Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Ifroze beneath Shem’s scrutiny, his question ringing in my ears.
What did Michael say to you? Tell me what he said?
I blurted out the first words that came to my mind, which also happened to be the last words Michael had said to me. “Who’s responsible for the fall of mankind?”
He went still. So still that if I hadn’t felt his breath on my cheek, I’d have thought he’d turned to stone.
“Shem?”
He exhaled slowly and closed his eyes. “That bastard.”
“Are you going to answer me? Or is that something you can’t tell me too?”
“No. I can answer.” He met my gaze levelly. “I am responsible. And that is all I can say.”
And Michael knew that. “He knows you can’t tell me more than that, doesn’t he?”
Shem’s smile was bitter. “Oh yes, he knows.”
They had a connection, these two. The celestial and…whatever Shem was.
“Michael knows our limitations,” Shem said.
Ours? “You and the others?”
“Yes.”
He fell silent and I became super aware of how entangled we were, how his thigh had found its way between mine, how I was pressed to him with my head tipped back so that my lips were inches away from his sharp jaw, and how his hand rested on the small of my back, fingers curving over the rise of my ass.
It was intimate and inappropriate and…comfortable as hell.
“I won’t let you touch the sword and summon him,” Shem said. “If you try, I will hurt you.” There was no fire in his tone, just a flat resignation. “Don’t make me hurt you, Rue.” This part was almost a plea.
It was also the first time he’d called me by my name, and for some reason it made my heart lurch and beat a little faster.
“Stick to the deal and your people will be safe,” he continued.
“Will they?” I needed to know. I had to be sure.
His eyes narrowed. “I will get them to the golden city as promised.”
“But will they be safe there?”
He looked away.
Oh, fuck. “Shem, please.”
“I do not know.”
I believed him. I believed the warning in my gut that had always been there when it came to the celestials.
The doubt, the wariness. We’d needed them all these years but what was the cost?
I’d never understood it. My father had said it was our mortal mentality, always believing that life was a trade, that you didn’t get if you didn’t give, that the celestials weren’t like that.
They were higher beings, but…what if he’d been wrong. What if we’d been wrong?
I’d made a deal to protect these people, but what if sending them into the celestials’ arms wasn’t the right thing.
If that was the case, then what about Bee? Was she in danger?
“You cannot change the fate of those already taken,” Shem said, as if reading my thoughts. “I can vouch for this. There is much I cannot tell you yet, but I can promise you that I mean you no harm, and if you honor our deal and come willingly with me, all will be revealed.”
His words, his promise rang true, and I couldn’t help the dry smile that curled my lips.
“What is it?” he asked.
“I never thought I’d take the word of a creature like you over that of a celestial.”
His lips twisted in a sour smile. “You mean a monster.”
“No, Shem. I don’t know what you are, but I know this…You’re no monster. None of you are.”
He blinked, dark brows coming low over his eyes. “You mean that.”
It wasn’t a question, but I answered anyway. “Yeah, I do.”
“Thank you.”
And just like that, I wasn’t afraid of him anymore. “Tell me about your colony.”
I crossed the warehouse toward the spot where the guys were bunked.
It was still a few hours till dawn, when it would be time to leave the warehouse and make our way to the golden city.
Except I wasn’t so sure that was the best plan any longer.
I needed to speak to the guys before I made any decisions.
I’d need their support.
I got closer to their bunk spot and was surprised to find them sitting up, awake and alert. Had they slept at all? Jamie raked me over, no doubt noting my mussed hair and rumpled clothes.
His lips turned down. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Why are you guys awake?”
They made space for me to nestle between them and then huddled close.
“Couldn’t sleep,” Jamie muttered. “Kept waking up.”
Javier gave me a sheepish smile. “We were worried about you.”
I squeezed his knee. “I’m fine. I slept and I dreamed.”
“Michael?” Javier asked, his tone hushed.
“Yeah.”
I filled them in on what Michael had said, my gut feelings and my subsequent conversation with Shem.
They were silent for long seconds once I’d finished.
“You don’t trust Michael,” Javier said. “I don’t either.”
“So we trust Shem now?” Jamie asked.
“Actions are telling,” Bastian said. “Shem has acted to keep us safe, and he hasn’t hurt Rue.”
Jamie nodded. “I know. But where else can we go if not the golden city? You saw what happened to base sixteen. Twelve is probably gone. Those new flying beasts, the razor beaks, could have taken out the other bases too.”
“And Michael wouldn’t tell you which bases were safe,” Javier pointed out.
“He wants her,” Jamie said. “Why give her an alternate haven?”
“No,” Bastian said. “He could have given her an alternate haven and then plucked her from it.”
“Which means… there really is no other haven,” Jamie concluded.
We sat in heavy silence.
“We need a new plan,” Javier said.
“I might have one.” I leaned in. “Shem has a place. A colony with more like them. It’s where he plans to take me, but he’s agreed to take us all, if everyone agrees.
He made it clear that everyone had to go willingly.
He said if everyone agreed, then he would alter our deal to say that I belong to him, and our people will be under his protection at the colony. ”
“And if everyone doesn’t agree?”
I sagged against the wall. “Then he’ll drop them all at the golden city gates.”
Bastian nodded slowly. “In that case, we’d better get everyone on board with the new plan.”
Jamie scanned the gloomy interior of the warehouse. “As soon as the sun comes up.” He yawned. “We should get some sleep.” He looked at me. “You don’t have to go back to him, do you?”
“No.” I settled between him and Bastian. “I can stay.” He lay on his side, and I turned my back to him, becoming little spoon. He dropped an arm around my waist.
We’d slept like this so many times that it felt natural. But the position put me facing Bastian. He lay, head pillowed on his arm, eyes sleepy and at half mast, his body close enough to lend me its heat.
Jamie was snoring softly within seconds.
I smiled up at him, biting back a yawn.
“I always marvel at how quickly he falls asleep when he decides to,” Bastian said softly.
“You can’t sleep?”
“Insomnia.”
His free hand rested between us, and I reached out and placed mine on top of it, lacing my fingers through his.
He locked gazes with me, and my stomach fluttered. Bastian and I had hung out a ton before Jamie and I started seeing each other. He’d hugged me before, slung an arm over my shoulder, but for some reason this contact felt intimate. Just my hand on top of his, fingers sliding between his.
He turned his hand beneath mine so that we were holding hands properly, palm to palm, and I exhaled softly.
“Bastian…”
“Go to sleep, Rue. I’ll watch over you.”
He leaned in and brushed a kiss across my forehead. My eyes fluttered closed, and sleep took me once more.
I woke to screams, and the scent of sulfur. Darkness wreathed my vision; hands clawed at me.
“Rue! Rue, open your eyes!” Sarq cried.
Weren’t they open already?
“Give her to me,” another voice demanded.
Shem?
What was happening?
Hands on my face, warm breath on my lips.
My eyes snapped open to Shem’s concerned face. It was wet in places, and was that a sheen of frost across his cheekbone?
“Breathe!” Shem ordered.
My chest expanded and air exploded out of my lungs and misted in front of me. The chill hit me next, rattling my teeth and pebbling my skin.
I stared at him in confusion, panic tightening my chest. We were in the warehouse. We’d been sleeping. Why was it so cold?
He pulled me against him, holding me tight while I shook and shivered. I felt other bodies press close.
Sarq and Tumiel.
“You’re fine,” Sarq said.
“You’re safe,” Tumiel added.
“They’re all gone,” Zaqiel called out from somewhere outside of our huddle. “I found tracks, though.”
The heat from their bodies had penetrated enough to stop my shivering and keep my teeth from chattering. “What’s happening? What’s going on?”
They slowly released me, and I got my first proper look at the room around us—the bare floors and overturned sleeping bags streaked with fingers of frost.
The distinct lack of human bodies.
I spun and looked down at the spot where the guys and I had been bunking.
Empty.
I stared at Shem in confusion, belly quivering with shock. “Where are they? Where the fuck is everyone?”