Page 21 of Grave Revelations

Chapter 12

Sophia

Sophia marched away from the river and headed for the cave. Shewouldget answers today.

A heavy body dropped in front of her, and she started back. Another corpse plummeted. She gazed around as dozens more fell. What was happening?

A shout from one of the armor-clad beings from the night before drew her attention. He’d spotted her and was moving fast, loping toward her.

She ducked behind a group of souls listing side to side and peeked her head above a woman who had begun moaning. The armored man-creature was moving away from her, shoving souls aside as he trudged upstream.

Stepping out from behind the woman, she weaved between clumps of people, moving around those who had fallen to the ground.

She reached the cave, searching inside and around it, calling for Elizabeth before realizing the girl was nowhere nearby. Defeated, Sophia slumped to the ground at the mouth of the cave, sighing.

With nothing to do but wait for the girl to return, she relaxed against the rock and let her gaze go unfocused, reveling in the sweet relief this place afforded her from aches, pains, and that driving hunger consuming her waking thoughts.

She picked up a rock, skipping it along the rippling sandy ground. It reminded her of the beach when the waves receded. Thoughts of the ocean sent a pang oflonging for her sister witches through her. She couldn’t be the only one who’d been changed. Perhaps they were still beside the water, waiting for someone to rescue them as Elizabeth had her that first day.

Sophia shot to her feet, turned toward the river, and bumped into the chest of a woman dressed in deep crimson. Her gaze followed the line of loose robes to a face carved of sandstone, sculpted by the hands of Michelangelo, a work of art. Narrowed eyes of pure gold were slitted on her.

“Hello, Sophia. I have heard you were unkind to Elizabeth.”

Chapter 13

Azazel

Rebecca slid back, putting space between them. She wiped stray tears from her eyes and asked, “What?”

Back less than a minute, and Simon was already driving a wedge between them. But if Simon was what she needed, he could deny her nothing.

“I found him on the Island of Ibiza. It was Elizabeth’s last hideout. She fled before I arrived there but left him behind.”

“Where… Where is he now?”

Azazel tucked one curl behind her ear, trailing a finger down her cheek. He’d had Rebecca less than two days, but her racing thoughts told him all he needed to know. She would demand to go to Simon, and Azazel—for all his promises of being nothing like Gabriel—would bring her to him. She would be lost to him again.

“He’s recovering in a hospital in Barcelona. They’re treating him for severe dehydration, a concussion, and several broken bones.”

Her hand flew to her mouth. “Take me to him. I have to see him.”

“Rebecca.”

She slid off the bed, staggering forward. “Please, Azazel. I have to know he’s okay. And then, and then, if…” Her words died. She couldn’t lie to him, wouldn’t make false promises she never intended to keep.

Her eyes were pleading, and something inside him broke.

“I’ll take you.”

She blinked, surprise registering across her features.

He had done this all wrong. At least Ada had known what she was to him. But that truth had cost Ada her life, and when she was reborn, he’d promised himself he wouldn’t interfere. He’d been so sure of that choice. It gave her the best chance at a normal human life.

Even if the decades he’d watched her grow—and form relationships with Simon—only to die and come back again and again had been his torment.

He’d never stepped in. Never interfered. He’d let her father siphon her seraph energy, let Simon use his twisted gifts and lie, manipulating her.

In his eternal existence, he’d witnessed no mortal creature endure what she had. And for one hundred years when she’d been hidden, trapped in the place seraphim could not go, only Father knew what unspeakable torments she’d suffered at the nasdaqu-ush’s hands.

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