Page 74 of Even Angels fall
Especially since I have the dark impression that it’s not gonna happen again soon, if ever.
I wish I could say that we had a lovely party after that—I think that would make a better memory—but instead, my father corners me after we leave the cathedral, while everything is set up for Notre Dame to be used in a different kind of celebration.
“I give you one day. If, in the next day, I haven’t heard of the dragon’s death, this goes off,” he says, barely above a whisper—so none of the bats can hear him—as he shows me a button on his holo.
“What is this?” I ask, panic rising in me, because nothing good comes from my father’s threats.
“Six,” he says in a slow voice.
I straighten my spine and close my mouth at the reminder that he owns me and that I will get whipped again if I go back to Versailles.
“And you need to cut your hair,” he sneers. “This counts as seven.”
He looks at my dress, then at my wings, with an obvious disdain that I can’t shake off. Still, I stay silent. I won’t give him the chance to get to ten before I’m free of him.
He remains silent for a little while before he finally answers my question.
“You should ask your friend Léandre about it. He might have a lot to say,” he says with a smile that freezes the blood in my veins.
What has he done?
I want to run to Léandre. I want to scream that Elhyor can’t be killed, that I might never succeed in the mission and that it’s all in vain, but instead, I gather what’s left of my wits and slowly ask, “What if he can’t be killed?”
”His father committed suicide. Don’t be daft; there is a way to kill a dragon, and if you haven’t found it yet, you’ll find it fast, because I‘ve got that button for after a day, and you don’t want to know what I have planned if, by the second day, he’s still alive.”
I see him straighten before I feel an arm circle me from behind. There are my wings between us, but I still can feel the warmth coming from Elhyor as he gathers me in his arms.
“You look tense, wife,” Elhyor says against my ear, but it’s loud enough for my father to hear, too. “Is your father bothering you?”
I can’t answer that question. I know I can’t, so instead, I let myself relax in Elhyor’s embrace and close my eyes.
But they’re jerked open by the next words that leave my father’s mouth.
“Don’t forget where you stand, dragon. Even Alexandria burned to the ground.”
I feel Elhyor’s arms tighten around my middle as he answers back.
“I’m not the only one with a short memory here. Remember Lucifer.” He pauses and kisses the side of my head. “Even angels fall, Michaël. Even angels fall.”
My father turns his back on us, but still I can hear him loud and clear when he says, “And get those shameful wings back inside.” A pause. “Eight.”
He can’t do anything to me while I’m here. He can’t hurt me, he can’t beat me, he can’t whip me,I repeat in my mind before I take a big breath and turn into my husband’s embrace.
We have bigger things to deal with than me freaking out. I’ll freak out later.
Now, I need to find Léandre and know how fucked we are.
47
Cassiopé
When Angélique finally makes her way to us, I know something went dramatically wrong. I’ve only ever seen her calm and collected, except for last night, so I know something must have happened to have her in this state of disarray.
“You’re going to be okay for a second if I go talk to her?” I ask Léandre.
He was lost inside the cathedral when Elhyor and Angélique left to go outside, and knowing that he was Angélique’s best friend, I couldn’t leave him looking so lonely, so I decided to go talk to him.
He hasn’t talked much, though, as if he was guarded and thought that anything around him could be a threat. He’s not wrong with so many birds around us, though.
