Keeper of Crows (Keeper of Crows #1)(57)

“I’m not sure if you truly wanted to win, or if you just wanted to pick a fight with your own kind.”

He smiled. “I’ll never tell.” Bracing his hands on his hips, his wings snapped from his back, flexing to and fro. “Anyway, a deal is a deal. I’ll take you to Earth.”

“To the ground,” I clarified.

He chuckled. “I would have loved seeing you cry, Michael. As it turns out, you’re smarter than the other archs. I will see you safely to the ground.”

I knew what it meant for him. “Why are you doing this?”

Kushiel never answered; he just lifted me from the ground and raised us both into the sky. Within moments, we were plummeting toward the ground. I’d forgotten the feeling of freedom and was grateful for a momentary taste.

It was over as quickly as it began. He landed in a field of wheat, our feet crushing the crop around us. “Where are we?” I asked.

“Earth,” he answered with an enigmatic smile.

“Where on Earth?”

“Not my problem, archangel. Figure it out. If she’s worth it.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. Of all the angels, I wouldn’t have expected it. “You loved someone.”

His smile fell away. “I did. And I’m still being punished for it.”

It was clear then that we weren’t allowed second chances. I was meant to stay in Purgatory for an eternity, just as he was meant to punish his own when they stepped out of line. Fairness flew out the window as swiftly as a crow.

“Thank you,” I said.

He inclined his head and sprang up into the air, spiraling toward the heavens. I wondered what would happen to him now. The thought faded as I realized I was in the middle of nowhere. Making a trail through the wheat, I found my way to a paved, one-lane road. It seemed like the best option, so I followed it until the sun set in an inferno in front of me.

I couldn’t feel Gabriel. I couldn’t feel my crows or her. There was nothing. I was alone.

Somehow, I had to find my way back to Purgatory.



CARMEN

Gabriel was angry. He brooded day and night, training every hour of that time as if his archangel-ness was going to somehow increase. Dressed in the black chain mail, I watched him swing his sword in great arcs.

“Let me fight you, or spar with you, or whatever it’s called,” I said, pushing myself up off the wooden chair.

With a chuckle, Gabriel dismissed me with a firm, “No.”

“Yes.” I jogged down the hall to the room lined with row after row of gleaming metal swords and daggers, testing the weight of those I could reach. The broadswords were too heavy, but the thinner ones were in the Goldilocks zone: they were just right. I ran back to the training room, to the brooding archangel.

“I’m ready,” I challenged.

“No, you aren’t, and I’m not sparring with you.”

“Yes, you are. Stop being such a misogynist.”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he explained, easing the tip of his sword to the ground and leaning over it.

“Yes, you do. I piss you off. I’m not asking you to cut a limb off, but let me try to help.”

This was stupid. He probably thought I’d lost my mind. Maybe I had. A girl helping an archangel? What could I possibly do to make him better? Raising the sword over my head, I brought it down slowly, wincing when the metal slammed into his blade. I never even saw him move his arms to protect himself.

Fire blazed in his eyes. “Is that all you’ve got?”

Oh, hell no. I brought the sword up again, and this time, there was no wincing; just the glorious sound of surprise when Gabriel defended himself with metal and a grunt I knew he didn’t mean to let out.

I grinned in victory, right up until he raised his sword at me. Then, I nearly shit myself.

“Uh…”

He smirked. “You said you wanted to spar.”

Sparring, to Gabriel, meant pushing my body to its limits. My muscles were puddles of gelatinous goo when he finally stopped attacking me.

“I wasn’t attacking you,” he said, responding to my inner thoughts. “I was training you.”

“For what? Armageddon?”

“What if something happens and I’m called away, maybe given a new assignment? I’m unassigned right now, and it’s been the longest time between assignments I can recall. If I’m called away, you’ll be unprotected.”

“The crows will protect me.”

“I’m not sure I’d place my faith in them being able to beat Lucifer. He’s the oldest evil in the world. He has tricks up his sleeve even I can’t comprehend, and I’ve seen a lot of them over the millennia.”

I let that sink in. Gabriel might have to leave. He hadn’t been here long, just a couple of days, but if he left, I’d have to soften the veil and weaken the shield that so far, had held against Lucifer. If Gabriel was right and Lucifer was testing it and me for weaknesses, he would find one soon enough.

Gabriel was quiet. I knew he heard my thoughts, so I sent another to him.

Strengthen me again.

“I shouldn’t. I won’t always be here to bolster you.”

“But you’re here now, and I agree with you. I need to train.”

Gabriel’s sword gently slid between his wings, adhering magically.