Page 13 of Princess of Bael

“It didn’t impact me, no. I sank a blade into the Tracker while he and the Portal Dweller disappeared.”

“Silver?” Alastor asked.

“As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t acquire any toys from Evangeline, so no,” she replied.

Azrael bristled at the mention of his daughter.

But Mietek spoke before anyone else could. “The balance is at risk. Kristina must be found.”

An obvious statement, one I didn’t feel the need to echo.

Instead, I glanced at Dariel and Raziel, wondering if they could sense her location. Dariel was the Archangel of Concealment, and his twin brother, Raziel, was the Archangel of Secrets. They functioned as chameleons in this world, their features always shifting to fit the area around them. Right now, they were as dark as the night surrounding them.

“And the rest of the Divinity needs to be protected,” Azrael said, drawing my focus back to him.

“Which has been my job for over two thousand Earth years,” I pointed out.

It was a task that had been assigned to me when Heaven had first noticed the power shift—something I’d almost said to Kayla when she’d claimed to be here to warn me about the changes.Yes, I’m very aware of the issue, I’d nearly told her.It’s been my job for over two thousand years to monitor the situation.

The variance of power had always been a matter of time, and I’d prolonged the inevitable for as long as I could.

I met Mietek’s gaze. “That’s why you’ve been monitoring Earth so closely. You knew it was almost time.”

It was also why he’d sent his son, Xai, to Earth around the same time I’d been tasked to manage the Divinity.

We were all players on Mietek’s chessboard, meant to help control the fallout as much as we could.

Actually, no, that wasn’t quite right.

Mietek was merely the messenger.

His mate, Fate, was the orchestrator behind the scenes. As an oracle, she could see the future, which prompted her to create certain situations to steer our destinies onto the appropriate path.

“Yes, but I didn’t anticipate you losing a piece of the Divinity so easily,” Mietek returned, his disappointment evident. “Again.”

To be fair, the first time I’d “lost” a piece of the Divinity, it was because Bael had tricked Jo into coming to see him.

But this time, it was all on me for failing to observe my surroundings.

“He’s been weakened,” Azrael pointed out. “And casting blame will not solve the problem.”

“No, he’ll solve the problem by locating Kristina,” Mietek declared, his tone brooking no argument.

As I agreed with that plan, I merely nodded.

“And he’ll take Kayla with him,” Azrael added.

Now that I didn’t agree with.

But Kayla spoke first.

“Yeah, no, that’s not happening.” She held a hand out to Alastor again. “Blade. Now.”

“Hmm,” he hummed. “You know, as much as I hate to agree with the divine powers that be, they do have a bit of a point. The balance is wounded enough as is—we can’t afford to lose Kristina. Work with Ezra to find her, then we’ll talk. In the interim, I offer to guard Lucía.”

Blade?I thought, frowning. Then the rest of Alastor’s comments filtered through the haze of my mind, causing my frown to flatten into a straight line. “No, that’s not happening. You’re not equipped to guard Lucía.”

“And you are?” he asked, looking me over with a crude glance. “A Tracker just bested you with a venom bomb. Not to mention you falling for Kayla’s neat little sky trick.” He tsked, but I was too busy translating that last statement.