Fallen Academy: Year Four (Fallen Academy #4)(2)

Oh God. I couldn’t imagine how she managed to go through each day in that kind of pain, and still have a smile on her face most of the time.

“Can you fly?” Lincoln stepped closer. I knew the “fixer” in him wanted to aid her now, maybe even try to heal her.

She stiffened at his sudden movement. “With a handful of painkillers, yeah.”

Oh my God. An angel who couldn’t really fly? That was the most awful thing I’d ever heard.

Silence descended on our little group. Lincoln scuffed the toe of his shoe along the floor, as I brushed imaginary lint off my clothes.

“Done feeling sorry for me?” Emberly asked after a few moments, uncrossing her arms, and standing with one hip cocked out, a hand propped on it.

Unsure of what to say, we just nodded.

“Good, because I have a shitload of cool powers too, and my mom told me to never feel sorry for myself. There’s always someone worse off,” she stated sagely.

That girl was wise beyond her years, that was for sure.

“How should we begin?” I asked. Was she going to go inside my mind? She’d said something before about making me bark like a dog, but I sincerely hoped she was kidding.

As she stood there, the tattoos on her arms moved up and down, swirling in random patterns. They glowed as if they were actually made of light. “You want to learn to withstand mind control, right?” she queried.

I nodded.

Something flashed in her eyes, a purplish silver. It was only for a split second, but I’d definitely seen it.

“Kneel,” she commanded, and my knees suddenly gave out, forcing me to splay my hands out to catch myself from falling on my face. I went down on all fours, heart pounding. It felt exactly like what Lucifer did, but he never spoke; he would just think it and I’d be crossing the room toward him, against my will.

“Holy shit. Did you just force her to do that?” Lincoln walked a circle around Emberly, looking her up and down as if it would reveal some great secret.

The teenager nodded. “My dad says it’s like the cardinal rule of being an angel to never ever use it against a human, to never take their free will. So, I’ve only practiced it a few times with my best friend, Mel—when she was willing.”

Holy shit. A little fifteen-year-old with a major attitude just made me fall to my knees. And she made it look easy.

I was so screwed.

Standing, I grit my teeth. If I succumbed so easily to her, I couldn’t imagine what I could do for the Dark Prince when he asked me to open the gates of Heaven.

“Again,” I ordered, locking my knees. Step one of my plan to free Sera and Raksha was to learn to withstand the Dark Prince’s power over me. I had to do this.

That flash of purple in her eyes was back. “Kneel.”

My legs buckled and I went down with a groan. Beating the ground with a fist, I stood quickly.

“Again!”

We tried it twenty more times before Lincoln intervened. “Try using your powers. Bring forth your Raphael healing power and… I don’t know, try to push the command away.”

That didn’t really make sense, but I knew what he was trying to say. Just locking my knees and physically trying to withstand it obviously wasn’t going to work, so it was about time I relied on another tactic.

Lincoln turned to Emberly, who looked bored out of her mind. “And can you do something different, so she isn’t anticipating it? Can you make her do things without speaking out loud?”

The teenager squirmed a little under Lincoln’s direction. “I can try.”

Great. Something was about to happen, and I didn’t know what. Thanks, hubby.

I called forth my light magic and let it rest in my palms, unsure what to do with it, when her eyes flashed purple again. Out of nowhere, my right palm opened and smacked me in the forehead, splashing my face with light magic, which tickled.

Oof.

Emberly giggled a little, and I cut her with a glare.

“Again.”

I wouldn’t give up, no matter what. It wasn’t in me to quit. Sera would never give up on me, and I owed her the same courtesy.





Two





Being married was cool, but Lincoln had some serious PTSD about my kidnapping. It had been a month now since our wedding, and he would not leave my side. I was surprised he even let me go to the bathroom alone. Classes, Emberly’s training, girl time with Shea, time with my mom? He. Was. There. If I thought it was just because he wanted to hang out with me, I wouldn’t mind, but I knew it was because he was afraid of me being taken again.

Today was his first day back at work. He was going out into the war zones for a night shift, and Shea was staying over at the trailer with me. Blake and Darren had been assigned to help command the army outside the walls, and were frequently away from campus, doing night shifts in the war zone. Tonight, Lincoln would meet up with them, to help with the effort.

“Maybe I should ask for more time off.” He paced our trailer, raking his hands through his hair.

“Babe.” I never used pet names with him, but I would if it would get his attention and make him stop for a moment. “I’ll be fine, I promise.”

It wasn’t like Lincoln could do much if Lucifer showed up here. Lucy felt all powerful at times, and I wasn’t sure Lincoln could take him down like he thought he could.