Page 57 of Wicked Angel
I couldn't stay silent any longer. “He's lying!” I shouted, my voice carrying over the murmurs of the crowd. “Rhodes is the traitor! He betrayed Archangel Soren, he's planning to?—”
Rhodes's hand clamped over my mouth, cutting off my words. With a sharp nod to the guards, he had me dragged back inside the chamber, away from the prying eyes and ears of the assembly below.
Once the doors to the balcony were closed, he released me with a shove that sent me stumbling to my knees. “Did you really think I'd let you speak?” he sneered. “That I'd allow you to spread your lies to my people?”
“Your people?” I spat, rising to my feet despite the pain. “Elysium doesn't belong to you, Rhodes. It never has, and it never will.”
“On the contrary.” He circled me like a predator, his eyes gleaming with a dangerous light. “It already does. Most of the angels out there support me. Those who don't… well, they'll learn to adapt or face the consequences.”
“They support you because they don't know the truth,” I said, my voice carrying to where my family still knelt, watching this confrontation with varying expressions of fear and hope. “They don't know that you orchestrated the ambush that killed my squadron. That you worked with a higher demon to trap us, to get your hands on the Scarlet Hex Dagger.”
Rhodes laughed, the sound cold and hollow. “More lies. Is that all you have, Ariella? Desperate accusations with no proof?”
“I was there,” I said, my voice steady despite the rage and grief boiling inside me. “I saw you betray Soren. I saw you take the dagger from Molraz. I heard you talk about reshaping Elysium, about how Adona was too weak to lead us into the future.”
“Don't listen to her,” Rhodes told my mother and sister, his voice dripping with false concern. “She's delusional, damaged by her time on Earth among the lesser beings.”
“It's the truth!” Ezekiel shouted suddenly, his voice cracking with the effort. “I heard Rhodes and Haines planning it all! The coup, the use of the dagger on Adona, everything! Ariella is innocent!”
Haines moved with shocking speed, his hand connecting with Ezekiel's face in a backhanded slap that echoed through the chamber. But he didn't stop there. He grabbed Ezekiel by the throat, light magic crackling around his fingers as he channeled it directly into the younger angel's body.
Ezekiel screamed, his back arching in agony, before collapsing unconscious to the floor.
“Ezekiel!” Adriel cried, straining against her bonds to reach him.
“Stop this!” my mother pleaded, tears streaming down her face. “Please, just stop!”
I lunged toward Haines, but my guards caught me, hauling me back with bruising force.
“You'll pay for that,” I promised, my voice low and deadly.
Sanvi looked up at me, her eyes shining with a mixture of tears and dawning realization. “I knew it,” she whispered. “Deep down, I knew you couldn't have done those things. You're my daughter. I should have trusted in that.”
“Mother—” I began, but Rhodes cut me off.
“Enough of this family drama,” he snapped. “It changes nothing. The fact remains that Ariella is a traitor, and she will face justice for her crimes.”
“What crimes?” Adriel demanded, finding her voice at last. Her face was a study in conflicting emotions—anger, relief, confusion—but beneath it all was the stubborn determination I'd always admired in her. “What proof do you have that she killed anyone?”
“I don't need proof,” Rhodes said dismissively. “I am Elysium's ruler now. My word is law.”
“Not yet,” came a soft, slurred voice from the far side of the chamber. Adona had raised her head, her eyes still unfocused but a hint of her usual power sparkling in their depths. “Not while I still live, Rhodes. This isn't who we are. This isn't what Elysium stands for.”
Rhodes stalked toward her, his expression darkening. “What Elysium stands for is exactly what I'm changing, Adona. Your weakness, your obsession with partnering with other supernaturals, with helping humans, has made us vulnerable. It ends now.”
“It doesn't have to be this way,” Adona said, her voice growing stronger with each word. “We can go back. Forget this madness. Return to our purpose.”
For a moment, Rhodes seemed to consider her words, his face softening just slightly. Then his expression hardened again, colder than before. “No. We're beyond that now.” He turned back to me, his eyes gleaming with a new, dangerous light. “Perhaps a demonstration is in order. To show everyone what happens to those who oppose the new order.”
From within his armor, Rhodes withdrew a familiar object—the Scarlet Hex Dagger, its blade gleaming with an unnatural light, the red gem in its hilt pulsing like a heartbeat.
“I was going to use this only on Adona,” he said, advancing on me with slow, deliberate steps. “But I think you deserve this honor, Ariella. After all, you've been such a thorn in my side.”
I backed away instinctively, but my guards held me firm. The shackles dampened my magic, leaving me defenseless against the approaching dagger.
“What are you going to do?” I asked, hating the tremor in my voice but unable to suppress it. “Change me into what? A human? A demon?”
Rhodes's smile was terrible to behold. “Oh, I have something much more fitting in mind. I'm going to strip away everything that makes you an angel—your power, your immortality, your very essence. Worse even than a mere human. I'll leave you as nothing but a shell, aware enough to know what you've lost but powerless to do anything about it.” He raised the dagger, its blade catching the light from the crystal walls, sending crimson reflections dancing across the chamber. “Any last words, Ariella?”
