Seraph’s Blade (AngelFall #2)

Chapter 1

One

Lilith

The elders were going to kill me.

I stumbled down the stairs of the inn, tripping over my purple skirts and barely catching myself before tumbling head-first. The inn door had slammed, but I could still catch up to them if I ran.

Reverend Grimshaw was furious, and I was a visible target.

He’d probably tell my younger brother, the newest elder of the church, to punish me.

My heart galloped beneath my breastbone as I fumbled for the latch on the inn’s door. “Wait!” I cried out. “Reverend, wait! I didn’t let her go. It wasn’t me!”

He’d returned to my room at the inn and discovered that Eve Lovejoy, his betrothed, had slipped her bonds and escaped while I was present.

Curse it. None of this should’ve been my problem. I always obeyed my mother, listened to the elders, and tried to stay above reproach. And yet somehow I was chosen—dragged along, more like—up north to find out where the angels were hiding. And what Eve Lovejoy was hiding from us.

The latch finally lifted, and I threw myself outside, white-blond hair flying. Free.

I looked up and down the narrow street of the village, trying to see where the rest of my group had run. Based on the remarks Eve made while working the ropes that bound her to my bed, she was trying to return to her Herald to warn him about Reverend Grimshaw.

I hadn’t helped her—I wasn’t stupid—-but I also hadn’t stopped her from slipping the knots and fleeing.

When Reverend Grimshaw returned, red-faced and furious, he’d ripped my poetry book from my hands, screamed about rebellious women, and turned to pursue her.

The footsteps of my brother and the other elder had thundered down the stairs, too.

And after a moment of frustrated reflection, so had I.

But where were they now?

Shadows darkened the ground at my feet. The hair on my arms and back of my neck stood on end, and I spun, nearly falling again in my haste.

Two giant men loomed over me, shockingly bare-chested and—even more shockingly—wings flaring behind them.

The Heralds. I gasped. Eve was telling the truth.

Murder was written across one’s face, suspicion across the other. They were predators and I was prey below them. They were Heralds of Death, mythical beings who had Fallen to Earth to show us the way back to our god Erlik.

The pale one with white wings and murder in his eyes reached down and hauled me upright. “Where is my Eve?” His other hand held a naked sword, metal gleaming despite the clouds.

I blinked, my mind spinning. “W-w-who are you?” I tried to jerk away from him, my eyes riveted to the threat of the sword. Mouth dry, my pulse pounded in my ears.

The Herald growled, and I thought I was about to meet Lord Erlik, god of Death and Beyond.

Then—salvation. A pair of medium-brown hands settled over the first angel’s, prying them off me. “We are looking for his housekeeper, Eve Lovejoy.” That voice, hard yet calming, made my heart still.

My cheeks heated and I looked away.

“You’re one of them.” The second angel’s voice turned more suspicious. “Why are you here?”

I couldn’t swallow. My eyes were drawn back to him, the one speaking, now that the Herald with white wings fell back.

He was so much taller than me, with deep brown, wavy hair that hung over his forehead, broad shoulders, and sharp cheekbones.

His curls glinted gold, the brightest thing in this dreary village.

He had a sword, too, but it was in a scabbard strapped to his waist. His wings were brown, too—all warm, earthy tones that belied the cold look in his amber eyes.

He was shirtless. In this weather. I never saw men without shirts.

“I-I’m here because they told me I had to come,” I stuttered.

Those eyes thawed nearly imperceptibly. “And where is Eve Lovejoy?”

Gulping, I pointed off into the wilds of the moors. I didn’t dare look away from these dangerous beings. “She escaped. They chased after her.” The village was tiny, with one road in and out, and the moors began at everyone’s back door.

“Good. Now, I need you to—” But his words were cut off as the first angel with snowy wings whirled and launched into the sky. My skirts blew backward from the force of his wings.

The other Herald, the one who didn’t seem like he’d kill me, spoke again. “I need you to come with me.”

Fear made my heart skip a beat. “Oh, no. No, no.” He might be a messenger from our god, but I didn’t want that attention.

He nodded, jaw firming. “Yes.” He reached for me.

I skittered backward. “I’ve told you all I know. I can be of no more use to Erlik.”

Confusion flickered in his eyes, then was gone. “You’re returning to Mirkwold.”

“But my brother,” I tried. “And the reverend and Elder Tomes. They told me to stay—”

In one fluid motion so quick I didn’t see it, he stepped forward and grabbed me with both hands around my waist.

His hands were hot, nearly spanning my entire circumference.

I put my hands against his warm, bare chest and shoved. “Let me go!”

Instead of replying, he launched us into the air.

I screamed. I shoved, I kicked, I tried to drop from his arms.

The angel grunted, his grip on me only tightening. “Be still!”

“Put me down,” I shouted as he tilted into the wind. The roofs of the village and barren farmland spread beyond my feet. My vision blurred and all the air flew out of my lungs.

I was in the air. Flying. Captured by a rogue Herald. I clawed at him, no longer pushing him away but grabbing as much of him as I could. I locked my arms around his neck, burying my face in the crook of his shoulder. My legs kicked, trying to tangle with his.

I’d heard that drowning victims sometimes climbed atop their rescuers, sending them underwater in their panic to get out. I felt like that now, forced to hold onto the being who’d abducted me.

Oh, Lord Erlik, I prayed as I clung to this odious messenger, please let me survive this.

His chest rumbled, his fingers against my waist flexing.

My stomach churned. Was he about to drop me?

“Relax,” he told me, and then I realized he had laughed. Laughed. At me. I bristled, wishing for all the world I could get away from him. I didn’t want to touch him.

Those strong arms shifted, wrapping around my back. “I’ll not let you fall.”

I snorted into the warmth of his skin. He was so hot—and it was December. The wind rushed past us, and I shivered as I burrowed closer against my captor. Rage burned in my belly that he’d forced me to cling to him.

That rage made my tongue loose. “Lord Erlik is known for being a gentle shepherd of our souls!” I snapped, tilting my head up. My lips nearly touched his jawline. “What sort of Herald are you?”

He glanced down, and his warm breath ghosted across my face. “I’ll not harm you, little one.”

Fear turned my hands to claws, and I didn’t care I scratched his neck as I fought to climb him, so I’d be astride his back rather than held beneath him. Anything to hold onto, to cushion me if we fell.

“I’m not a Herald,” he said conversationally, shifting and pulling me away. It wasn’t fair how large he was, how small I was. He moved me with such confidence, his wings never faltering, as he turned me so he held me against his chest, one arm behind my back and one under my knees.

I scowled as I wrapped my arms around his neck, heart still pumping fear through my body. There was no way I was letting him do all the holding—I’d at least try to take this angel with me if he dropped me. “What do you mean?” Of course he had to be a Herald from the god Erlik—what else could he be?

The wind shifted, and he let us drift lower toward the moorland.

“I’m one of the seraphim. I’m not a Herald.”

“Our holy book says Heralds serve Erlik,” I said suspiciously.

He shrugged in response. “What’s your name?”

“Lilith Meadows,” I answered before I could stop myself. I was used to obeying men around me.

“A pleasure, Lilith. May the winds greet you. My name is Castiel.”

My blood boiled that he could be so calm and casual, chatting in the air, while I clung to him for dear life.

Utterly dependent upon his goodwill. The ground was so far below I thought I might be sick.

I had to be smart. It took a moment, but I swallowed my anger, resolving to please him however long it took to get my feet back on solid ground.

“Please, sir.” I looked up through my lashes. My hair whipped around us, partially ruining the effect, I was sure, but I couldn’t do much about it. “My brother’s looking for me.”

He narrowed his eyes at me, his wings slowing as we descended. “Your brother?”

I nodded, eyes wide. Thankfully, the wind caused my eyes to water. If they glistened just right, he might not be able to resist. “He’s an elder. Absalom Meadows. He’ll return to the tavern and become worried if he cannot find me.”

That was probably a lie. Absalom didn’t care about anyone but himself—not Mother, not me, not his new wife, Silence. But the Herald—seraph—didn’t need to know that. Yet it didn’t get much of a response from him.

“The elders will miss me—I clean and organize their work for them. But I can do the same for you while we’re waiting for them.”

He frowned down at me. “What are you doing?”

I gave a long, slow blink and hoped the wind against my cheeks had pinkened them nicely. “Explaining why I cannot stay long, Herald. If it pleases you.”

“Is something in your eye?”

I kept my innocent, sweet smile on my face purely by grit and years of practice. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

“You seem to understand nothing,” he grumbled. His brown wings spread behind him, arching over us, and the grace of the movement took my breath away.

Then he flexed, and we landed on the ground.

I looked around, taking in the barren, purplish brown long grass and dark skies in a heartbeat. Jerking away from him, I shoved hard at the seraph—Castiel, I supposed.

He let me go, and I fell on my rump.

“Umph!” I glared up at him.

His lips twitched as he looked down at me, wings folding behind him, then he reached a hand out.

I swatted his hand away before I could think better of it and got to my feet myself. What was wrong with me? I should’ve let him pull me up. I should’ve smiled and thanked him. Taking a breath, I tucked my hair behind my ear and tried again, smiling softly though inside I was seething.

His eyes narrowed. “How do you know Eve?”

“I, uh, we grew up together, in the Church of the Love of His Divine Saints,” I answered, eager to be helpful. Helpful girls lived longer.

I glanced around and realized we’d landed in high grass a few yards away from an old house, gray stone darkened by weather and age. Mirkwold—a place I’d heard about endlessly but never seen with my own eyes. Until now.

“What do you want with her?”

I didn’t want anything to do with her. We didn’t like one another. “You’d have to ask the reverend,” I answered diplomatically.

“Hmmm.” He grabbed my elbow.

I winced, expecting sharp pain, but his touch was unusually gentle as it curled around me. The heat of his hand bled through my wool dress, and I leaned toward him.

“Let’s go. We’ll wait inside until the captain returns. Then we’ll decide what to do with you.” He cast me a look, as if I was the villain in this conversation. “We won’t let any harm come to Eve.”

My stomach roiled with anxiety and my throat burned with anger, but I smiled prettily. “Oh, of course. I’ll answer any of your questions.”