tongue slithering over the Fallen's lips—a reminder of his dishonesty—meant he could be lying, but the words tasted of truth. If not in Primoria and not in Alaxia, where?

He rose slowly, tucking his wings tightly behind him. Dina and Camael moved closer, guarding his back.

“What if I could get Sanura back? Would you give her to me then?”

Camael and Dina both hissed sharp reprimands at his back.

Samael’s gaze fell heavily on Dina and Camael, then slid back to him.

“Do you have her to give?”

Gabriel opened his mouth… to lie. He closed it, shaking his head.

Samael gave him a dismissive wave of the hand and turned, striding away from them. “You waste my time. Come back when you have something to offer.”

“Me,” he whispered.

Samael laughed derisively. “In this state, your soul is worth nothing to me. Leave and do not request a meeting again.”

Dina slid her arm through Gabriel’s, pulling him back. “Come, brother. He doesn’t have her.”

His feet moved leadenly away, dragging as he went.

Dina and Camael prepared for ascent. When she saw him rooted to the spot, she wrapped an arm around him.

“Don’t,” he said, desolation lacing his words.”I want to stay on the mortal plane for a time.”

“The suffering will be too great here; come home.” Dina’s words were soft, but the aching hole in his chest was akin to the pain in his soul, and he yearned to revel in it.

She shook her head. Camael took a step toward him, but she pulled him back, and they were gone.

When he was alone, he gazed up at the moonless sky, spotting the dusting of stars that made up the Taurus constellation.

He had been so certain her freckles were a sign of something greater. Had it always been about Sanura? It didn’t matter anymore. Nothing did. He was alone, and she was lost to him forever.

Gabriel sat back in his golden chair, thinking nothing. Feeling nothing.

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