FORTY-FOUR
“By Citlabeng’s blade, Angela’s father is the Archangel of Death.” Rocharde’s eyes followed the archangel walking off with Angela—the non-mortal—across the lawns. “Bengarro.” The rrr’s rolled like a curse they all felt, as if watching history rearrange itself.
“That’s some serious power walking around with your lady there.” Martar nudged Zarek with his elbow. The grin was present, but his eyes showed his worry.
“I’ll say.” Condorr surveyed the devastation with something resembling professional appreciation. “These rooms are protected. Warded to the foundation stones.”
“Just think, her father could remove you from existence if you upset him, Zarek,” Martar added cheerfully. “Something to consider.”
“I didn’t think angels could do that,” Bellus said, more to himself than anyone, his brow creased as if he was already composing a long list of research questions. “Have children. And I thought they weren’t permitted to interfere.”
“Not sure about the children part, but the rest—angels do not get involved,” Gellar said gruffly. “It is written in the Accords. Otherwise, they’d have been a considerable ally in our war with Katarra long ago.”
“You know…” Bellus rubbed the bridge of his nose as if missing his glasses.
“The dreamscape is a liminal space, a threshold realm that belongs to no single world, and therefore no single law governs access to it. Which means someone like Father Michael, or the Archangel Michael, can enter with no need to explain, which he did, obviously, as Angela’s dream guide.
It’d be his way of interfering without interfering. ”
“Like a loophole?” asked Rocharde.
Bellus nodded.
Zarek frowned at the word. “Doesn’t mean I have to like it.” Did her father create those nightmares? Or did he just show up in the dreamscape?
Gellar stroked his beard, no doubt coming to the same conclusions. “Perhaps we ask the Sleep Wizard for a way to ward against such unwarranted visits.”
“Agreed.” Zarek kept watch over the garden.
The way Father Michael tilted his head when Angela said something that caught his attention, was exactly the same way Angela tilted hers when she was working something out.
He’d noticed that quality in her from the beginning, as well as the particular stillness of someone who listened the way most people forgot to.
He’d never have imagined it was inherited from an archangel.
“I always knew Angela was special,” he said, more to himself.
“I just didn’t understand how truly special she is.
” He shook his head once. The daughter of the Archangel Michael.
Not just any angel, but the one who commanded the angels of death.
The most dangerous being in any realm had walked into a secured area of the Keep, stood among his brothers, and smiled.
“At least we know where her power comes from.”
Bellus was already turning over pages in his tattered notebook; without his glasses, his eyes squinted as he began writing.
“Captain.” Gellar stepped forward, positioning himself squarely in Zarek’s line of sight. “We need to understand what happened in that dreamscape.”
“Tell me what happened to this room first.”
“She was under for less than two minutes. The Sleep Wizard lost contact before Angela Duboise…” Gellar paused, dropping his head as if to formulate his words that carried a darker warning than anyone expected.
“Something came through her. Its voice called out—Katarra, die—then all the windows exploded, and everyone was thrown clear from the room.” Gellar gestured at the surrounding destruction.
“The vortex started beneath the dream bed, while Angela Duboise was asleep. And none of us could contain it once it fully formed.” He sighed as he glanced over the devasted room, then back out to the pristine gardens where the father and daughter strolled together. “The Seers spoke of a new power—”
“I know.” For a moment, fighting the vortex and accepting the dragon, Zarek had thought it was his own power finally free to break its own ceiling. But now, looking at Angela walking beside an archangel, that question had uncovered something much larger.
“We need to understand what she’s capable of,” Gellar said.
“Give her a chance.” He knew Angela had a lot to deal with.
“But that’s not the most pressing matter.” Gellar’s voice dropped. “The Council is on my back. They know she’s here. They know about the raining room in Magick School. They’re demanding she be tested.”
“No.”
“Listen, we all know she’ll fail their testing and be declared mortal. Then, when they establish Angela Duboise came from the mortal realm—” Gellar stopped, took a step back, and said with a heavy voice, “You’ve broken the Accords, brother, in ways I can’t defend.”
“I know.” His head hung heavily between his shoulders.
“Don’t give up; we may have an out.” Gellar patted Zarek’s shoulder, then turned to the others. “Condorr. Did you feel any power signatures?”
“Nothing. The archangel has the same undetectable wall as Angela.” Condorr’s brow bunched together. “But then when he showed his wings, it was everywhere at once.”
“He did that deliberately,” Martar said. “That was a controlled demonstration, like a drop from a very deep ocean of power, and he wanted us to know.”
Rocharde whistled low. Condorr rubbed the back of his neck.
“We can’t tell anyone,” Zarek said. “He came to her. Here. In this place, he revealed himself to us and no one else. Whatever he tells Angela is hers to share—we don’t force that from her.”
Zarek stepped over a section of fallen stone wall and pointed toward the garden. “We chose this room to keep her away from prying eyes in the Keep, one we had heavily warded. And yet the archangel walked through those windows anyway. He let us see his full power. We have to protect that.”
“Agreed. We’ll make no enemies of her father.” Gellar clicked his fingers at Bellus. “The marriage provision. You researched it thoroughly when you pursued the Hearthbound claim for Germaine. Walk us through it.”
“You’re Vanguard, the Historian to the Sworn Exarchs,” Rocharde said flatly to Bellus. “The Council would have approved it. We all know they did. We were at the wedding, remember.”
“I know that,” Bellus said with a huff. “But I wanted to know every issue the Council might raise before I put in our application for marriage. But I remember reading a section in the fine print…” Again, Bellus pinched the bridge of his nose, this time closing his eyes as if reading from memory, “Article Fourteen, Section Nine—Higher Realm Provisions. Any individual whose lineage connects them directly to a realm of higher authority than that of Paradox falls outside the jurisdiction of the Continuum Council for purposes of examination, classification, or political mandate. No Council member or appointed examiner may compel testimony, testing, or submission from such an individual—or from any person under this direct higher realm bloodline protection clause—without first obtaining a Celestial Warrant.”
Bellus opened his eyes and glanced at them. “Which has never once been granted in the entire recorded history of the Accords. I mean, we got close when the ancestors gave the okay for the Angela Amendment to bring her here.”
Martar called out, “Did you just rename the Variance of the Accords the—”
“Angela Amendment. Yes, I did.” Bellus lifted his chin, as if proud of it. “The ancestors were okay with it too.”
“Back up a bit.” Condorr scratched at the back of his head, messing up his blond hair. “What was that part you were saying before about the Continuum Council?”
“She’s above their authority,” Rocharde said quietly. “By blood, the Council can’t touch her because of who her father is.”
“The bloodline protection clause also extends to anyone formally bound to her under the Paradox Accords,” Bellus added. “By marriage.”
“Convenient,” Martar said with a hint of amusement, “that her father dropped the marriage suggestion in passing. Like it was an afterthought.” He looked at Zarek. “And the only thing I know about angels is that they can’t lie.”
“But every father wants his daughter honored, which is usually the idea of wedlock,” Rocharde said. “The Archangel simply has more tools available than most.”
“You’re forgetting one thing.” Gellar turned to face Zarek directly.
“I know. We all know. After weeks of navigating the volatility of a weapon you’ve been barely containing under you skin, as your brothers, we all felt the shift.
You consummated the Claiming. As far as the Accords go, you broke them because Angela Duboise came from the mortal realm.
” He held up a hand before Zarek could speak.
“I know she’s not mortal. We all just watched her father spread his wings in this room.
But the Council doesn’t know that yet. If they test her and find nothing, they will classify her as mortal, and then everything you’ve done becomes a capital violation.
” His voice was steady. “For a member of the Sworn Exarchs, there is only one consequence for that.”
Zarek said nothing but felt the burden of the Accords and the oath he’d sworn to uphold.
Now broken.
Which meant…
Death.
“Marriage changes all that,” Gellar said.
“It places Angela Duboise under Vanguard sovereignty—under the protection of our laws, not theirs. The Council cannot reach her without declaring open opposition to the Vanguard, to us as Sworn Exarchs. Combined with the bloodline protection clause, Angela Duboise becomes untouchable.”
Gellar pointed at Zarek’s armor. “And Martar is right. Your staves are gone. The Archangel—who is probably older than time itself, who knows of the Claiming—said the marriage ceremony would help contain it. We trust that, even though we don’t fully understand what the ancient binding ceremony does. None of us have seen it performed.”
“I’ll do my research.” Bellus scribbled in his notebook.
“But if the idea of marriage helps calm the Claiming, and if it closes every door the Council could walk through, you might want to consider it.” Gellar dropped a heavy hand on Zarek’s shoulder, taking a risk to look him deep in the eyes.
“Especially if it means you keep your head and it keeps Angela Duboise safe.”
Zarek stepped back, more to protect Gellar from himself. But yet, he felt no stirring, no threat from the flame. “So, if I marry Angela, it’ll keep her safe from the Council. And I get to keep my head.”
“You marry her,” Gellar replied, “because the Claiming demands it. And because her power may determine whether we win or lose this war with Katarra. Because it is the one move that protects her, and the brotherhood of the Sworn Exarchs, for the good of the Vanguard and the realms. More importantly, it gives you both a chance at controlling something that is currently larger than either of you.” He held Zarek’s gaze.
“And maybe because you want to. But that part is your business.”
Zarek didn’t answer that.
“We’ll outmaneuver them all. We just have to move first before they know what they’re missing,” Gellar said quietly. “What do you say? Will you marry this Angela Duboise? Or face the consequences of your actions?”