“We are gathered here,” Mother began, “to discuss Hope.”
I fought the urge to roll my eyes. They were always discussing me. “Why don’t we try something different… Mary,” I directed my question at my good friend, “You seem happy, what news will you share?”
“I’m in love,” she gushed.
Jealousy hit me hard and swift. “Oh?”
“He’s beautiful.” Her eyes flickered. I frowned at my mother then glanced back at my friend. “Go on.”
“Hope, silly me, I’ve just remembered, we were to wait for Sariel downstairs. Be a dear and retrieve him?” Her expression was tight. Her smile more of a frown.
“Yes, of course.” I stood and excused myself while Mary continued gushing about this new man. I hated him already. Hated that they would be able to be together while my parents would most likely shun the one I loved because of what he was — because of what he did. It mattered not that he was powerful, that he was one of our leaders and protectors, if anything it made it worse. I might as well announce I was going to marry an archangel.
By the time I reached the hotel lobby, ten minutes had passed.
Then fifteen.
Where was Sariel?
I decided to leave a note with the front desk and made my way back up to the room.
Only to find Alex.
Dripping with my mother’s blood.
“I could not save them.” He dropped to his knees. “Late… I was too late.”
Seconds blurred into minutes as tears filled my eyes at the scene.
A rush of cold wind bit into my skin, and suddenly Sariel was kneeling in the blood right along with Alex.
“This will not go unpunished.” Sariel’s white eyes locked on Alex. “You have taken everything precious from this woman… because of your selfishness, because of your cowardice!”
“It wasn’t on purpose!” I yelled, defending Alex. “We don’t know what happened!”
“It matters not — because they are dead.” Sariel’s voice roared as Ethan, Stephanie, and Cassius suddenly appeared in the room, their faces morose. “His job was to protect those who could not protect themselves, and because he was having sex with a nameless, faceless woman rather than the one his heart truly calls for — they are no longer breathing.”
Tears slid down my cheeks. I couldn’t keep the choked cries in as I fell to my knees and sobbed.
Velvet soft feathers wrapped around my body cradling me, shuddering with me as a purple mist covered me from head to toe.
“He must be punished small one… he must reach his full potential. If he does not — I shudder to imagine what will happen if his dark power is unleashed on this world —he must see the light, and in order to do that, he must lose it all.”
“I don’t understand.” I wiped my cheeks with the backs of my clammy hands.
“You,” Alex whispered, not looking at me, but the blood-filled ground in front of him. “Take her.”
“Alex, no!” I yelled, shoving the feathers away from my body, but they held me firm, like a pretty prison of purples and blues. “Alex, I love you!”
He shook his head slowly. “And I will never deserve you.” His eyes went completely black. “I never did.”
“Sleep.” Sariel hushed the room.
Cassius was mid-conversation with Ethan, Stephanie had just waved over Mason, one of my best friends in the whole world.
My chest ached.
“What happened to them?”