Page 27

I woke up to warmth—a soft, steady warmth I hadn’t felt for a long time. For a moment, I didn’t know where the hell I was. My body ached, and my head felt heavy, yet everything around me seemed too quiet.

And then I felt someone stir against me.

I glanced down at Grace. Her body was curled into mine, her head resting against my chest while one of her legs draped over my thigh. My arm was still wrapped around her waist, holding her close like she belonged there.

It all hit me worse than the beating I had taken last night.

Fuck.

Panic flared in my chest, and I felt my entire body tense. I wasn’t sure how we’d ended up like this. Everything was still a blur of pain and exhaustion, but I knew it was wrong.

I jerked upright in bed, with Grace groaning softly as the movement woke her. She blinked, her eyes heavy with sleep as she slowly came to and looked up at me in confusion.

“What—” Her voice was soft, but I cut her off as I rushed to get out of bed, shaking my head.

“This... we shouldn’t have...” I muttered, running a dried, bloodied hand through my hair. “This was a mistake. You shouldn’t be in here.”

Grace blinked again, sitting up more fully now. “I shouldn’t be in here?” Her face twisted as her eyes hardened into something colder, angrier. The same way she looked at me often, except this time, it sounded as if I’d wounded her. “You asked me to stay with you! Here! In your bed.”

“I didn’t mean it!” I shot back, pacing across the room. My head was still foggy, trying to piece together the things after I’d—

“You were hurt.” She pushed herself out of the bed. “I was trying to help, and even through all that, you act like it’s my fault?”

“I never said that,” I growled, but the implication had already been set in stone. She thought it. She believed it. “Look, I shouldn’t have let you—”

“Let me?” she interrupted, her posture tense. “I chose to stay with you, Hunter, because you were hurt. Because you did something stupid by going out when there’s a ban up, all because you received a supposed letter from your brother.”

My jaw twitched, annoyed that she knew that now. Not even Brandon and Silas knew all the details. They understood not to get in the way, even when I could tell they were worried.

“You don’t get it,” I snapped.

“Yeah, you’ve said that before, and I think it’s bullshit.”

Surprise flashed across my face, seeing how she marched towards me with no sense of fear or timidity in her eyes.

“I’m not stupid, Hunter.” She stepped closer. “Unlike you, who went in search of someone straight away over the slightest bit of evidence. What if it was a trap? What if whatever happened to you last night didn’t just endanger the rest of the Ascendants?”

I clenched my fists because there was so much more to it all. So much that I couldn’t tell her—that I couldn’t tell anyone.

“Sometimes, I fear for this world,” she added after a long pause. “I fear for the next generation of angels—Ascendants like you being the ones guiding and protecting every bit of lifeform because right now, you’re behaving selfishly.”

I kept to myself, forcing my expression to be neutral even when I knew how much truth was in those words.

She shook her head bitterly at how I was deliberately shutting down in front of her. She stormed past me, slamming the door behind her as she left. The sound echoed through the room, leaving me standing there in silence as I stared at the bed.

I was still fuming after this morning’s argument with Hunter. Granted, I was horrible to him before I left his room, but I couldn’t help it. He angered me more than anyone, even when I knew and told him he would forget he’d ever asked me to stay with him.

My original plan had been to sneak out once he fell into a deep sleep, but that didn’t end up happening.

I’d grown so comfortable beside him that I didn’t want to leave.

Truthfully, I wanted to stay like that for a while longer, and it made me want to kick myself just to snap out of that idiotic thought.

My hands were balled into fists as I walked through Celestia, trying to shake off the irritation that clung onto me like a second skin.

As I turned the corner, I nearly collided with Joe and Nadael, who were already in deep conversation. I froze, trying to gather myself before they noticed—especially Joe. Nadael was the first to look up, her sharp eyes softening slightly as they landed on me.

“Grace,” Nadael said as she and Joe stopped in front of me. “How are you holding up?”

I forced a smile, though it felt weak. “Better,” I replied, trying to convince myself, but even my own mind wasn’t buying it. I cleared my throat. “Though I am wondering if I could return to classes as soon as possible – preferably now.”

Nadael nodded, glancing towards Joe as if she didn’t seem convinced. “Very well. I would imagine it’d be great to get back into a routine. Am I correct to assume so, Joe?”

I looked at Joe, who was watching me with the usual concern mixed with something else I could never quite read.

“Joseph?” Nadael repeated his name.

He blinked, shaking his head. “Apologies, Nadael. You’re right; I think Grace would hate to be cooped up in her dorm for another week.” He shot me a knowing smile. “Although I do still wish she would participate in the Healers Sector rather than the Warriors.”

I wanted to roll my eyes. “Joe, can I talk to you for a second... in private?”

He frowned for a second, then nodded. Nadael seemed to get the hint as she excused herself so she could go and find Eden.

When Joe and I stood in the empty hallway, I crossed my arms over my chest, hesitant about where to begin, but the words just ended up tumbling out of me: “Do you know how Veronica is doing? She hasn’t left her dorm since everything happened, has she?”

Joe sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, and by that, I already knew the answer to my question. “No. She won’t talk to anyone. She won’t even let a Healer anywhere near her to at least try and help.”

I looked down, guilt gnawing at me. I knew Veronica blamed me for Lucas’s death. She had her vision, and for whatever reason it may be, she only focused on me.

“And Lucas,” I started, swallowing the lump in my throat. ‘Why can’t he be... resurrected? I mean, you’re all angels, right? Surely there is a way around it.”

Joe’s face hardened. “There are rules, Grace. Strict ones. We can’t just—” He sighed.

“Look, there are consequences for that kind of interference. The Council wouldn’t allow it.

Besides, we’ve spoken about this before.

Life should never be tampered with, whether a soul is in heaven, purgatory or even hell. ”

I refused that answer, even when Joe first told me about it. “What about the Hollow?” I regretted saying the name out loud. I could see it in Joe’s eyes as they became a door open to fear and worries. He grabbed my arm and took me further down the hallway to another empty and even quieter corner.

His gaze searched up and down the hallway before settling back on me. “What have I told you about the Hollow, Grace?”

I was silent for a moment.

And then I whispered, “That it is forbidden to talk about.”

He nodded as if he was reprimanding me, just as he had when I turned nine years old and found out about it.

Nadael had come to visit us, and I spent the evening listening outside the kitchen door to how they spoke of this place .

A place that was deep within the confines of hell where every Celestial that died in any realm was sent.

I spent nights dreaming about what it could look like.

I couldn’t shake it out of my head, so I went searching.

In libraries, in anything that Joe might have had in his room.

It wasn’t until he caught me that he finally told me about the Hollow.

Every angel and demon were afraid of the Hollow.

And whenever I’d ask Joe why these Celestials couldn’t return to their homes, he would tell me that their deaths would disrupt the delicate balance between realms.

Perhaps that was where many Celestials ended up after the Grand War.

“Sorry for bringing it up,” I mumbled, and I fought to keep my disappointment from showing too much.

I had been clinging to some small, impossible hope, but no, life was cruel, even with the existence of Celestials.

“I should probably go catch up with the Warriors. I’ll talk to you when you’re. .. less busy.”

Joe reached out, grabbing my arm gently as his eyes softened in a way that stirred a sense of guilt in my chest. “Grace... I really do wish I could take you away from all of this. Give you the life you deserve away from here .”

I pulled my arm away, biting back my tongue on the fact that if he wanted that, then why did he take me in when he knew the Celestial world was beyond reach for me? But I also knew that I couldn’t see myself in a world where Joe never took care of me. It was all too conflicting.

“I know,” I said. “But this has been my life for a long while now, Joe.” I didn’t want to deal with any more well-meaning reassurances. “Maybe it would be better for me to accept the situation and deal with it, right?”

Without waiting for a reply, I turned and walked away with my heart racing and my mind spinning as I made my way out towards the training grounds.

The moment I stepped onto the field, I could feel the eyes of other Ascendants on me, their judgmental glances cutting through the brisk air.

Some whispered, others snickered. I didn’t need to hear what they were saying to know what it was already.

Azrael was standing at the pit, watching two trainees go up against each other with his usual calculated gaze.

When his eyes landed on me, they narrowed, and a wisp of disappointment passed over his face.

“Martin,” he said. “If you’re going to return to my classes, make sure you are early, not the latter. ”

I didn’t respond. I just held my chin up and walked past him, ignoring the looks I was getting from others, including Matias, as the murmurs grew louder as I passed.

Words like ‘trouble’ slipped through the cracks in the conversations around me, making it hurt more than I wanted to admit. It always did.

My eyes then swept over the training grounds until they landed on him—Hunter, standing across the field.

The moment our eyes locked, everything else melted away.

The argument from this morning, the Ascendant’s whispers and lingering stares—all of it disappeared.

What only lingered was the memory of last night, the comfort I found in his arms. It was a mess of emotions, tangled and raw, and everything I had tried to suppress crushed into me at once.

Neither of us moved. We just stood there with the weight of unspoken words stretching between us like a fragile thread ready to snap.

I tore my eyes away from his and made my way to the weapons rack.

My fingers grazed the weathered wood, the cool metal edges rough beneath my touch.

I tried to focus, to calm the whirlwind in my mind, but the sleek blades and polished handles meant nothing to me then.

All I wanted was for the chaos inside of my mind to be quiet.