Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
The lights beyond the civi gates blazed bright, a beacon to the celestial emissaries who’d be arriving any moment. Bee and I strode toward the barrier in our guard uniforms.
We weren’t on duty, but if shit did kick off, which it probably would, then we’d be able to assert the necessary authority. Sometimes just seeing a uniform helped to defuse the situation.
We reached the gates and they trundled open to admit us.
My stomach did a flip and then another. “I feel sick.”
“Me too.” Bee slipped her hand into mine. “It’ll be over soon.”
“Yeah.”
The quad beyond was heaving with people, the atmosphere one of defiant acceptance. I spotted some other uniforms standing on the outskirts of the gathered like sheep dogs and gravitated toward them.
I recognized Bastian, Javier, and Ryan.
It wasn’t until I got a little closer that I spotted Jamie among the group. He hadn’t seen me yet. His attention was on the tall plinth where the celestials would land. My heart skipped a stupid beat before I could center myself. I couldn’t be around him right now.
I gripped Bee’s hand tighter, tugging on her, desperate to divert course.
“Bee, over here!” Ryan called out from the group I was trying to avoid.
Ah, shit.
Bee waved and then drew me across the quad to the others.
“You all right, Rue?” Bastian asked. “Heard you went to see the big guy.”
I made a face and jabbed a thumb toward the plinth. “Fat lot of good that did.”
I could feel Jamie’s gaze on me, and it would be weird not to say hello.
I plastered a smile on my face and gave him a nod. “Okay?”
The beautiful lines of his face softened but his gaze was too probing. “Yeah, you?”
I gave him a wry crooked smile. “About as okay as anyone can be with an ascension hanging over our heads.”
I stepped back to stand beside Bastian so his huge body shielded me from Jamie.
It was a coward move, but fuck it, sometimes people needed to hide until they felt strong enough not to.
Hide and kick themselves. Starting something with Jamie had been a dick move.
Dangerous. What the hell had I been thinking?
Oh yeah, I hadn’t been thinking, I’d been feeling.
Horny, to be precise, and…safe. Jamie made me feel safe. He made me feel wanted.
But that was over now.
I couldn’t give him what he wanted the most. My heart.
The crowd’s murmurs suddenly grew in volume.
It was happening.
The sky glowed with pinpricks of light. Ten lights. Ten emissaries. One for each human they would take. The plinth was only wide enough to hold one celestial and one human at a time.
Who amongst us would be climbing those steps tonight?
The glowing lights got closer and brighter, then dimmed until the humanoid forms of the celestials were revealed.
They were dressed in black and silver—some kind of armor made with otherworld materials, no doubt—but it was their wings that drew my eye.
Huge, creamy white wings, a few flecked with silver, another dappled with streaks of blue, but the one that held my attention the longest had golden feather tips that glinted like metal.
He was the one who dropped down to land on the plinth.
His epic wings flared wider before snapping closed and vanishing behind him.
He looked almost like a regular man without those wings except he was a head and a half taller than any guy here and his golden hair looked like it was made of spun gold.
I was pretty sure he had a symmetrical face.
His cold blue eyes seemed to glow as they swept across the gathered before settling on the platform to our left where the senior officials stood.
He dipped his head slightly before drawing a list from his pocket.
My pulse sped up. This was it. The official pick.
Dad would have sent the golden city a census earlier and they’d picked their ten from that. Anyone over the age of eighteen was eligible.
Even me.
The knot in my belly tightened. Bee squeezed my hand.
The celestial began to speak, his voice booming over us, magnified by whatever powers his kind possessed. “Celebrate, rejoice, ascension has come for the chosen few. When your name is read, you will climb the steps and be embraced by glory.”
And ripped away from your family and loved ones.
“Lisbon Wielder.”
Someone let out a squeal of delight. The crowd shifted and a young woman I didn’t recognize appeared on the plinth steps. She stopped halfway up to wave at the people below and then continued to the top.
The celestial towered over her like a monolithic monument. “You are blessed,” he said.
She beamed up at him as if bathing in his holy light.
One of the celestials hovering above swooped down and plucked her off the plinth. She was visible only for a moment before his glow engulfed her and they were nothing more than a dot on the horizon.
“Patrick Wild,” the celestial continued.
And so it went on. Name after name. So far no protests and no tears. Everyone chosen was happy to go. Eight names down. We were almost done when the shit hit the fan.
“Gina True,” the celestial said.
There was a moment of silence and then someone let out a wail.
“No!” a male voice protested. “You can’t take her. She doesn’t want to go.”
There was no doubt in my mind that the celestial heard this, but he remained stoic, eyes ahead, waiting.
“Please!” Gina appeared at the bottom of the steps. “I don’t want to go. Give my place to someone who wants it. I can’t leave. I have a baby. She needs me.”
I caught the wail of a baby then, high-pitched and weak.
“She hasn’t been well. She needs her mother,” Gina continued.
“Gina True,” the celestial repeated.
A commotion broke out in the crowd, the rise of indignation and anger because why should these beings take a mother from her child? What possible good would that do for anyone?
“I won’t go.” Gina climbed back down the steps. “You can’t force me to go.”
The celestial on the plinth didn’t move but one in the air did, swooping down so sudden and unexpected that Gina barely had time to yelp before she was plucked off her feet and into the air.
“No!” her husband screamed.
But Gina was gone.
Stunned silence fell over the quad.
The baby let out a cry, stronger than before, as if it sensed its comfort had been stolen forever. A long second ticked by, then the crowd erupted with exclamations of fear and rage, shooting them at the celestial like daggers.
His chest heaved, the only sign that he was affected by the outrage.
“Enough!” The command sliced through the discord, killing it. He swept his gaze over us, as if he saw each of us, as if he was memorizing our faces. When his gaze passed over me, I felt it as a tingle over my skin, as a physical touch that faltered a moment, testing, probing.
I lifted my chin, glaring up at him even though from this distance an eye lock was impossible. The pressure in the air eased, and I sagged, sucking in a breath.
“Rue?” Bee peered up at me.
“I’m okay. Did you feel that?”
She frowned. “Feel what?”
“Beatrice Warner,” the celestial said.
I froze, eyes locked with Bee’s. “No…”