“Way to go, Idess.” Reaver’s rumbling voice came from behind her. He was propped against a pillar, arms and ankles casually crossed. “Thought I’d pop by to watch you get your wings.”
“Wings?” Her voice was barely audible, even to her ears. So many feelings mixed together… joy, ecstasy… and panic. She’d wanted this for two thousand years. Had spent entire days dreaming about it. Imagining this very moment.
She’d give it all up in a heartbeat if she could go back to Earth.
“Wings,” the blond male Memitim said. “You will be assigned new duties, for Ascended Memitim are not guardians. We are judges.”
Rami had once told her that guardian angels abandoned evil humans, leaving Memitim to judge them in death. Great. Fine. But she no longer wanted that job.
“But… is there to be no punishment for betraying Rami in the first place? If not for me, he wouldn’t have Fallen.”
The blond male snorted. “He failed his test. We never should have allowed him in.”
Stunned, Idess gaped at the angels. “He didn’t fail. He didn’t sleep with the woman.”
“He did,” the male said. “Why do you think he ran from the summons light for so long?”
“To be with me…” She trailed off, feeling like a fool under the Memitim’s looks of pity. He’d lied.
“He came to us with a stain on his soul.” The auburn female glared at the blond male, and Idess knew he’d played a role in this somehow. “Rami begged us to stay, rather than return to Earth, and because he’d failed his test out of love, we gave him another chance. But his own guilt is what blackened his soul. When he found out what you’d done, it simply accelerated what was fated to be anyway.”
All those years, Idess had punished herself… and for nothing.
“Come forward,” the auburn-haired female continued. “You have earned your reward.”
Idess froze to the floor, which might as well be ice instead of marble. “I can’t.”
The blond male moved toward her. “You cannot be refusing to Ascend.”
“I want to stay on Earth.”
“You want to be with Lore,” Reaver said.
She didn’t deny it. “Please. I know I’ll be human. Mortal. But I love him.”
“If you’re mortal,” Reaver said gravely, “his gift could kill you. You know that, right?”
“I’m willing to take that chance.”
“What if Lore isn’t willing to chance it?”
She shrugged. “I won’t know until I get there.”
“Be sure about this,” the black-haired female said. “What is done cannot be undone.”
“That’s not entirely true,” Reaver blurted. “You know, the done-undone thing. I’m proof of that.”
The carrot-topped male who had been silent shot Reaver an annoyed look. “Stay out of this, battle angel. Don’t you have demons to smite?”
“Totally. There’s an exorcism planned in Melbourne today. But I have an hour to kill, and this is way cooler than X-Box.”
“You make me very glad I Ascended before the age of electronics and ridiculous slang,” the blond male said.
“I’m sure your age of Black Death and witch-burnings was much more fun,” Reaver said dryly.
The auburn female held up her hand. “Enough.” She approached Idess, her expression concerned. “You are certain?”
“Yes,” she breathed, “oh, yes.”
“You cannot remain as Memitim, but your service has earned you more than a mortal existence. If your reason to stay on Earth is to be with Lore, then we will bond you to him so that his power will not kill you, you can travel via Harrowgates with him, and your lifespan will be his. As a half-breed, he has centuries of life ahead of him. When he dies, so shall you, and assuming that you don’t fall prey to evil, you will both be granted entrance into Heaven.”
Heaven? “So… his soul is human.” Idess could hardly breathe at that news. They would be together. Forever. “Do it,” she said. “Make it happen.”
“There is a price. A duty, if you will.”
“Anything. Just hurry!”
“So be it.” The female waved her hand, and instantly, the link to Lore was back.
With a vengeance.
Idess’s knees buckled. Reaver caught her before her knees struck the floor. Darkness and rage slammed into her brain, as well as misery and sorrow.
“Lore,” she gasped. Automatically, she brushed her finger over her wrist, but his heraldi was gone.
“You are no longer Memitim, and he is no longer Primori,” the female said.