Page 44 of Living Legend

Natalia nodded. “She knew it was the right thing to do.”

I looked around, as if hoping to see what she saw, but I couldn’t. In her eyes, the glamor didn’t exist, and she saw this place how it was meant to be seen. I was conditioned to see death and carnage as pure beauty and something about it was entertaining and marvelous, but I knew she saw beauty that made you feel something in the deepest part of your heart.

“What was her third?”

“I don’t know. She never told me. I think that was the one that hurt the most.” Her voice was steady and composed, but there was a sadness to it, as if she could feel her mothers’ pain. I felt for her, and it was the strangest feeling I’d ever felt.“I’ll see you soon, Soul Seether.”

Chapter Eight

NICK

It was near the middle of the day when Jonah summoned me. It wasn’t to his office, like it would normally be. He summoned me to the Divine Library. The library was so unfathomably large, it needed its own stone exterior away from the main building. It was walking distance from The Skies, but I’d been told there was an underground passage inside. That was a rumor that had been floating around forever, so I never paid it any mind, nor did I really need to consider it.

I hadn’t slept much last night, especially not with Reese constantly in my ear telling me how horrible yesterday was, how he will never let me put him through that type of torture ever again. He would ‘rather take ten arrows to the dick’ than have Elise that close to him. Despite the hours of whining, he finally left my room, and I was alone with my wandering mind. I had settled into my bed and like every other night, assumed I would fall asleep with ease, but I found that an insufferable task.

I kept thinking about Jonah and my mother; I pondered over Keegan and whether we would ever find his body or his key; and to my utter surprise, I found myself thinking about Dani. I was simply thinking about her, nothing promiscuous or filthy. Reese looked at them, at demons, like they were a disease, that every word from their mouths was to be overthought and torn apart. I was nowhere near that end of the spectrum, but I didn’t quite trust them either. Dani wasn’t the kind of demon, outside of her realm, to genuinely be afraid of. If I was being brutally honest, I wanted to speak to her more. She seemed so willing to give up information to me, almost as if she wanted to tell someone everything weighing on her chest.

I was willing to listen.

Halfway through the night, I rubbed my eyes raw with every attempt I took at going back to sleep. I stared at the darkness of my room and tried to run through everything Natalia had said, but every now and then, Dani came back into the forefront. I was good at holding in my emotions, but she’d tried hard to get me to crack, and I almost had.Almost.

Did I think she was attractive? Sure.Could I hear my blood thrumming in my ears every time she grazed her hand across my skin? Perhaps.Did I practically almost drop her when she mentioned swordplay in bed? Yup.

Whether or not I could imagine us in bed together, if I even wanted that at all, wasn’t the main concern. I wasn’t Reese; I didn’t do things without thinking them through. We had a job to do, and some forward flirting from a pretty demon wasn’t going to skew my priorities.

The Divine Library was built minimal on the outside, but on the inside, it was a grand masterpiece. I’d read they wanted it to be a place of peace and learning, the mystery and beauty on the inside, not the outside. I stepped up to the doors. Any angel was allowed in with the right magic. I grabbed the handle and let out a breath as gold wisps encircled my hand. I heard a click and satisfyingly opened the door.

A small puff of dust greeted me as I stepped inside, the door shutting behind me. Orbs of light hung from the ceiling, casting a soft white glow throughout the room. Rows and rows of books surrounded me. There were a few desks and tables scattered around for the diligent angel who wanted to study there. The stained-glass windows brought in natural light, colors dancing along the shelves, almost erasing any trace of dust, making each book look new and inviting.

“Nicholas,” Jonah called from above me. I tilted my head up to see him leaning over the metal railing. “Please come join me.”

I palmed my hair down, hoping it wasn’t a total mess from the wind outside. Unlike The Skies, there was no elevator here, so the stairs were the one way to get from floor to floor. The Divine Library only had two floors, but they were wide. If you didn’t know much about what you were looking for, you could get lost. I took the stairs two at a time, feeling the cold metal of the railing against my hand, even though the room itself was warm. The lights followed from the bottom floor to the second, instantly casting brighter light as I went. Tapestries hung on the walls, beautifully designed with angels in flight. I spotted Jonah at one of the tables. I walked past a tapestry that caught my eye before I reached him.

The image was of someone in long, flowing clothing, stars around their head and blue wisps were firing out of their hands. The other character had wings, large and pronounced. Gold wisps circled them, which caused my eyebrows to raise. Why would a tapestry of an Enchanter and an angel be hanging in the Divine Library?

“Nicholas, have a seat,” Jonah said with more authority than I’d like.

I pulled myself away from the tapestry and sat down across from him. The orbs above us bowed back and forth, leaving shadows on the floor. I let my fingers travel to the collar of my t-shirt and fiddled with it. I knew he was going to bring up the snooping in his office. On the walk over, I mentally prepared myself for an ass chewing worse than any I had ever gotten.

Jonah sighed, placing his hands on the table, clasping them together. “I know you made an unauthorized trip to Oculus.”

I opened my mouth to spew out the excuses I had meticulously formulated in my head, but I paused. So, he wasn’t aware of the poking around Reese and I had done.

“That’s correct.” There was no point in lying.

“Whatever for?”

“There was information only Natalia could assist with, that’s all,” I answered, trying to appear as nonchalant as I could. I had only myself to blame for not developing a story. I wasn’t like Reese; I couldn’t construct a full-blown story in one go.

Jonah shook his head. “Information? Involving the portals?”

“Of course. She gave us some valuable information last time, and I assumed she could be of assistance again.”

“And was she?”

“She...well…I…” I didn’t know how to answer. If I said yes, this conversation would be even more difficult to execute and I’d likely have to explain the office invasion. If I said no, he would most likely leave it alone, but I would be more closely watched. I decided to meet him somewhere in the middle.

“I wanted to go back to speak to her without all the tension and hostility. I’ve found that people are much more accommodating if you aren’t interrogating them. I took the others along for support and insight, like you asked the first time we went. She mentioned something about a…messenger angel,” I responded, deciding that having the idea not be ours at all would be the best plan of action. Jonah and Natalia already got along, so he would assume nothing of her mentioning something like this to us.

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