“Even the babies turn to dust,” she said under her breath. “Not very much. Just a dance in the air and they’re gone.”
Leo’s heart broke every time she talked about her past. “I thought Barak didn’t kill his children.”
“He didn’t, but others did. He had a rival who once raided the compound where Kostas and I were kept. His men killed most of the women and children there. Kostas and I stayed under the floorboards where one of our older brothers hid us. We were valuable.”
“But the others weren’t?”
“Not like us. There were children killed that day. Then I’m sure my older brothers retaliated. I’m sure some of them killed that Fallen’s children.” She stroked a hand through Leo’s hair. “It’s a very violent world. There is no softness in it.”
“You were in it.” He knit his fingers with hers.
“I had a brother who protected me,” Kyra said. “Kostas… he took the brunt of everything for me.”
Leo spoke past the tightness in his throat. “Then I owe him a debt I can never repay.”
“He won’t let you pay him back. He’ll tell you it was his duty to protect me.”
Leo paused. “Should we call him? Just to let him know you’re well?”
“I called Sirius on Sura’s phone. I don’t want Kostas to know where I am yet. He’d worry too much.” She laughed a little. “He treats me with kid gloves, but he’ll be happy for me. For us.”
“I hope so.”
“He will be,” Kyra said. “He always talked about my having a normal life. Especially after I met Ava and learned how to make the voices stop. He wanted that for me. To have a family. A home. A real home.”
“Is that what he wants for himself?”
“He doesn’t think he’ll live that long,” Kyra said. “And he doesn’t think he deserves it.”
“Love doesn’t work that way,” Leo said. “It’s a gift I hope he finds someday.”
Kyra leaned over and kissed his head a moment before Leo’s eyes shut. “I hope so too.”
“No.” She shook her head, her eyes closed. “I’m not getting any sign of Prija, but I can’t be certain. There are so many people. So many Grigori. Kareshta. It’s a huge compound, but I don’t feel anyone familiar.” A tear slipped from her eye.
“Kyra?” Leo put a hand on her shoulder. “Pull back.”
“There’s so much pain,” she whispered.
“Pull back!”
“They need to take them away from there. The children…”
She started to sob quietly, and Leo put both arms around her from behind. He embraced her hard and felt blood on his cheek. It was leaking from her right ear.
“Kyra, pull back.”
Her cries turned to moans and she began to shake. Leo raised his eyes to Sura in panic. He’d been able to pull Kyra out of her visions in the past, but she’d stretched so far, fallen so deeply, he could barely feel her. Her livah was stretched thin, nearly snapped away from her body.
Alyah strode over and put a hand on Kyra’s temple.
“Ya kazas!”
Kyra’s head fell to the side and she went limp.
“What did you do?” Leo yelled.
“She’ll be fine,” Alyah said. “I diverted her mind. The mental version of a hard, fast punch. She might feel sick when she wakes up, but she’ll be fine.”
Kyra began to retch, and Sura rushed over with a bucket. Her eyes were still closed and her body limp, but Leo held her hair back while she emptied her stomach of everything she’d eaten that morning. She didn’t wake through the episode, but when Leo laid her on their bed, her eyes flickered open.
“Leo?”
“Alyah pulled you back from the vision.”
“I felt trapped. There’s someone there… Grigori maybe. He sensed me. He knows I’m looking for someone. He tried to… hold me.”
“Was it the Fallen?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. It didn’t feel like…” She slipped away again.
Leo brought a chair over and sat by the bed, bucket and washcloth ready if she felt sick again. When he looked up, Vasu was sitting at the foot of the bed.
“Why are you here?” Leo asked.
Vasu was watching Kyra. “She was very… Dear isn’t the right word. Her father held her in high esteem, which was rare for him. He was very cynical.”
“Barak cared for her?”
“In his way.” Vasu shrugged. “As much as he cared for anything.”
“She’s not a thing.”
“She was to him.” Vasu looked at Leo. “He was not human, scribe. Don’t try to explain his reasoning as if he was.”
“You’re not human either.”
Vasu cocked his head. “They accused me of it sometimes.”
“Of being human? Who?” Leo had a hard time imagining anything less human than Vasu.
“Barak and Jaron. They didn’t understand why I wanted to stay.”
“Why did you?”
Vasu rolled his eyes. “Heaven is boring. We are created to serve Him. I don’t want to serve.”
“I don’t think you’re a very good angel, are you?”
“No, I’m a terrible angel.” He leaned over Kyra. “I wouldn’t find them so interesting if I were a good angel.”
“Angels love women.”
“Angels don’t love anything,” Vasu said. “Or hate anything. At least good angels don’t. We have no commitments. No attachments.” He turned his eyes toward Leo. “We hold nothing dear because nothing is worth more than serving the one who made us.”
“The Fallen don’t think so. They’re greedy for power.”
“Yes.” Vasu grinned. “But then we were all Fallen. Your precious Forgiven fathers too. They were only rewarded because they abandoned their children. That is your inheritance, scribe. You have your power, your knowledge, because your fathers valued you so little.”
“If they valued me that little, I prefer to have the knowledge.”
“Ha!” Vasu grinned. “You are wiser than you appear.”
His eyes turned back to Kyra. “Do not mistake my optimism for naïveté.”
“She does.”
“I know.” Leo knew Kyra thought he was ignorant of the realities of their world. He wasn’t. He knew they had a hard road ahead of them. He simply chose to view it with optimism instead of resignation. “It takes far more courage to hope than it does to despair.”
“And that is why I could not return,” Vasu murmured. “Humans. Irin. Kareshta. Grigori. You are all so very…”
“Curious?”
“Odd,” Vasu said. “You’re odd. But the best of you are unexpected. And that is what keeps me from returning.”
“I’m glad we can entertain you.”
“Good.” Vasu stretched out next to Kyra and played with a piece of her hair.
Leo had the urge to shove the Fallen off the bed, but he wasn’t hurting Kyra. The affection he was showing her almost seemed… brotherly. Fond.
“I like her,” Vasu said.
“I love her.”
“That’s very nice, but do you like her too?” Vasu’s tone was curious, not confrontational.
Talking with Vasu was like conversing with an alien. “Is liking more important than love?”
“I don’t know. Is it?”
Leo watched Vasu playing with Kyra’s hair. There was something intensely childlike about the angel.
“I like to talk with her and spend time with her,” Leo said. “She’s funny and tells good stories. She’s loyal to those she cares about and guards those who are weak. She understands sacrifice and strength. Maybe better than anyone I’ve ever met. So yes, I like her and I love her.”
“She’s not going to die, you know.”
“I know. Ginny gave her power and as soon as we’re able, I will perform the mating—”
“I kissed her,” Vasu said.
Leo pushed back the flare of anger. “What?”
“In her dream. She probably doesn’t remember it. I kissed her though. She’ll be fine. I gave her some of my power.”
“Why?”
“Why not?” Vasu said. “She’s Barak’s blood.”
And that, Leo began to understand, was a little like Barak himself. Vasu, the mighty Fallen, was lonely for his old friends. Their children were as close as he could get to having them in his realm of existence.
“Vasu,” Leo asked carefully, “what do you want?”
“I told you I like her.”
Leo didn’t know how to respond. On one hand, he was relieved. Kyra would be strong and healthy for years with an infusion of angelic power. It was how she’d survived so long without magic. On the other hand, he didn’t believe that Vasu wanted nothing from her. The Fallen weren’t altruistic. Of course, it was possible to manipulate them too.
“If you really care for Kyra, then you should give her brother some power.”
“Which one?” Vasu twisted Kyra’s hair around his finger. “She has many brothers.”
“Her twin. Kostas. If he was hurt, she would feel it.”
Vasu’s eyes narrowed on Leo. “Would you give him power?”