Chapter 56

56

Jericho

Cicatrix’s claws dug into my arm, as I held him out of the window and watched him take flight. Other birds joined him in the sky, setting off on their quest for Farryn’s father, as promised.

At a knock on the door, I didn’t bother to look back. “Come in.”

In the window’s reflection, I caught the sultry strut of the brunette housekeeper, Evie, entering my office and closing the door behind her.

Inwardly groaning at the sight of her, I rubbed a hand down my face and fell into the chair beside me.

“Master Van Croix, I wanted to let you know, Danielle seems to have gone missing. She’s neither in her chambers, nor anywhere on the cathedral grounds.”

Danielle was one of the kitchen staff, spritely and exuberant, particularly during our late-night trysts. I didn’t care to remember those anymore.

“She wouldn’t have escaped the dogs,” I said.

Lips pressed together, she diverted her gaze. “She was last seen with Remy, as I understand.”

“Remy ...” Although he’d sworn off his dark nature, for the most part, Remy was still Fallen. He still fought the cravings and desires of his kind, one of which happened to be corrupting the souls of young females.?I knew, from my own experience as a half-demon, the intense craving for sex to be as necessary as oxygen to humans, so I didn’t entirely fault him.

“Yes, Master. She expressed a fondness toward him.”

He certainly could’ve gotten her past the dogs.

“Why are you bringing this to my attention, when Anya is your superior?”

The girl had an agenda. One I wanted no part of.

“Anya isn’t always privy to the ins and outs of the staff. Not as you might expect, anyway.” Of course, she’d throw Anya under the bus. The one person who, besides me, didn’t tolerate bullshit. “I just know that Anya isn’t fond of her. Or me, for that matter.”

“I’ll assume she left of her own free will.” I’d already grown bored with the conversation, and increasingly annoyed by her persistence to prattle on.

“I would’ve assumed the same. Except, Remy claims he doesn’t know where she is, either.” In a brief moment of bliss, she quieted.

“If there’s nothing else ...”

Evie frowned and tipped her head, as if I’d spoken in a foreign language. “Um. Any chance you could talk to him. Maybe just … make sure Danielle is alive?”

“Sure. Now, if you’d be so kind as to leave.”

“One more thing, if I may take another moment of your time.”

Patience wearing thin, I pinched the bridge of my nose. “What is it?”

“This … Farryn. She seems to occupy your attention lately.”

“Careful.”

I had little patience for those who meddled in my personal affairs, particularly my staff. It was no secret that Evie was the jealous type, and my tolerance for such behavior was razor thin where Farryn was concerned.

“Of course. I just wondered if you and I would ever--”

“No.”

Brows winged up, she cleared her throat, clearly uncomfortable with my response. “No?”

‘You have the option of enjoying your employment in a more professional capacity, or leaving. I’m in support of either one.”

A flicker of hurt danced across her face, and she lowered her head, as if to hide the shine of tears I noticed. “Wow. She must be very special to you, then.”

“She is. And you will not harass her, either, or again, you’ll be asked to leave.”

“Of course. I have no reason to harass her.”

“Then, get to the purpose of this inquiry.”

“Oh, no purpose, really.” From her apron, she lifted a feather, one of mine to be exact, and she dragged the plumes across her red lips. “I found this lying on the ground. So beautiful, isn’t it? So soft.”

I didn’t respond. Didn’t react, at all, but watched her. Waiting to see if she had the balls to confess that she’d spied.

“This place can be so strange sometimes. The noises. The things you see at night.” Sucking her bottom lip between her teeth, she trailed the feather down her neck to the fabric covering her breasts. “I have a secret,” she whispered and giggled. “Surely, someone in this godforsaken town would be interested in knowing what you really are.”

It was hard to say how much Evie knew about Nightshade and the fallen angels who walked freely amongst human souls.

“If you think I’ve never killed a woman before, you’ve yet to meet my apathy toward human life.”

She pouted her lips. “I don’t want you mad at me.”

I didn’t care enough to ask what she did want.

“That was a cool trick with the feather.” The way she played with it left me wanting to swipe it out of her hands. “Wish I’d have known you could do that. Can you imagine how fun it would’ve been to fuck me with a lightning bolt?”

“Fun for whom?”

“Oh, come on. Don’t pretend like you didn’t enjoy our time together. Remember those nights you’d force me--”

“Enough.”

A trill of laughter escaped her, the sound of it like a blade cutting glass. “Fine. I’ll keep those secrets to myself.” She tucked the feather back inside her apron. “Just know that I’m always here for you, Master Van Croix. I’m happy to help you any way I can.”

“You can ease my headache right now. By leaving. Immediately”

As if my words were a slap to her face, she grimaced and turned away. Without another word, she exited my office.

* * *

Leaning against the wall, I watched Farryn toil away at something, bent over one of the tables in the library as she concentrated on her work. Twigs of various sizes lay scattered across the tabletop, along with small snippets of twine. When she finally held up what had captured her attention, it was clearly a frame of some sort, though slightly crooked. A detail she seemed to notice, as well, for she frowned and set it back on the table, toiling again.

With quiet steps, I strode toward her, seemingly unnoticed even as I arrived alongside the table.

When she looked up again, a scream flew past her lips, and she tumbled backward. Before she hit the ground, I reached out and caught her.

Mouth gaping, she wore a quizzical expression, as I tipped her upright. “How …. That was …. Wow. Fast. Is that an angel thing, or something?”

“It’s a not wanting to see you crack your head open thing.”

“Yeah. That would’ve made a horrible mess.”

“What is this?” I asked, nodding toward her project.

“It’s for Garic.”

“Is he planning to move into a fairy house?”

Smiling, she looped the twine around one of the corners of the frame. “It’s not a window frame. It’s a picture frame.”

“The surly old man managed to charm you into crafts?”

“I wanted to do something nice. You know, an act of kindness?”

With a smirk, I shoved my hands into the pocket of my pants. “I’m actually not well versed in such acts.”

“An angel who doesn’t believe in kindness?”

“I’m drawn to it, for reasons I can’t understand, really. But it’s certainly not ingrained in me. Nor mercy, for that matter.”

Pausing in tying the twine, she looked up, thoughtful for a moment. “Speaking of merciless, I meant to ask, seeing as it’s not mentioned in the book. What happened to Drystan? I’m assuming you killed him for what he did.”

“You assume wrong.”

Frowning, she tipped her head. “What? I got the impression …. Well, it seemed everyone thought he was dead.”

“Everyone did think he was dead. Including you.” I caught the flinch of her eye when I said that, as if a part of her still couldn’t accept who she was.

She would, in time.

“What happened to him, then?”

“I handed him over to a band of criminals. Fallen angels, most of them.”

“You set him free? I thought you were far less forgiving than that. Particularly after what he did.”

The old feelings of rage bubbled inside me again, and I had to remind myself what had happened was many years past. “I was. I wanted to kill him. But I made a promise to my mother that I wouldn’t.”

“Because he was human?”

“Drystan wasn’t entirely human.”

For the second time in a matter of minutes, her mouth hung open, eyes wide in shock. “What?”

“He was cambion. Same father, a Dalgoth demon, but his mother was human.”

Eyes pensive, she shook her head and sat back in her chair. “Wow. Why did the bishop treat you so cruelly, then?”

“The two of them chose to hide their true nature. To assimilate and deny what they were, in favor of blending in. A small price, in their eyes, to be loved by an entire village. It only fueled the bishop’s belief that I was the aberration and that my condition was curable.” I crossed toward the window, staring out over the treetops that stood along the edge of the mountain. “I didn’t know I could command lightning until the night I destroyed Praecepsia. I’d toyed with fire and lightning, but never to that extent. I’d been taught my whole life to hide what I was, or suffer the bishop’s cruelty. Some things I hid well. Others, not so much.”

“So, Drystan … do you think the Fallen spared his life?”

“Not likely. The Fallen aren’t known to be altruistic, when it comes to half-breeds.” I glanced over my shoulder to find the laces on the bodice of her dress had come loose, widening the neckline, the sight of which sent an unexpected rush of blood to my groin. Such simplicities I’d found inexplicably arousing about her. My staring must’ve drawn attention to it, as she went about retying the laces again.

“Remy is Fallen, isn’t he?” At what must’ve been a concerned look on my face, she added, “I just assumed because … well, because he gives off kind of an oily aura.”

Smirking at that, I turned back toward the window. “Yes, he’s Fallen. And he knows to keep his distance from you, unless at some point, he no longer values his life.”

“How did you two hook up?” At the frown I shot back at her, she chuckled. “I don’t mean hook up.”

Nodding, I told her, “It was Cassiel who convinced him to help me escape Virgil’s prison. Though, I don’t think Remy was ever entirely convinced. Cassiel had visited an oracle who gave him the impression that sparing my life and escaping Virgil would somehow redeem him.” It’d troubled me to think it was my blade which ultimately sent him to Ex Nihilo.

“Perhaps he was redeemed.”

“There is no peace in the place to where I condemned him.”

“How do you know, if you’ve never been there?”

“I’ve lived my own version of it, every hour of every day for centuries.” My thoughts wound back through the years before I’d lost my memory. The way every second had ticked in mocking as I sat in that bell tower, day after miserable day. Waiting for her return. Wondering if she would know me, or if I’d become an unfamiliar face.

Face twisted with worry, she tapped a finger against the tabletop. “A while ago, you told me of the blood moon prophecy. That this was the year of the pentad. If that’s true. If all of this is true, then--”

“You’ve nothing to worry about. I will not allow anyone, or anything, to take you away from me again.”

With a nod, she lowered her gaze and stood up from the table, coming to a stand in front of me.

Confused, I stared down at her. “What is it?”

“Bear with me,” she said, before pushing up on her toes and wrapping her arms around my neck. “It’s called taking what I want.”

At her tug of my neck, I leaned into her, and she pressed her lips to mine.