Chapter 13 #2
An angel with flinty eyes nodded and left the room, closing the door silently behind her. I’d forgotten about the angelic guard. These two people were predators who needed no guards. Or witnesses.
“I don’t want to interrupt you more than I already have,” I said, half rising.
“But you already did, so you’ll have to stay for the rest of the meal. We can talk about music, and you can tell me more about this pet baking thing. Does he make chicken cakes?”
Right. She had a pet chicken. “I think he could, but he mostly bakes for his horse.”
“Pegasus,” every angel in the room said in unison.
I winced and looked around at all the angels including the two larger than life ones sitting across from me. “Right. Pegasus. He didn’t correct me.”
“Because he wants Vesper to eat you,” Mirable said. “Of course if you’re life-bound to Ritchie, then he probably won’t. Unless he’s bored.”
“Have you met his Pegasus?” the Commander asked, sounding politely curious.
I hesitated then nodded. “Yes. Vesper took me on a lovely ride to watch the sunset. He’s so beautiful.”
“Vesper took you on a ride?” Mirabel stared at me, unblinking. “I didn’t know he was capable of not killing anyone who got too close. But you’re clearly not dead. Astonishing.”
The Commander looked at her, and then cleared his throat. “Is my son’s blood poisonous to you? You shouldn’t drink his blood however good it tastes.”
“No, it’s not poisonous to me. That’s actually why I’m not dead, because I drank his blood while he did healing spells when I got shot.” It still hurt to think of Mini killing me.
Mirabel smiled dreamily. “I saw that. It was so romantic, but the whole time I was thinking that Ritchie was trying to kill you, but slowly.”
“No, I’m pretty sure he wants to keep me alive, otherwise he wouldn’t have done this life-binding thing. And how long will it take you to remove it?” I asked, looking hopefully up at the Commander. It’s almost like he didn’t want to give me an answer.
He steepled his fingers behind his chin and studied me. “I will have to do research on it. I’ve never undone a life-binding. Mostly because I’m the one who does them in the first place, and they occur after many interviews, psychological evaluations, and paperwork. So much paperwork.”
Mirabel wiggled her fingers where she had a large wedding ring. “Also marriage. I’ve never heard of a life-binding that didn’t come until after marriage. Usually at least three years to make sure the marriage is going to last.”
Marriage? Well Richard certainly broke all the rules with this one. I sat there, panicked, scrambling to think of something intelligible to say. “Oh. You do research?” I asked his father. Research seemed safe, and something in this world should be safe.
He looked like a commander, not a researcher, although he still had his glasses on and that gave him a slightly studious air.
“From time to time it is required. There’s a great library in Angel City full of tomes.”
“Texts.” Mirabel added.
“Manuscripts,” the Commander said.
“And music!” That was Mirabel. She glanced at her father. “I should visit some time.”
“With your husband.”
She wrinkled her nose at him. “Obviously with my husband. We aren’t estranged just because we haven’t had five grandchildren for you by now. And Richard is older, so he should give you grandchildren first. He’s twelve years older than me. He needs to get married.”
I nodded quickly even as my stomach twisted and I felt slightly nauseous.
“I know! He needs to find his second purpose, and if he can find love at the same time, wouldn’t that be wonderful?
And he’d have such beautiful angel babies.
I’m thinking Hallie, I mean Hallelujah! Only she’s probably too upright for him.
Do you know any angel bakers that aren’t quite so… ”
Mirabel grabbed my hand. “Do you know Hallelujah? She’s not going to marry Richard.
He humiliated her cousin very publicly when she showed too much interest in him.
He’s like that. So rude! That whole debacle made most angels leery about him.
But we could hunt down an angel with the specific attributes that he wants, and set him up on a blind date!
” She thumped her dad’s shoulder. “Doesn’t that sound perfect? ”
I beamed at her and grabbed her hands back. “It really does! You know so many more angels than I do, but I’m determined to find him happiness so he stops doing things that make people want to kill him. You’re perfect!”
She grinned back at me. “It’s because I’m an angel. Angels are always perfect.”
Hopefully we could find someone a little less perfect who could put up with Richard’s imperfections.
I turned back to the Commander. “How long do you think the research will take? I want to remove the binding as soon as possible.
He patted my hand. “Of course you do. Wouldn’t want to put Richard’s life at risk.” He frowned. “Although you may consider it a gift of safety from an old friend who wants you to come to no harm.”
I nodded. “I know he’s trying to protect me, but he should think through every possibility first instead of just rushing in because I happened to be sleeping right there and he was bored.”
Mirabel and the Commander exchanged glances before they smiled at me, matching smiles in sweetness and reassurance.
The Commander’s words were solemn. “And we’ll certainly have to delay the execution since it would kill you, and we can’t harm an innocent even for the sake of justice.”
I blinked at the Commander while my extremities turned cold. “Execution?”
“My son performed a life-binding against your will. The penalty is death.” The commander shrugged, like who could help these things.
I grabbed his arm, channeling too much vampire. “You wouldn’t actually execute your son!”
“Of course not,” he said with a broad smile, patting my hand, warm and reassuring. “I specifically said that we wouldn’t until after this binding has been dissolved. I wonder how many infractions we could get him for.”
“You’d testify that he bound you without your consent, right?” Mirabel said, looking at me so hopefully. Did she want her brother to die?
I stared at her and then the door opened and a waiter put a sushi boat down in front of me, big enough to partially block their stares.
I was starting to understand what Hallie meant about not getting involved with the Commander. And Mirabel was someone the entire undercity of Song avoided for a reason. I smiled at both of them while my heart beat faster. “Maybe you should take your time with the research.”
“Nonsense. I’ll make it a priority,” the Commander said then picked up a roll with chop sticks and put it on a plate that he then handed to me. “I don’t like sushi much, being an angel, but my darling Miracle adores it. Isn’t she lovely?” He beamed at her, and she beamed back at him.
“I’m still not going to have babies just for you, no matter how much you sweet talk me and give me sushi.”
The Commander sighed heavily and turned his gaze to me.
“Do you see this? Surrounded by ungrateful children. I teach them about duty, and what do they give me? Heartburn. I hope you are ever so lucky. They are my entire reason for living.” He grinned, and it was so much like Richard’s, my stomach tangled.
“Other than all the rest of the things that are your entire reason for living,” Mirabel muttered, stabbing a sushi roll and putting it in her face.
“Entire has a plethora of meanings.”
“Just eat your soup, dad. And Katriana, I recommend the pink one. It’s the prettiest, and it tastes…” She kissed her fingers and refocused on devouring sushi.
I followed suit, eating sushi, but my heart wasn’t in it.
Why did I come here? If I undid the binding, Richard would be executed.
Unless he wasn’t, but it was a definite risk.
A risk he never should have taken. If he stayed bound to me, his life was at risk, and likewise if he was unbound.
And usually people were married before they were life-bound.
We weren’t anything close to romantic. Except for the kiss, the revenge kiss that turned into heaven on earth.
Was I blushing? I shouldn’t blush around these people.
Dangerous was the wrong word. Diabolical.
Hallie (Hallelujah!) was right. The Commander was exactly like Richard, only terrifying.
I did the only rational thing in a situation so dire, and ate sushi.