Angel's Power (6 page)

Gabriel rushed to his sister’s
side, falling to his knees on the stone floor. “Is she alive?”

“Barely,” Suriel replied, still
trying to feed her energy. “I’m trying to give her energy, but it’s not
working.” His voice was bleeding toward panic. “I thought we could share since
we made the sword together—” He tried yet again, only to watch in despair as
his energy sparks fizzled out on the cold floor of the cavern.

“Jesus.” Gabriel reached out a
shaking hand. He smoothed a stray hair from Ariel’s face. “Raphael. We need
Raphael.” He raised his head and looked toward the cave’s entrance. “Raphael!”
he yelled.

Suriel stared at his brother’s
mate. “You think he can heal her?”

“I don’t know,” Gabriel bit out,
trying to put pressure on Ariel’s wound. They didn’t have anything to press
against the bleeding. “God, I hope so. Hang on, sis.”

“Gabriel?” Raphael appeared in the
entrance. Behind him, the moon highlighted his white wings. He looked like a
guardian angel from the old tales.

Suriel never thought he’d want to
pray to his little brother, but right now, if it helped save Ariel, he would do
it. “Help her,” he said, voice cracking. How could one small female mean so
much to him, so suddenly?
You know how,
a voice in his mind told him.

Raphael hurried forward, dropping
to his knees. “Oh no. No.” His face twisted as he put his hands over her ribs.
“Not Ariel.”

“The demon sliced her deeply. I
don’t know how,” Suriel explained uselessly. He cradled her head, not wanting
her to have to lie on the chilly floor. “I tried sharing my energy.”

Raphael didn’t even spare him a
look. “That wouldn’t work unless you were mated,” he said, closing his eyes.
His skin began to glow.

Suriel bit his lip, hard, wanting
to yell at his brother to hurry up. “Please just help her.”

Raphael ignored him. Suriel looked
down at Ariel. Her wings were spread out beneath her, more blue than brown now.
She was very pale, but still breathtaking, even this close to death. “God,
please don’t let her die,” he murmured. When he looked up, he realized that
Gabriel was watching him.

“Raphael will do everything he
can.”

Suriel nodded jerkily. “I know.”

Gabriel put a hand on Suriel’s
forearm, squeezing. “She’ll live.”

“You don’t know that.” Suriel bowed
lower, fingers gentle against Ariel’s forehead. She felt so cold.

“I
do
know,” Gabriel replied.

Suriel looked up. Gabriel’s eyes
shone with an inner light, pure and confident. He had a streak of black gore on
his chest, but his face was calm. Suriel let himself relax minutely. Surely
Ariel’s brother wouldn’t be so calm if he wasn’t certain. And no angel looked
like that unless God was close. “I’m trusting you.”

Gabriel nodded and looked down.
Raphael’s hands glowed with light. When he sighed and sat back, Ariel’s torso
was whole once more. More startlingly, her wings were a midnight blue with
silver tips, the match to his own. Suriel didn’t know what to make of that.

“Is she breathing?” Gabriel asked,
voice hushed.

Raphael glanced at him, then put
his hand over her heart. Ariel’s spine bowed as if she’d been zapped with a
current, and she gasped, then coughed as she tried to breathe again. Raphael
lifted his hand away and she settled down, chest rising and falling steadily.

Suriel held her head, so grateful
he didn’t know what to do with himself. When he got himself under control, he
looked up. Gabriel was holding Raphael. The younger angel was clearly
exhausted. A spark of fear shot through Suriel. “Are you okay?” he asked his
brother.

Raphael nodded. “Just tired. And
Ariel will be okay, but she lost a lot of blood. She’ll need plenty of rest
while her body strengthens.”

Gabriel sighed, holding Raphael
tighter. “I’m so grateful we’re alive.”

Suriel knew how he felt. “I’ll
carry Ariel home.”

Gabriel nodded and stood up,
half-carrying Raphael.

Suriel smiled at the sheepish look
on his brother’s face.

“I think you’re going to have to
help me,” Raphael said, swaying.

Gabriel smiled. “Always.”

“Before we leave, I need to check
the cave,” Suriel said. He gently laid Ariel’s head on the floor. “Can you stay
with her?”

Raphael nodded. “Sure.”

Gabriel helped him sit next to her.
“I’ll go with Suriel.”

Suriel stood up and walked slowly
down into the dark. Halfway to the point where they’d met the demon, Gabriel
stopped him with a hand on his arm.

“What are your intentions toward my
sister?” he asked.

Suriel went still. He wished he
could tell Gabriel that he wanted her for his mate, to be by his side for
always, but the power he held was still dangerous. He’d rather be alone than
see her hurt. “I have no intentions toward her,” he finally said.

Gabriel laughed. “Sure.” He started
walking again, but Suriel stopped him.

“You don’t understand.” He took a
deep breath and decided to tell Gabriel what he hadn’t told another living
soul. “My power, it’s unstable. Everyone knows that. But what I haven’t told my
brother is that it’s going to kill me, very soon.” One vision of Ariel dying
had already come true. God only knew what else could happen to her. “I don’t
want to take anyone down with me, especially not your sister.”

Gabriel looked at him, eyes
glittering in the dark. “Ariel is her own person. And she deserves a mate with
the power to meet her on equal terms. Her life is hers to do with as she
chooses. Did it ever occur to you that she might choose you?” With those
extraordinary words, he shoved past Suriel and strode into the deep.

Suriel followed more slowly,
stunned and confused. Was Gabriel right? Why ever did he think he could control
another living being’s free will? No, that didn’t make sense. He had never
stopped Ariel from doing anything. He shook his head and put any further
questions aside for later. Now was not the time to question his inner self. Not
when there was more work to do.

Chapter Five

Ariel woke up to silence. She was
in her room. Morning sunlight streamed across her covers, lighting the deep
blue coverlet with gold. She wasn’t alone.

“How are you feeling?” Suriel said
from the chair next to her bed.

She looked over. Everything felt
strangely heavy. “Tired. Really tired.”

He leaned close and put a warm hand
on her forehead. “You lost a lot of blood.”

She remembered. The demon and the
dark cave and the horrible feeling of warm blood slipping between her fingers.
She lifted the blanket. There were no bandages beneath her tank top. “What
happened?”

“Raphael healed you.” Suriel lifted
a mug from a tray set on her nightstand. “Do you think you could drink some
broth?”

She shook her head. “What about the
demon?” She smoothed the covers over her. Her hand trembled.

His face tightened. “Dead. Your
brother and I found a broken portal at the end of the cavern. The demon
destroyed it as she came through.”

Ariel shivered. “God.” She could
hardly believe she’d lived. “Raphael saved me.”

“He did.” Suriel set the mug back
down. “Let me help you sit up a little so you don’t spill soup all over.”

She grimaced as he shoved more
pillows against her headboard, then helped her sit up. “I don’t like feeling
this way.”

“You’ll feel better if you eat,” he
replied, picking up the mug again.

She held out her hand for it. When
she got a glimpse of the marks on her arms, she sucked in a harsh breath and
pulled back. She ran a finger over her forearm, distorting the feathered lines.
They were completely blue, tipped with silver here and there. She stared at her
skin. “Oh my God.”

“They’re beautiful,” Suriel said
quietly

Her eyes shot to his face. He
wasn’t smiling. “You saw them?”

“Your wings are midnight blue.
Tipped with silver. They’re beautiful.” His voice was husky, as though he was
holding things he’d rather not say behind the words.

“How did I get back here?”

He looked down at her hands. “I
carried you.”

She stared at him, not knowing what
to say. He’d carried her? The whole way? Why?

“Here. Drink some soup. You’ll feel
better.” He handed her the mug.

She took it and tentatively sipped
the broth. “It’s good.” She drank some more, suddenly ravenous.

“I brought up some biscuits, too.”
He held out a plate.

She drained the mug and they
exchanged tableware. As she nibbled on the flaky roll, she wondered why he was
the one sitting by her bedside.

 
“Gabriel and Raphael stayed part of the night.
Your mom came up to the castle and sat with you. She helped clean you up and
get you changed.” He smiled, then, a grin lighting his solemn face into
mischief. “I got morning shift.”

She blinked. “How did you know what
I was thinking?”

“You kept giving me the evil eye,”
he said, making an exaggerated suspicious expression at her. His light grey
eyes twinkled.

She chuckled. He was acting so
unlike the man she’d met a few days ago. She’d thought he was so mysterious,
and here he was making her laugh like they’d known each other forever. “I hope
I don’t look that creepy.”

He grinned. “You don’t.”

She sighed and finished her
biscuit. “I feel better.”

“You look better. Not so
corpse-like.” He took her empty plate and handed her a glass of water.

She snorted. “I know I’m pale, but
I’m not that bad.” She sipped her drink, relishing the cool moisture as it slid
down her throat.

Suriel’s smile fell away. “You
weren’t breathing.” He stood up and strode to her window. “I hate that I led
you in there.”

She frowned. “I’m alive. It’s not
your fault. I go where I want, where I think I need to be.”

He turned around and leaned back
against the sill. The sunlight highlighted his dark hair and threw his body
into silhouette. It didn’t lessen his masculine appeal one iota. Ariel’s eyes
trailed down his body: black sweater pushed to his elbows, blue jeans,
sock-clad feet. His legacy marks stood out on his skin like a map she
desperately wanted to follow.

“Your brother said the same thing
to me,” he said, folding his arms.

She shrugged and took another sip
of her water. “You can’t tell me what to do.”

He sighed.

She smiled to herself. She loved
irritating men who ought to know better than to assume they could tell her what
to do. And since this particular angel was both easy on the eyes and easy to
needle, it was a win-win situation, as far as she was concerned.

“I just want you to stay safe.”

She shrugged again. “I know.”

His eyebrows lifted. She ignored
him and leaned back against the pillows.

****

Over the next couple of weeks, they
had the same conversation over and over. Suriel would warn her to stay safe and
she would roll her eyes at him. She wasn’t sure why he felt it necessary to
tell her that the world wasn’t safe—it wasn’t like she hadn’t figured that out
a long time ago. Her father had died. Her brother had to fight to become leader
of the People. Nothing happened the way she expected.

A dozen times, she almost told him
to leave her alone, but the truth was, she liked the attention. She liked
having him hovering over her after Council sessions. She liked looking at him
across the table while they ate dinner. She liked watching him change into
angel form, muscles rippling as his wings spread to catch the wind.

He never said or did anything
inappropriate. It drove her crazy. He was so handsome and so aloof sometimes,
she wanted to mess him up. Run her hands all over him. She wanted to see if his
hair was as soft as it looked. She wanted to run her fingers through his wings
and watch him shudder. Every time she got close, he’d back away, make up some
excuse to get away from her. He infuriated her. The teasing man she’d briefly
glimpsed right after her injury had disappeared like smoke in the wind.

She wanted him, but the more she
tried to get close, the faster he ran.

It all came to a head one night,
three weeks after the battle with the demon.

“Have you flown yet?” he asked,
just as she was about to eat a chocolate cookie.

She stopped, hand halfway to her
mouth. “What?” She licked her lips, automatically teasing him. She’d gotten
into the habit of trying to break his perfect control. She’d move closer, try
to touch him. He’d move back. She’d begun using straws to drink her chocolate
milk. She wore the tightest tops she owned, just to torment him. She’d have
given up days ago, if she hadn’t seen a flash of heat in his eyes every once in
a while when he looked at her.