Page 18 of Fallen Angels

DRAGAN

The Castle in the Sky

Two days or more pass. I’m unsure of the exact number because I’m unable to see the sun from my dreary prison cell. Days blend into nights and nights blend back into days. I’m quite amazed we’re still alive. Truth be told, I don’t understand why Variant has kept us alive as long as he has. No doubt it’s a way to soften our resolve. He keeps us alive for a reason. But whatever his purpose, I won’t bow to him. I will never bow to him again. Variant could threaten to carve my heart from my chest—let him! But I will keep my pride. The shame of my role in his ascension burns as brightly as it did the day we lost the Great War.

Almost as brightly as the memory of Eilish and Revenant when I awoke to find them ensconced in the same prison cell. I can’t force the images out of my mind and they continue tohaunt me, making me wish I could take a blade to my brain. The images of them together pale in comparison to the memory of the scent in the air. I can still taste Eilish’s desire on my tongue, and smell their sex in the air.

You must stop!I yell at myself.These memories are going to drive you mad!

I want to rip off his head,I respond as I eye the fucker in his cell.He had her. My woman.

And, yet, she’s not my woman. Only because I refuse to allow her to be my woman.

I shake my head as I force thoughts of Eilish and Revenant out of my mind. I have to focus on more important things—such as Variant. And on the subject of that fucker, I do find it thought-provoking that Variant has yet to pay Cambion or me a visit. It’s for this same reason that I assume he still doesn’t know Baron is reborn as Revenant.

While it appears Variant has little interest in the three of us, he calls for Eilish every day and returns her the same day. According to her, he merely wishes to make conversation. I’m more than certain he’s arrested by her as it’s impossible to be a heterosexual male and not be swayed by her presence.

After her initial meeting with Variant, when he left her naked and humiliated, I gave my cloak to her. When Variant called for her the next time, she returned fully dressed. And she was bedecked in the finest of gowns—a cornflower blue, satin dress, the cut of which accentuated her curvy figure flawlessly. I could only wonder if Variant had the gown custom made for her.

In addition, upon Variant’s decree, Eilish no longer shares a cell with me. Instead, she’s imprisoned on her own and she’s housed at the entry to the dungeon. I’m more than certain Variant dislikes the idea of any of us fucking her and that’s the reason for him separating her from us. The bastard.

Though the spells in the palace dungeon suppress most of my magic, I’m able to summon the shadows to surround me in their frigid embrace. And I do this on most nights. But, on this night, I’m not alone. A pale, faceless figure appears in the corner of my eye. The figure fades when I turn around to look, remaining only in my peripheral vision.

“We speak for the fire in the night. Uponhisflame we thrive.”

The voice doesn’t sound as though it belongs to one entity, but many—all speaking in unison, sounding almost like an echo. The voices whisper so low, they could be mistaken for the wind. Only there is no wind in this stone hell.

“Pyre,” I say in a low tone.

“We come as his guides,” the voices respond. I can still see the white face from the corner of my eye but there’s no mouth that would allow it to speak.

“You’re one of Pyre’s spirits?” I ask.

“We are many. Astral is our name.”

“You bring a message, I assume?”

“Sheis near. We hear her like rain upon a stone. Beneath her charge we cannot sing, butoathdemands wedevotein her name.”

“She?” I repeat, before realization dawns on me. “The Midnight Queen, Morrigan?”

“Yes,” they whisper, the words coming out as a hiss.

“The Midnight Queen is here?” I continue, unable to quell my surprise. “Within the palace?”

The figure moves, writhing in the shadows as it emits a soft glow. “She is held in the hand of the false king.”

“Where?”

“Free yourselves then use the rune on the vampire’s arm and Pyre will assist. You must act quickly.”

“Free ourselves? Act soon?” I laugh mockingly. “We’re imprisoned, in case you didn’t notice.”

“You forget yourself, gargoyle.”

“How?”

“Shadows cannot be imprisoned,” the voices respond.

---