A Mermaid s Kiss (Daughters of Arianne 1)

"David!"

The urgent call from Orion brought him back, and he pulled both his daggers in time to meet a frontal assault of Dark Ones who'd managed to rush the archers, break the line and swoop down upon the ledge.

A quick glance told him the Dark Ones were losing all over the field, dropping out of the sky, fleeing, being incinerated in the air. But apparently they'd decided the one objective still within their grasp was killing the Dark Spawn who had fought against them.

David sent out the call, and Jonah and his front line responded personally, diving into their ranks to even out the odds. Even so, it was bitter hand-to-hand fighting, the kind where David lost sense of time and space. There was only the next Dark One before him, sometimes two, the flutter of lost feathers from an angel who'd had a narrow miss, the shower of dark blood as a Dark One was vanquished. The give of the body as he plunged his daggers in and yanked them out before his hand could get sucked into the dark abyss of poison that existed inside the bodies.

At one point, he was surrounded, going down among four of them, because he was the one closest to her. They pressed in upon him so hard he somehow felt their intent. They were going to tear her to pieces. No, they would take her back, torture her for eons . . . make her suffer in their dark world, where she would survive in a half life . . .

No. They wouldn't. He'd failed to protect Anna. He wouldn't fail Jonah again. Or Mina.

"David. David." Jonah's sharp, authoritative bark brought him back.

He was slashing at air. Or, more correctly, at Jonah and Orion's faces, as they grabbed at his arms, hauled him back to his feet, held him while he swayed and got his bearings, blinked at the bodies lying around him.

"Most are yours," Orion observed dryly, his lips curving. "But the commander and I pulled a couple off of you before they could skin you alive."

David nodded, getting his breath back. Jonah's shrewd gaze was assessing him from head to toe, making sure he hadn't sustained any wounds. It was the first time he'd had more than a moment with his commander, and now everything about the past few moments disappeared for David. Jonah was assessing him for injury, when David could see the grief in his commander's eyes, waiting like a sword for him to fall upon when this day's battle was won.

"I'm sorry," David said. "My lord, I'm so sorry."

He always called him Jonah. Command hierarchy was understood among angels as necessity, but personally they were all on equal footing. But in this moment, the title felt necessary. Plus, David didn't think he could say his name without his voice breaking.

He dropped to one knee, startling Orion, he could tell, but he bowed his head, his daggers still clutched in his fists. "I wish I could have done better for you."

Jonah's hands were on his shoulders immediately, pulling him up. "Up with you, you young idiot." His voice was gruff. Cupping David's face, he turned it so he could see the bruises, tightening his hold and making a noise in his throat when David would have pulled away. "Look at me."

When David was able to obey the command, Jonah met his gaze squarely. "Victory isn't always in winning," he said. "Anna knew that."

As his commander said her name, David saw it in Jonah's eyes, behind the impassive battle expression. Saw the pain waiting to take him with the same fierce inevitability as the fire he'd unleashed on the Dark Ones.

"Jonah--"

Jonah shook his head. "Damn you and those basset hound eyes of yours. She never expected to live long. She told me . . . daughters of Arianne don't live past twenty-one . . ."

His voice broke, such a startling thing that the angels around them looked as if a new army of Dark Ones had appeared to face them, and maybe they would have preferred that. Jonah pulled it back in with a visible effort and a muttered oath, clapped David hard on the shoulder. "Never mind. Now's not the time anyway."

"Anna has lived under the shadow of an early death all her life. She never feared death."

Jonah and David's attention turned as one to Mina, who still had her back resting against the wall next to the trickle of water. She had her shoulder beneath it. At their sudden regard, she looked as if she'd regretted her words. Nevertheless, her jaw tightened.

"The night I called Lucifer and David to your aid, it was because I felt her fear. I knew it was Jonah who was in direct danger, because her terror was greater than it would have been for herself."

Jonah took a step forward as Mina continued in that same quiet voice, her features strained with the effort. She focused on some portion of the air over their shoulders, as if she couldn't bear looking at any of them. David turned suddenly and picked up the cloak she'd left behind as a dragon, which he'd had no time to bring to her before now. When she reached out her hand to take it, instead he spread it over her himself, saving her the effort. Blinking at him, she looked as if she might snap at him for doing what she could do for herself, but then she pressed her lips together and shifted her gaze to Jonah.

"She was completely selfless, keeping nothing for herself, though I'd never seen her want something as much as she wanted you." She worked the cowl up on her head, disguised her features in her normal way, and her voice strengthened. "She said she wanted to die with a heart full of hope, and she did."

That powerful grief suffused Jonah's features, and then it was gone, pushed away somewhere none of them could see, but David could feel it vibrating from him.

"She had another form, didn't she?" Jonah asked it thickly. "She never told me, but she mentioned it."

Mina flinched as though he'd hit her. David squatted at her side. He didn't touch her, though she leaned away from him as if she expected him to do so. He wondered if all the fire in Lucifer's Underworld could warm the cold desolation he saw in her face.

"It was a phoenix," she said at last. Before the hope could flare too brightly in Jonah's eyes, she added. "But it won't help. The ash, what she did there at the end. She gave her last energy to me, the energy that would help her rise again."

"Talk about a wasted effort." Orion's murmur couldn't help but carry. David tightened his jaw, but nothing flickered in Mina's dark eyes. Maybe she hadn't heard it. But Jonah apparently had.

"She lived her life fully," the Prime Legion Commander said, casting Orion a quelling glance before shifting his attention back to Mina. "Anna would want to give you the chance of embracing the same gift. I hope you don't squander it. Only then would I find it in me to despise you."

He looked then at the small remaining pile of ash Mina had carefully scraped together from what was within her reach. "We'll take those in the sky and scatter them over the ocean when we're done here today. Mina can show us the best place. We need to take her home."

He paused, looking back at Mina for a long moment. In his face, David saw a compassion there that surprised the other angels, who looked like being on this ledge close to the Dark Spawn was about ten miles closer than they wanted to be. "When a being dies," Jonah said, "a type of angel called the Gatekeeper comes to lead the soul to the spiritual realm. They don't speak to us, but I felt her Gatekeeper come for her, Mina. She is safe, and at peace. I hope that comforts you."

With that, he returned to the sky, taking most of the angels on the ledge with him, leaving just David and several of his men. He saw Mina's gaze lift, following Jonah's trail through the sky, and heard her murmur, "Will that be enough to comfort you?"

David leaned in closer. "Mina . . ."

She turned with visible effort to look at him. As she did, David unexpectedly recalled her bravery in approaching the line of Dark Ones. The fierce way they'd come after her, when they knew the larger battle was lost, their burning red eyes and bared fangs focused on the young witch. Just remembering it made him check that his daggers were still close at hand.

It occurred to him that today was not the end of it for Mina. Whether she liked it or not, someone would have the thankless task of keeping a close eye on her. The Dark Ones did not forget what they would perceive as treachery from one of their own.

r /> He didn't bring that up now, however, sure she would not take the news well. Plus he could tell she was somewhere far away from this place.

"What are you thinking?" he asked quietly, surprised when she answered.

"Anna was right. He is the leader she said he was. When he went into battle, even I felt the energy that pours out of him. But as a man, he is grieving sorely. It . . . I hope she's somewhere where she can know how much he loved her."

Twenty-six

THERE was work to repair the rift, as always, and it was a large one, such that a new nebula existed around the star when it was done. As they hovered in the dark vastness of space, bathed in the new star's bright light, Lucifer glanced toward Jonah. "I think this one should be named for you."

It was an honor often accorded to one of the soldiers who'd shown particular valor during a battle. It was not the first time Jonah had been offered the honor, but it was well-known he'd never accepted it. Nor did he feel that inclination this time. He was tired, just ready to be done.

"Arianne's Hope," he said shortly. Lucifer nodded.

Despite his weariness, Jonah looked around at his captains. While he didn't allow his usually commanding mien to change, he made sure he met each angel's gaze before he said his next words.