Page 70 of Angel Lost

She sinks back into the chair, pulling her sweaty hand away. “It’s for my own good.”

“No! They’ve brainwashed you.”

She starts to laugh. A hollow, mirthless sound.

“I have to do it. To keep my aether,” Reye says. “So he’ll want me.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

She snorts, flinging her head back on the dentist-style chair. “How naive are you?”

I shake my head slowly.

“Look, Aether Lorelei, the gifted bit of Gifted Academy? Well, it’s not so much a gift as forced. Aether is forced into you. And if you want to keep it you need to undergo these…” She hesitates. “…these treatments.”

My jaw drops. “That’s barbaric! Wait, you’re not actually an aether?”

She snorts. “Look, some students at the academy are naturals, like you, but most are gifted. Some of them, like my brother, only have to undergo treatment once a month or so.” She pushes herself upright with a weariness that belies how much the so-called treatment took it out of her. “My brother only has third-element aether. Me, I’m first. The only gifted first aether. The only first aether, in fact. Plus, I’m half angel, so it’s more…difficult. I do this twice a week. And have done for far longer than you’ve even known you were an aether.” She scowls. “I was so nearly finished for this week. Now I’ll have to start again.”

“Reye, why put yourself through this? Just be happy with how you were born.”

She throws her arms up, staring at me like I’m some very thick child. “I have to be aether for him to want me.”

I pull back from her, aghast. “You’re doing this for some man?”

She buries her face in her hands. “That man is the king.”

“You want to marry the Angel King?” My own voice rises an octave.

“Who wouldn’t?”

“Me!”

Reye shoots up from the chair with energy I didn’t think she had, clamping a hand over my mouth. “You mustn’t say that! Not here.”

I stare pointedly at the professors on the ground, peeling her hand from my mouth. “Do you really want to marry him?”

“What else am I good for? At least this way my brother is safe.”

“Your brother?”

“He should be in jail. Or dead. If I do this, he gets to live a free life.”

“But you’re trapped?”

“It’s not so bad. I get to go to school like a normal person, just have to put up with this twice a week. Three times this week after your stunt.”

“Sorry.” I close my eyes briefly. “And…what about after the academy?”

Reye fidgets, tension rolling off her in waves. “I don’t know what life as his bride will be like. But I’m allowed two friends as handmaidens, so it can’t be that bad.”

“It sounds bad.”

She glares, then spins and slams a red button on the wall. A siren shrieks. Only seconds later the door bursts open. Angels flood the room, weapons drawn, quickly surrounding Reye, protecting her.

I palm my knife, crouching. “Are you shitting me?”

Reye folds her hands placidly, but her eyes dart like a caged animal. “Just go with it, Aether Lorelei. There’s no other way. Trust me. I’m where I need to be.”

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