Page 125 of Even Angels fall
“Quiet, Angel, they’re staring,” Léandre answers me as if he actually doesn’t care about what I just said.
I didn’t even realize that I had started to raise my voice, but his calmness is having the opposite effect, and there is no way for me to be calm anymore.
“Quiet? I don’t care if I’m quiet. They can hear all they want. They’ve been glaring at me since you started that charade,” I say as I stand from my chair.
“I’m done with this shit,” I shout at the idiot I call my best friend.
Except when I try to take my first step, I’m brought back down on the chair.
What the hell?
I look around and—oh shit—my wings are out.
“What?”
It’s not meant to be out loud, and yet the word still escapes my lips.
“You were wrong,” Léandre tells me, and when I look at him, there is no smugness on his face anymore. “Your pride was never the problem.” I’m waiting on more explanation, even if I definitely know I won’t like it.
“You’re full of anger. Channel it, and you’ll be able to shift completely. Now sit and shift.”
I’m so dumbfounded that I comply, but inside I’m boiling. What does he mean? I’m full of anger?
It might be true—my wings shifted after all—but still, I don’t like the way he said that. What right does he have to tell me that? He knows what I’ve been through to get here, and still he tells me that, like I’m not entitled to some of that anger.
“I’m not full of anger,” I start. “And what if I am? What is wrong with that?” I’m not shouting anymore, but the training ground has turned deadly silent, and even with my deadly serious and low tone, I know everyone can hear me just right.
“Anyone in my position…” I start to say, but I’m cut short and can’t say another word.
I’m just pain and misery, and I want to yell and scream again, but all of a sudden it stops and I’m looking at Léandre at eye level.
“I love you, Angélique, but you’re so easy to piss off,” he says with a shit-eating smile. “Now shift back so they can finally train properly.”
I want to answer him, but it’s a croaked cry that escapes me instead.
Oh god. I finally shifted.
84
Elhyor
Word from the training grounds reaches me at the same time as I get the first reports from the teams Angélique sent in search of the castles. They are all coming back with nothing to account for. The castles were all empty so far and nothing was amiss in the cities.
Only two teams still need to report back. The ones that have been sent to Amboise and Blois. They’re supposed to report by tonight, so I’m not too worried. Maybe even the opposite. If they need more time to explore, it means that there are reasons to.
Maybe our luck is finally turning and there is a chance that we could find the team and free them.
I’m also fucking glad that Angélique finally managed to shift completely.
I was worried about her.
Not necessarily about the fact she couldn’t shift, but more about what it would do to her spirit.
I know she survived so much and that she is strong—more than anyone I know—but I’ve seen it; she needs to feel useful in this war, and it won’t be as easy if she can’t fly at will.
Now, at least, we know that she can completely shift, which means in this form her animal instincts should take over and maybe flying lessons won’t be as hard now, and I won’t have to stress about the fact I’m the one dropping her from heights she wouldn’t recover without wings.
At least, I won’t stress about her, because I’m having a lot of stress already about the team we left behind and even if I don’t want to show it because of Cassiopé, I know it must be dire for them.
