Page 20 of Sleeping Redemption
Chapter Ten
Sitting on a lone bench at the local park, I rested my elbows on my knees as I leaned my head forward into my hands. My fingers dug into the depths of my hair, tugging and releasing intermittently with my ebb and flow of emotions. I stopped giving a fuck about the strands that had been pulled from the elastic band keeping my face clear of my locks.
All around me, nothing but the sounds of the city slowly settled into the peace of the late evening. In the distance, the water of the park’s fountain still lightly splashed as it continuously fell onto itself in the basin. Every so often, the rumble of a passing car growled from a nearby street, but for the most part, all I heard were my thoughts.
The fierce pounding in my skull from where Kinley had smashed her head into mine still lingered. However, that pain was not nearly as intense as the one I felt beyond the physical. Emotionally and mentally, I had been rocked to my core.
It seemed that she was still as strong as she had ever been, there was no denying that. It was her mind that had crumbled into a weaker state. The look in her crystalline eyes told a muchdifferent tale of her psychological well-being. I knew she had finally seen me, which should have brought me all the happiness I had been seeking. The result, however, was not what I had expected or wanted. It had been what I was warned would happen.
My presence should have brought her peace, joy, all that sappy crap. Instead, I had seen a frantic and frightened creature—a beautiful tragedy if I had ever seen one. I couldn’t explain why I had been saved, but I had to believe it was to find my way back to Kinley. Now, in turn, I needed to show her the path back to me.
I had seen her kill before, but never with such reckless abandon. There used to be justification for the blood she spilled. Tonight proved to me she was a danger to anybody who got in her way. There was no doubting that I could have been as much of a target as that poor waitress.
Feeling Sylas’s overbearing presence behind me, I dropped my hands between my knees, loosely lacing my fingers together.
“Go ahead and say it,” I said quietly. The disappointment in myself weighed on my words as well as my thoughts.
Sy came around to sit on the bench next to me, leaning back and hooking his elbows on the backrest. “That went well,” he said, sarcasm wrapped around his response.
So much for him taking pity on my failed attempt to lure Kinley back into remembering who she once was.
Continuing to stare down at the ground between my feet, the manicured blades of grass were perfectly imperfect. Kinley used to be perfectly imperfect, and now she was someone completely foreign to me. Her erratic behavior was only one piece of her broken puzzle.
“Why are you here?” I asked, figuring Mr. High-And-Mighty-Archangel came to gloat. My voice was rough with exhaustion.
He drew in a slow breath before quickly blowing it all back out again. “I was in the area. I had to clean up her mess, transport that woman’s poor soul to the hour of her judgment.”
Other than giving an unimpressed grunt, I remained silent.
“Look, Atlas,” he began. “I’m not going to pretend to know why the hell you were sent here to watch over her. Everything about your existence goes against the rulebook, and rules are put in place for a reason.”
Well, this was a fucking inspirational speech for the ages.
I scoffed and sat up, looking over at him to see that he was staring off into the darkness that cloaked our surroundings there in the quaint city park.
Staring at him, unimpressed, I asked, “Is this your idea of boosting morale in the ranks? Because you suck ass at it.”
Fucker gave a half-tilted smile. “Well, if you’d let me finish, I was going to point out a few things.”
Great, this visit came with a play-by-play critique of where Sylas thought I had fucked up? I couldn’t wait.
Rolling my eyes, I sat back in my seat prepared to be scolded like an errant child.
“For starters…”
Here we go.
“Angels, fallen or not, don’t get assigned guardians. In all my existence, I have never seen it. You want to know why?”
I bet he was going to tell me anyway, but I went ahead and bit. “Why?”
Sy reached over and patted a hand to my chest, prompting my brow to draw up at the contact.
Seeing that I wasn’t following his vague explanation, he added, “The heart and soul. Mankind is a fragile creation, easy to trace, and even easier to predict. Our kind? Not nearly as much. Not to mention we already have our place in the universe. What greater purpose can we have than to carry out our duties?”
I laughed. “You believe that bullshit?”
“Look, kid, you’re new to this game. Have you ever heard of an angel being promoted through the ranks? No, because it doesn’t happen. We are given our purpose upon creation, it’s as simple as that.” He shrugged.
