Ruby Shadows (Born to Darkness #3)(131)

But I never got to finish the sentence. For at that moment, Eryn landed on a spot on the floor right in front of my feet. Then she began to grow and change so rapidly that if I would have blinked, I would have missed it.

One minute there was a postage-stamp sized moth with tiny, feathery wings sitting by my feet. The next, a girl with long, pale blond hair and frightened purple eyes was staring me in the face.

I recognized her at once—it was the girl I’d seen in the Mirror of the Eye and she was standing right in front of me.



Chapter Thirty-three

Gwendolyn





“Gwendolyn?” she asked, looking at me. “Oh, Gwendolyn, thank you! I thought I’d be a lily-moth forever.”

“Eryn?” I stared at her blankly. “Is that you?”

“It is.” She came forward and took me by the hands, looking earnestly into my face. “Ah—I knew I’d be able to touch you, even in my true form,” she said, smiling. “Your heart is pure, then.”

“If you say so.” I shook my head. “But I don’t understand. How…why…?” There were too many questions—I couldn’t get them all out so I just shook my head and decided to start from the top. “Who are you?” I asked.

“One who has been lost for a long time.” She made an expansive gesture with both hands and the feathery cape she wore around her shoulders rustled. I stared at it, my mind working on something I couldn’t yet name.

“Wait a minute—that’s no cape. Those are wings,” I exclaimed. “You…you’re an—”

“An angel.” She smiled at me. “I was dragged down from Heaven—trapped in a cruel snare set by the demons to take angels unawares. There is nothing they like so much as despoiling innocence.” She shivered. “When I found you at the Hotel Infernal, I had almost given up hope. But you were kind to me and let me ride on your shoulder. I tried to talk to you but most of the time you couldn’t hear me.”

The penny finally dropped, as Grams would say, and a shock of understanding burst through me.

“Wait a minute—an angel…one who’s been with me since I left the Hotel Infernal…” I jumped to my feet, pointing at her. “You’re the one—the thing that Druaga says I stole—the thing he wants back so badly.”

“You won’t give me back to him, will you?” Her huge purple eyes grew wide with fear. “Oh, please—you don’t know the horrible, sick things he wants to do to me!”

“I can imagine,” I said grimly, thinking of the disgusting boar-headed demon with his gleaming gold tusk and his oversized equipment.

“He wasn’t able to touch me before because only one with a purity and love in their heart can touch an angel,” she went on quickly. “He was working on a way, though—he’d almost found the solution when I finally managed to take my other form and escape. But then…I got stuck. I couldn’t leave my moth form no matter how hard I tried. If you hadn’t spoken that spell just now I might have remained that way forever.”

“You’ve been talking to me all along, haven’t you?” I asked, feeling stupid. “That was you in the Tunnel of Sighs. And that was why you got so excited over the Angel book in the library. Only I was too preoccupied with myself and Laish to pick up the clues.”

“I do not blame you,” she said gently. “I’m grateful you were willing to let me travel with you. And…” She bit her lip. “I am sorry about Lord Laish. I knew him in Heaven you know. Before…before the Fall. He was the most magnificent archangel—he burned with a pure, white light more brilliant than the sun.”

I thought of the being Laish had become—of his flaming eyes and hair and the vast, black wings. I thought of him telling me that he loved me and how I would never see him again…

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” the angel said anxiously. “I did not mean to make you cry! Of course, I should not have mentioned him—not while your grief is still so fresh.”

“No, no…it’s all right.” I wiped at my streaming eyes. “I just…miss him so much. Despite what he did right…right before he left. I…I guess I love him. Loved him, I mean.” I blotted my eyes on my t-shirt. “But it doesn’t mean I don’t want to talk about him—tell me more. Why did he leave? Heaven, I mean.”

“There were many reasons why a third of the Heavenly Host decided to defect to Lucifer’s side and make war against the Creator,” she said, frowning. “But if I remember correctly, Lord Laish left for love—or for the possibility of love, at least.”


“Love?” I raised an eyebrow. “The voice in the Tunnel of Sighs said it was pride.”

“Well that is the root of all sins—pride in thinking you are right in your views, no matter what,” she pointed out. “But it was love, I am certain. You see, we angels are not attracted to one another for the Creator made us to be sexless beings.”

“Really?” I eyed her skeptically. For an angel, she was no skinny minny. In fact, she had full curving breasts and hips that would have done a Plus-sized model proud back home. “No offense but you don’t look like you’d be sexless,” I said.