Page 13 of Wings of Valor (Silver City University #4)

P re-dawn light hasn’t broken above the horizon yet, leaving me bathed in darkness. In my rush to get out, I’d forgotten to grab the potion Mira mixed to hide my power signature. I suppose it might’ve been a waste anyway. I’m giving myself over to him. Hiding my power seems a little useless.

Still, I wish I’d brought them with me for after . A shudder runs through me, and I shake the thoughts away. I can’t let myself think about what happens after my parents are safe and I’m stuck with Auriel. If I do, I’ll go mad.

As I fly over the housing district and toward the desert-like wasteland where I’m supposed to meet Auriel, my mind races.

I think of my parents, constantly trying to reach them with the hopes that once I’m close enough, the connection will solidify.

I think of my men, wondering if they’ve noticed I’m missing yet and hating how I had to leave them.

I hate how I had to keep them in the dark, but it was a necessary evil. They would have stopped me.

Dawn approaches, lighting up the sky just enough to illuminate something up ahead that has my stomach falling. A sandstorm. It’s approaching quickly, blocking any view I might have had of what’s coming.

Shit. Mira and I didn’t even consider this a possibility. If I attempt to fly through that, I’ll be blind, and given the high likelihood that Auriel has his little demon buddies with him, I don’t need the additional disadvantage. I have to land, but where?

My gaze roams the area directly below me until I find a cluster of cacti and shrubs that will serve to hide me while I figure out my next move.

Dirt and sand shifts beneath my feet as I land, but this is no relaxing trip to the beach. This is my one chance to save my parents, to protect them the way they’ve always done for me. I hate what I have to give up, but for them I would do anything.

I eye the large shrub beside me that is miraculously thriving in the sunbaked land. The overthinker in me wonders if this is a sign. Will I become like this shrub, surviving despite the odds?

Pulling the blades Mira gave me from their sheath, I stare at them. They’re light in my palms, and even though the blades themselves aren’t very long, they’re sharp as fuck.

With a deep breath, I connect to the well of heated power inside me and push it through the blades. I push and push, not stopping until they glow an incandescent gold with hues of yellow and orange. The shine is almost too bright in the dim morning light.

I can’t stop the smile that spreads across my face.

If what little I imbued into the dagger with Zeke was enough to kill a demon, then the amount I just shoved into these should certainly do the trick.

Tucking them back into their sheath, I feel a little more confident and secure as I walk on toward the meeting place.

I only check my slate twice, just to make sure I haven’t gotten turned around in the vast emptiness—especially with my pre-planned markers hidden by the encroaching sandstorm—but I’m nearly there.

With each step, I tap into my mental connections, hoping to reach my parents.

They don’t respond.

I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear—worried. With this swap, they should be closer than ever. Maybe it wasn’t the distance after all. No. I can’t let myself consider any other options. I just can’t.

As the sun rises higher into the sky, the chill I barely noticed before melts away until my palms sweat and the little hairs that have escaped my braid stick to my skin. At least the heat inside of me has cooled off a bit since I imbued those blades.

I know I’m close when a sickly feeling washes over me. It coats me like oil—dark and thick, reminding me of the way it felt in the library when the cloaked figure, now known to be Archangel Auriel, came to take me.

But that wasn’t the first time we met. Only, he didn’t feel like this then. His mere presence wasn’t so weighted with wickedness.

How can his aura manifest in such different ways?

Whatever the reason, he’s here, and hopefully that means my parents are, too.

That thought has me trying—one more time—to reach them, and for a second, I’m almost positive I hear something , though I can’t make out any distinct words.

With one last big breath, I step around the dune I’d been hiding behind and find Auriel.

He has his staff, as expected. To his left stands three demons. A massively brutish looking one, a smaller yet still muscular one, and the scarred asshole that stabbed me. Great.

When I look to Auriel’s other side, I have to stop myself from shouting I knew it! as my eyes land on none other than Useless fucking Uriel. He grins at me. There’s this cocky tilt to his lips that makes me want to smack it off his face.

Motherfucking piece of shit.

My gaze continues past him, searching for the angels I came here for. My parents.

Auriel says nothing, watching me take everything in with a satisfied look on his stupid face.

When I don’t find my parents anywhere, unease blossoms beneath my ribs. “Where are my parents?”

“Nearby,” Auriel replies smoothly.

“Well, bring them out. I’m here, as instructed. Now it’s time to play your part.” Surprisingly, my voice doesn’t shake like I expect it to. I don’t sound weak at all.

I sound strong.

Confident.

Even though I don’t feel it. All I feel is his sickly presence and a fear that his promises were all lies to get me here. Maybe I’m just the foolish, naive girl who bought them.

Auriel grins wide, his perfect white teeth glinting in the desert sun. “There’s been a change of plans, my little seraph.”

And just like that, my stomach drops to my feet. “What do you mean? What changed?”

“I don’t think I want to give them up. And I don’t think you will either—once you know the new plan.”

For a second, I can’t find any words to give in response. Is he for real right now?

“I’m only here because you promised to free my parents. That is the plan. That was our deal.”

“Yes, well, I’ve changed my mind.” He holds out his hand to me. “Come with me as intended, and you can see your parents. They’ll stay with you—with me—until after the cleansing. Until the world is free of the impure.”

Questions bubble up in my mind … questions that I have no answers to. Why would he need me and my parents to stay with him? What could have possibly changed to have him acting like this?

I came here fully prepared to sacrifice myself to save my parents, but I’m not willing to allow them to stay caged while our sacrifice means nothing. They are meant to be free.

“And after? What then?” I almost don’t want to know the answer, but I need more time to figure out my next move. Mira and I never planned for this.

“Then we’ll enter a new era. A better era. One where only the unsullied and powerful reign supreme.”

He says the words with such confidence, like he truly believes all the bullshit.

His answer doesn’t reassure me. It’s not even an actual answer to my question. If the cleansing means what I think it means, I doubt he’d allow my parents and me any semblance of freedom. What was it he said? Ridding the world of the impure.

It’s not very hard to read between the lines there. He wants to erase the Fallen from existence—and that includes my parents.

Once again, the weight of his evil presence presses heavily against me. I shake my head, trying to clear the fog begging to settle. “No,” I say, not needing to think about it. “I want our original deal. Set my parents free, and you’ll have me for whatever your twisted plan is.”

Auriel only sighs. He glances at Uriel, who looks more than pleased at my refusal, then he looks over at the demons.

If I weren’t paying such close attention, I might have missed the almost imperceptible nod he gives them before he says, “I’m disappointed in you.

I thought we could be a team. You and I against the world, as friends at first, and eventually maybe more.

But I see now that you’ve spent far too long with the filth of Silver City.

It’s corrupted your mind. Tainted your soul. There can be no partnership for us.”

After that, everything happens so fast.

Auriel steps back as Uriel advances toward me with an angel blade grasped in one fist and a needle in the other. What the fuck is that?

This asshole has had an issue with me since the very beginning, and it looks like he’s finally getting the chance to act on his hatred of me.

But I won’t let this bastard win. I’ll do everything I can not to let him get the best of me.

My gaze darts to the black-and-red swirling orb in the handle of the blade he’s holding.

I hold my breath, legs trembling as I recall every ounce of pain and anguish I felt the last time that weapon was so close to me.

Except, I think just as Uriel reaches me, as painful as that blade was, this asshole can’t kill me.

I just have to make sure he doesn’t inject me with whatever the hell is in the syringe.

That thought is enough to bolster my confidence as I evade his first blow and land a solid hit to his kidney. I damn near stagger as I right myself, but I still landed the first blow.

Damn. That felt good.

A gasp escapes him. It’s almost like he can’t believe someone as weak and untrained as me would dare touch him. “You’ll pay for that, foolish child.” Then, he throws everything he has against me.

He uses his wings to make his blows more powerful, and although I do my best to block them, the force behind it is too much. On his next attack, I teleport barely out of reach—thank fuck for Mira’s training—but it’s not enough. His blade nicks my arm, and blood flows from the wound.

Fuck!

Every moment that passes gives Uriel a chance to study me. To learn my moves. And as much as I hate him, I can’t deny that I’m impressed with how easily he can switch styles of attack. I just wish he’d stop fucking slicing me open.

“You worthless little bitch,” he snarls as I evade him once more with teleportation.