Fearless (34 page)

The dark forces?

‘Brother,' Gabriel pleads, ‘the proof is circumstantial, taken from the imaginings of a human boy whose hormones
were driving him crazy for his Guardian. Tell them how unreliable that is.'

Nathaneal turns to Michael. ‘Is this true? Is Jordan a witness?'

‘It's complicated,' Michael says. ‘Jordan figured out that Gabriel was the traitor during his time in the Crossing. He put his life in danger by confronting Gabriel. But there are many more witnesses and documented evidence that I'll bring to your parents' house to explain to you and your brothers in detail in the coming weeks.'

I reach across and tap Michael's hand. ‘Can I ask a question?'

But the High King answers before I even voice it. He knows I'm thinking about the dark forces he just mentioned. ‘There are seven now. They will not harm you. To the contrary, sweet child, they came into existence already devoted to you. They live to serve and protect you. Earth is not their habitat. Before you leave the mortal realm they will come to you.'

He glances at Gabriel and frowns. ‘Were it not for this traitor's sabotage, frightening those angels and forcing them to keep running, you would have learned of their devo
tion t
o you sooner and the seven would be trained by now.'

The dark forces are to be my personal guard? All that time they were just trying to get close to me?
The poor things.

‘What of my wife and children?' Gabriel pleads, bringing everyone's attention back to the drama still unfolding before us. ‘Please, my lord, do not punish them, for they knew nothing of what I had chosen to do.' He flicks his eyes up
to someone in the back row of the Seraphim stand and his eyes become glassy. His jaw is trembling when he lowers his gaze to Nathaneal. ‘Brother, I'm truly sorry. I let my desire to be King of Avena overrule my senses. I was wrong. You will make a far better king.'

And there it is. His admission of guilt. Now what is the High King going to do with it?

The High King orders Gabriel to stand and the guards to remove his chains. ‘We have seen what happens when angels are banished, and we must learn from the mistakes we made with Prince Lucian and not repeat them. Today Skade lies in ruins. It will take dedication, skill and hard work to rebuild it. Prince Gabriel, I am setting you that task.'

Shocked, the arena erupts in gasps and whisperings. The High King silences everyone with a glowing flash from his eyes and his voice booms out across the arena: ‘Prince Gabriel, you will carry the title “Custodian of Skade”.' Looking down at Gabriel, the High King's voice lowers but loses none of its intensity. ‘This is not a reward. It will take patience, perseverance, humility and above all love. The people of Skade are broken and angry and lost. You have your work cut out. Do you believe you can do this?'

‘I … I don't know,' Gabriel says. ‘But I'll try.' He looks up then with a glint of hope in his eyes. ‘My lord, how long do I have?'

‘The breached gate has been repaired, but the seal of a hundred years remains. This is how long you will have to rebuild the Kingdom of Skade and bring peace and a new way of living to its people. The rebel army has been informed and its soldiers will assist you, but the majority of
the inhabitants are used to cruelty and know nothing else. You will need to show them that there is another way.'

The High King lowers a glowing hand over Gabriel's head. ‘Prince Gabriel, you have not earned the right to have the power of such a position at your fingertips, so I will be watching carefully to see what kind of ruler you become. If, in a hundred years, I am satisfied with the result, I will crown you King of Skade, but if I am
not
satisfied, you w
ill be
stripped of your titles, your powers and your wings.'

‘I will not fail you, my lord.'

The High King's eyes soften as he gives Gabriel a wry smile. ‘It is not me you would fail, Gabriel. It would be you.'

40

Ebony

There was a time not so long ago when I looked into a mirror and didn't know who that person was looking back at me. Something inside me could tell that those eyes didn't belong to the life I was living. Now I understand why. My eyes see the truth.

And seeking the truth has led me here, to this magnificent arena surrounded by a thousand angels, a species that I now know I belong to, and a High King, a superior being who looks like a man but is not human, and maybe not even angel, but he's in charge of everything. He is the source, the light, the one.

And right now this all-empowering being is looking at me.

Noticing this, the angels fall into a quiet stillness. It's in this stillness that the High King opens his arms out, beckoning me. I get up and climb the two steps up to his platform on legs that feel like jelly. But he keeps his eyes on me, and somehow I can tell that I please him.

‘Child of my heart, we have been waiting a long time for you.' He smiles gently down at me and I can't help but smile back.

‘You are still a sweet child, I see. Well, you always were. But recently you have come face to face with evil, and though you didn't fully know who you were, evil could not defeat you. Abducted at birth, disguised as a human being, your memories eradicated so you could not know your identity, and raised not to recognise your own kind – no angel should suffer the anguish of such disconnection. This experience with the darker side has changed you. It has made you a child no more.'

He sighs, a troubled, frustrated sound, as if the loss of my youth and innocence is somehow his fault. ‘Our enemy did everything possible to keep you from our sight, isolating you in a valley shielded by the walls of mountains, and even changing your name. But you grew into your strengths and became fearless in the face of a daunting enemy. One that exists no more and can hurt no one ever again.'

He looks up at the stands and announces, ‘Prince Luca is dead.'

He holds still while the cheers and whistles settle, then turns to me. ‘Close your eyes, Ebony.'

I do what he says, reminding myself to keep breathing.

‘Ebony, it is now time to put the pain of your past away and look ahead to a future that promises infinite pleasure.' And with my eyes still shut, his joy pulses into me. ‘Ebony, you please me greatly, and so I give you this gift.'

He lowers his hand to my head and his touch is electrifying. His long fingers fold down over my forehead, and his golden glow penetrates my closed lids.

Memories taken from me at birth begin to flash before my eyes. One after another, they roll in like a film. They're
soon moving faster, a blur of images sliding into sections of my brain, finding their chronological order. Millions of images flicker back and forth at lightning speed.

Eventually he lifts his hand but otherwise doesn't move. The room is dead silent, but my mind is far from calm. It's feverishly processing all the imagery and associated information from my past.

When it's finally over and my mind quietens its frantic pace, I take a deep breath and savour the moment to absorb what just happened, to analyse what his gift will mean to me. The difference it will make.

I open my eyes to find the entire one thousand angels on their knees around the platform and looking up at me with anticipation on their faces.

But I only have eyes for one of them, and right now he's watching me, and weeping. I slip down beside him, wipe his tears away with my fingers, cup his face in my hands, and tell him the nature of our High King's extraordinary gift. ‘My love, I remember
everything
. I even remember that my name is not Ebony.'

He clasps his hands over mine and brings them to his lips, where he kisses first one palm and then the other. He's trying to keep his emotions in check, but I can see how much this means to him. I
feel
it, and it makes me want to hold him and weep until I'm spent.

He looks up at our High King. ‘Thank you for this great gift, my lord.'

The High King smiles and invites everyone to stay for a banquet. ‘Today we celebrate the future,' he says, ‘and we honour the return of an upcoming queen, who shall from
this day forward hold the title “Princess of Hope”.'

Everyone claps and cheers. The atmosphere is so buoyant in the amphitheatre that some angels begin to sing, while others take a partner and dance. Tables are brought in with platters of food and wine.

Nathe, as I now remember I always called him, pulls me into his arms and covers my face in butterfly kisses, exactly as I recall he used to do each morning to wake me up. When his lips meet mine, his kiss is so tender I could cry.

But his sweet tender kisses drive me insane with longing, and when he lifts his head I slide my hand around his neck and bring his mouth back down to mine, ‘More,' I whisper. ‘I want more. Remember, I have my memories back.'

He tosses his head back and laughs, but then he kisses me in the way I remember. My head spins as desire flares through my body. Shifting his mouth to my ear he murmurs three words, that up until this moment I didn't know I've been waiting almost seventeen years to hear him say: ‘Welcome back, Ebrielle.'

41

Jordan

The first thing I do when I get home is take a shower. I peel my clothes off, leaving the pieces wherever they drop. They're rags now anyway. Maybe I'll have enough energy to throw them out tomorrow. Maybe after a long sleep I won't ache so much. Solomon held me so damn tight the whole way that I got bruises, and then bruises on my bruises.

I step under the hot jet, running my hand over the small scars Jez purposely left on my back, so that when time passes and it all seems like a dream, I'll have something to remind me that what happened was real.

Those scars will also remind me what my mother did for me.
As if I could ever forget that experience.
At least now I know the truth. She loved me all along.

I slide to the floor and let hot water hammer over my head and swirl down the drain. I don't move for ages. The heat soothes my thoughts as well as my aching muscles.

I should be ecstatic to know Ebony is out of Skade and safe for the rest of, well, eternity. And I'm happy for her. Of course I am. It's weird though. Part of me is thrilled, but the rest is … I don't know, in a crazy-sad place.

When I had Mum in my arms, all the old feelings from
when I was a kid came back, like her warmth, her smell, that sense of safety you get when your mum tells you everything is going to be all right.

I turn my face up to the hot spray. At least here, in the privacy of my room, in this clear glass cube, no one can see me cry.

42

Jordan

It's been a couple of days since they returned from Empyrean. I had just dropped Amber home after school and arrived back at the house. They walked in holding hands, Shae and Isaac right behind them. Somehow Ebony (as I still thought of her then) looked taller. It could have been the high-heeled boots and tight jeans that made her legs seem to go forever, or her long hair, redder than ever, tumbling to her waist, or the way she seemed at ease, comfortable in her own skin finally. I don't know. But even her eyes had changed. They'd become deeper, brighter violet, and her normally bronze skin, well, she glowed.

She was Ebrielle now. She had found herself.

And tonight we're celebrating her safe return.

By the time I throw on a pair of jeans and a white button-up shirt and head downstairs, the party's in full swing, with angels and Brothers taking up space in just about every downstairs room.

I step into the living room just as Amber arrives with her mum and dad. They've brought Ebony's parents with them, and when Ebony sees them walking in, she launches into her dad's arms, checking him out for injuries at the same
time. Satisfied that he's OK, she moves on, taking her mum's face in her hands. They nod seriously at each other, and then they laugh and cry. Their emotions fuel the room so that even the Holy Cross Brothers tear up.

Amber spots me watching from the opposite side of the room and waves. Next thing I know, she's making her way over. I catch myself looking for her through groups of angels and Brothers and pieces of furniture. Something stirs in my gut. An awareness. A sense of something exciting. A perception of maybe … pleasure? It happens every time I see her now.

And, according to Thane, I don't have to worry about Skinner hurting Amber any more. He won't be using her to make me do what his employer wants. Prince Luca is dead, giving Adam a second chance at a normal life, and he's promised Thane that a normal life is all he wants.

Amber arrives and smiles up at me. ‘Hey.'

‘Hey.'

‘It's so wonderful to have her back,' she says, ‘but I can't help wondering how long they'll be staying.'

I shrug. I don't know. I don't want to ask.

‘Well,' she says, ‘I'm just glad
you
got back in one piece. You'll be here with me now when …'

I lean towards her, bumping her shoulder with mine. ‘Feel like some fresh air?'

She nods. ‘Sure.'

We head to the back door, but there's a line to get into the kitchen. Uriel and Tash, with three of their five daughters, who like their parents apparently love to cook, are serving dinner off the bench.

Someone lays their hands on my shoulders from behind and starts kneading my muscles. Without looking, I can tell it's Ebony. I would know those fierce fingers anywhere. I glance up at her, taking her fingers into my hand, and she smiles at me. Not so long ago I would have read this as a sign that she wanted me in a romantic way. But I get it now. I finally understand how the Guardian bond heightens my emotions and my senses when we're in close proximity.

And even though she's talking to me, her eyes are wandering off, seeking him out.