Page 23 of Wings of Death

Amaros stands at the door for a moment before crossing the room toward me.

“Hi,” I say.

Something flashes in his eyes, as if he is battling an inner torment. “I’m glad to see you’re all right. But why didn’t you listen to me? I told you to get back to your quarters.”

I glance down, a little taken aback at his harsh tone. He has every right to be pissed. I ignored his command, but if I hadn’t, my father could well have been the one to end up injured, or worse, killed. They seemed awfully interested in my mother’s locket.

Before the words leave my mouth, Amaros reaches into his pocket and pulls out my mother’s locket. I stare at it, so happy to see it is safe.

“May I?” he asks, holding it up. “I fixed the clasp.”

I nod, and he sits on the bed next to me. I bend forward a little and lift my hair out of the way as he gently fastens the locket around my neck. His face hovers close to mine for a moment before he pulls back again.

“Thank you,” I whisper. “You have no idea how much this means to me.”

He opens his mouth to speak when the door bursts open, and Finlay enters my quarters. Amaros is off my bed in a flash and moving into position to protect me.

Finlay holds his hands up in the air. “I’m sorry, but you left me with no choice.”

I close my eyes for a moment and shake my head. “What are you doing here?”

Amaros looks back at me, and I nod. He hesitates before he leaves me and Finlay alone. There’s something strange going on with Amaros. He isn’t acting himself.

Finlay moves towards me and sits on the end of my bed.

“Remember our little mind link? Yeah, well, I have been trying to connect with you for hours. You left me no choice but to come back here to check that you’re all right.”

Crap, I completely forgot about that. “I’m sorry, but I’m okay, see?”

He shakes his head at me. “Zarla, do you have any idea how worried I’ve been? I knew you would kill me if I left Kyle, but Ihad no choice.” He raises a hand to stop me from interrupting. “Kyle’s fine. He’s with two other seconds.”

My heart pounds as I sit up straighter in bed. “I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t have much choice. I was unconscious.”

His eyes widen. “What happened?”

I reach for the glass of water next to my bed and take a long sip. “A group of watchers attacked the castle. I fought some of them myself. One caught me off guard, and he took my locket. He didn’t kill me, but Amaros showed up and killed him.”

Finlay cracks his fingers as he takes in what I have just said. He gets to his feet and paces the room. “That is insane. You could’ve been killed. And what locket?”

“This one,” I say, holding it up. “It was my mother’s.”

He walks towards me. “How did you get it back?”

“Amaros got it back for me. I don’t know what they wanted with it, but that’s one of the reasons why they were here. I’m sure of it.”

He runs a hand through his hair and lets out a long breath. “This is crazy. The watchers are only supposed to intervene when we break angel law. Why are they doing this?”

I twirl my mother’s locket in my fingers and open it, and then I study the image inside of me and my mother. I replay the words the watcher said:“I wouldn’t hesitate to take your life, but that was not the deal I made, and I am a male true to my word.”

A deal had been made, but for what, and between whom?

“I don’t know,” I say, “but I’m going to find out.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Warm water flows down my body, soothing my aching muscles, and I relax my head back. Being a guardian angel is tough. I never expected to have to kill so many angels, and to be honest, I don’t think guardians usually do. Why is this happening now? The burden of death weighs heavily on my shoulders, and it makes me replay those situations through my mind.

If I hadn’t killed them, they would have killed me. I know that. Except for that last watcher. Apparently, killing me hadn’t been part of the deal. Who was making deals with the watchers, anyway?

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