Page 19 of Light

Gabriel solidified outside the next tent, leaving the demon to his work.

Would that he could save these humans, but the treaty, signed into being thousands of years ago, forbade him from interfering —at the cost of his own divine immortality.

He stopped at the edge of camp, sucking in a breath when he saw more than a dozen demons slipping between tents. They would undoubtedly turn the tide of the battle and perhaps the war, but he was helpless to intercede.

His soul pulsed, warming, tearing him from his thoughts. Adalaide was using her magic—their magic. And a great deal of it.

Was Sanura back? Was she even now fighting her and losing?

The ember at his chest tugged at him, begging him to return, to stand at her side. But he had agreed to swap missions with Dina, and if he left now, he would be going back on his word. In truth, he was afraid. Perhaps it was the influence of the demons wearing on him, but he could admit that he was scared to return to her, see her.

Dina was there. She would keep her offspring safe.

Another tug at the bond sent searing heat through his veins. His very being raged against his decision to leave her to whatever fate awaited.

It was torture. It was nothing less than he deserved.

Something sharp and painful shot through him, and he sank to his knees. Was it the bond rejecting his decision? Was it Adalaide dying? He couldn’t tell. Couldn’t breathe.

If she were dying, the pain would surely end soon. He could go back to the half-existence he was living, and she would ascend to Alaxia, to the fields humans were encapsulated in until the end.

A great burning pain cut his breath in two, making him curl into himself. It was agony such as he had never known. Even when his soul had been cleaved in two, it was a moment, a flash. This was unending torment.

She was dying. He wasn’t there to save her. A scream tore from his throat, and he closed his eyes, blinking out of existence, back to Alaxia, where the pain dulled the moment his feet touched marble.

He sat, curled in on himself, breathing raggedly. Even across planes, a mild ache radiated through his being. It raged against his complacency, his acceptance of her fate.

She was his; he was hers. This was a violation of every natural law.

The reprieve he’d come to Alaxia for only worsened the void in his chest. Where pain had been all-consuming, he’d forgotten the vacuous state of the space his soul once occupied. Now, he was acutely aware of nothing else.

It was a hole so dark it would consume him.

A warm hand landed on his head, wrenching him out of his misery and bringing him back to the present. He looked up, gasping as he met Aniel’s sad stare. Aniel, who had not spoken in more than a thousand years.

Not since the death of his analogous umbra.

A cry of desolation left his lips as Aniel held out his hands. He clasped arms with his brother, who pulled him up.

They stood eye to eye, an unspoken bond forming between them. Aniel shook his head and beckoned for Gabriel to follow.

They moved silently down the long hall of chambers inside the gilded palace, making their way to a room at the end.

They stopped in front of a gleaming fountain. Gabriel understood. Aniel hadn’t made that choice when his other half died before she could accept him. But he was offering it to Gabriel. Drink from the chalice and find the closest thing to peace for a seraph.

It was the only way to escape their eternity—the only way to be free of the pain.

Aniel nodded, squeezing Gabriel’s arm. He would be there. He would bear witness. And when Gabriel’s still form was laid beside the others who had chosen this fate, he would rest. He would be free of the unending suffering that would plague him at knowing how close he had come to reuniting with his soul’s other half, only to have it ripped from him.

He swallowed, meeting Aniel’s eyes again. They swirled, dark, like his, with such misery he felt all at once they would be kindred in this no matter what end.

“Why didn’t you do it?” he asked into the silence.

Aniel looked at the chalice, now cupped in Gabriel’s tense fingers, and backed up. He touched Gabriel’s arm lightly and moved to the open archway overlooking green fields.

Gabriel had never realized this room was so near the human fields. Not that he’d come to this room often. Perhaps twice in his long existence. Once for Hutriel and again with Baraqiel.

He looked out at the buzzing glow of so many souls, then back to Aniel. “You’re waiting for her.”

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