Page 7 of Legendary

Ariel nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, I was just telling the boys that I want to get the new trainees up to par for whatever may come our way. We need to start as soon as possible.”

I snorted, which caught the red-haired angel’s attention. He let out a huff as if to tell me to speak. “You just buried one of your own.” I pointed my finger in his direction, “your highest superior and you just want to get back to the old way of things? You don’t even know what you’re preparing to fight.” I gave him a half smile. “Not that you did much fighting last time.”

“It’s better to be prepared,” he argued, clearly ignoring my last few words.

Elise stalked around them towards the bar cart, barking out a laugh. “Oh yeah, real insightful. You can prepare all you want but training here and hitting each other with pointy sticks isn’t going to save your ass.” She grabbed a glass and started fumbling with the various bottles of alcohol. It made me miss the bars and parties in Purgatory a little more.

“We never said we were going to help you,” Nicholas said, placing his hands in his jean pockets. I could see his biceps flex under his jacket and I remembered how they looked on either side of my head when he was overme in his bed. I ruffled my hair, frustrated with the direction my thoughts had decided to go.

Ariel narrowed his green eyes at the outspoken angel before me. “You want to help your people, do you not? This is how you help. You and I both know you always do what’s best for everyone Mr. Cassial.”

Nicholas looked at the floor, running a hand through his hair.

Reese slid both his hands down his chair’s armrests. “Alright, we get it, but have you actually been out there and talked to some of those parents? The other sentries? Anyone? They are doing whatever you say because I don’t think you’ve given them any other choice.” He got up from the chair and walked over to stand beside his best friend.

“Have you appointed yourself their leader now or something?” I asked, curious. Nicholas had told me months ago that he had no idea what happened after Jonah’s power left his body.

“Of course not! According to Your Highness over here, he can’t do jack shit until they figure out where poor Jonah’s powers went,” Elise answered, swishing around the amber liquid in her glass, moving the ice cubes around with her finger before sticking it in her mouth. She moved closer to Ariel as he tried to move away discreetly. “Let me guess: you haven’t done that, now have you? So that would make you just as useless as you already were.”

Ariel was turning red, and Elise simply strutted away, practically chugging her drink.

Natalia put her hand up as her way of telling Ariel she would handle this. “We have yet to figure out where Jonah stowed his power away. Executives like Jonah, they have their own way of doing things, but we’ll figure it out.” She took a breath and let her eyes linger on Ariel. “Now, why have you summoned us?” She was so elegant and regal with the way she handled herself—I had to admit, I was a bit jealous.

Ariel pulled at the bottom of his teal jacket and straightened his shoulders. “Ah, yes. Well we here in The Skies and Heaven’s Gate in general don’t want any more problems. So I have made a decision I think we will all be happy with.” He looked at each of us as if we were supposed to be bouncing on our toes with anticipation.

The only thing I was anticipating was the minute I would get to leave this room. I couldn’t wait to get away from the demon I wanted to strangle and the angel whose eyes I could feel dart over to me every so often as if he thought that if he didn’t look at me for a certain amount of time, I would disappear. It was highly annoying.

Ariel drained his glass and placed it on the bar cart, giving me and Elise a determined look. “We are giving you what you want.”

I pressed my tongue into my cheek. “And what would that be?”

“You are going home.” Ugh that stupid fucking word.

Elise froze with the glass up to her lips and stared daggers at Ariel. “What the fuck did you just say?”

It seemed as if all the air had been sucked out of the room and I could make out every single person's breathing pattern. The overwhelming scent of anxiety emanated from the angels to my right; Nicholas who had stuffed his hands in his jacket pocket, shifting from foot to foot, while Reese looked from Ariel to Elise as if he was waiting for a fight to break out and couldn’t figure out whether to intervene or sit back and watch.

Natalia opened her mouth to say something but Ariel cut her off. “I said that we are sending you both home. You should be happy.”

“You want us to thank you or something?” I asked, sarcasm lacing my words.

Ariel hummed. “No need. I can’t have the people of Heaven’s Gate in any more danger, so removing two of the problems will help the healing process.” His words held so much faux authority I almost started laughing.

“You can’t seriously think that us going back is going to fix your problem, do you? If you do then you are way more of an idiot than I thought.” I took a step towards him.

“Lilith is not the only issue. Markus may be dead, but she also has Isabel on her side. You may not have been there, Ariel, but she has much more magic than I thought, much more than she ever let on.” Natalia said her ex-girlfriend’s name with so much disgust, I could practically taste it from where I stood.

Ariel huffed out a noise of annoyance. “I understand that and I am very sorry she fooled you, that she fooled all of you, but I have to think about what’s best. The best thing foreveryoneis to send them back. Lilith is the real villain, Your Highness, and she is their problem, not ours.”

Elise drained the last of her drink and started laughing so hard, she hunched over. My eyes widened as I waited for her to calm down. She inhaled a few sharp breaths before she licked her lips. “Yet again, you fucking pricks want us to fix your problems?”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but Jonah had me bring you here to fix a problem that turns out wouldn’t have been an issue if you would have just stayed right where you were. All the issues started with the Soul Seether, so it’s simply a case of removing the problem.” He looked Elise up and down, nearly turning his nose up at her.

If steam could have come out of Elise’s ears, it would have been at that moment. She held her glass so tight, I thought it would shatter in her grip.Natalia’s shoulders jumped a bit when Elise threw her glass past Ariel’s head. It shattered against the wall and Ariel looked over his shoulder in horror. Reese let out a choking sound that sounded like he was holding in a laugh, but he stared at the floor. We all knew that if she was looking to hit him, she wouldn’t have missed.

Elise stalked towards Ariel, her shoulders tense and I had to blink to make sure I was truly seeing reddish black flames coming from her fingertips. Natalia reached out faster than I knew possible and grabbed her wrist, halting her, Elise didn’t let that stop her.

“If you think sending us back is going to save you then I think you all deserve horrible, painful deaths. I just hate that I won’t be the one to do it.”

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