Page 31 of Wings of Valor (Silver City University #4)

I t’s been a week since the rescue, and yet it feels like an entire year has passed.

My parents are safe, thank fuck, but Zeke …

he hasn’t woken up yet. The healers tell me this is normal—encouraged, even, with their medicine.

I guess losing one’s wing does far more to the body than I realized, and with me reattaching it, things are even further out of our control.

The healers say what I’ve done is unheard of, so their estimates of when he’ll wake up are just that: guesses.

Still, I don’t regret what I did. I just hate waiting. All I want is five minutes. Five minutes! To tell him he’s safe. That I love him and we’ll be here whenever he wakes up. Is that too much to ask?

Apparently it is.

If that wasn’t bad enough, we finally found out why Castiel was acting so strangely.

Turns out, I’ve been expelled from Silver City University—effective immediately.

He kept it to himself all this time because he didn’t want to add more to my plate.

To be honest, I wasn’t all that surprised.

I’d already failed Wingology class and knew there were secret, important meetings being discussed about me.

The news might have shocked me once, but not now. And with everything else on the horizon, I can’t find it in me to care.

“Hayles, wait up!” Dina calls from behind me.

She was waiting for us at the sanctuary when we got back from our mission.

I guess her dad has let up on her now that I’ve been MIA, so she doesn’t have to fly home every day.

Instead of waiting around and attending class like nothing was going on, she grabbed a few things and came here as fast as she could.

Gagiel and the others stopped her in the hall to check up on me, so at least I know not everyone hates me on campus. Though I’m sure Seraphina and Cadriel are thrilled to have me gone.

“Hey,” I say back, though it’s lackluster. A lot of the things I do lately are.

“Where are you off to?” she asks, falling in step with me.

“To check on my parents. I’m still not sure they’ll ever be the same after …”

“They’ll get there. We all will. Mind if I join?”

What she doesn’t realize is that I don’t know if I’ll get there, especially not while Auriel and the demons exist. “Not at all. They’d love to see you.”

My parents finally know the truth about what I am.

As soon as we knew Zeke was in the hands of the healers, they’d hounded me for details about the strange power I used on the cells.

They’d already figured out it had to do with my change in wing color, but to say the truth shocked them is an understatement.

Just like it’s always been, my differences don’t faze them. They love me as much as they always have, and I know—in the very marrow of my bones—that will never change.

We finally stop in front of the room Remiel gave my parents. It’s farther away than I’d like, but that can’t be helped, or so I’m told. The door opens before I even have to knock. Dad stands on the other side while Mom is setting some food down on the coffee table.

“Come in, come in,” Dad says. “Good to see you, Dina. Mari, we’ll need another plate.”

Mom puts another plate down and rushes over to us. “My two favorite girls!”

My nose burns, warning me of oncoming tears, but I fight them back.

This all feels way too familiar. This place may not be our home, but everything about this visit is like before.

Mom has been busying herself in the kitchen while Dad explores and waits to try whatever she puts in front of him.

Now the four of us are hanging out like everything since my attending Silver City University never happened.

Damn. Maybe my parents are tougher than I ever gave them credit for.

We barely shut the door when a knock sounds.

“Expecting someone else?” I ask as a tingle of worry creeps down my spine.

“No.”

Finding my well of power, I reach for the handle and open the door, ready to blast anyone who means us harm.

Remiel is on the other side, standing a few steps back from the door like he knew I’d be wary. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but your presence is requested in the council room.”

I get the sneaking suspicion that requested isn’t the right word. That would imply I have a choice.

“Of course. Just let me say goodbye—”

“No need. They’re welcome, too. Come, or we’ll be late.”

Great. This is just how I wanted to spend my afternoon. I glance once more at the food Mom prepared for us and sigh. So much for comfort food.

We follow Remiel to the council chamber and find a heated debate about why the Fallen would ever agree to work with Auriel and his demons.

Most of the council is made up of Pure angels, aside from a few Fallen—like Azrael—who I can’t help but notice are getting the side-eye from everyone.

Overall, this is the wrong crowd to understand what Fallen deal with on a regular basis.

Remiel makes his way to his seat next to the other Archangels, and the room falls silent.

“Ah, Hayliel. I’m so glad to see your parents settling in after their ordeal,” Mikhael says, smiling warmly. “Thank you for coming. We were hoping you’d lend us your insight into a matter we can’t quite seem to figure out.”

“Of course. What do you need?” I’m still not pleased with the way things went down during our rescue mission, but it seems even they were played.

The demand to drop the bombs and then leave never came from the Archangels or the distraction team.

It was a rogue angel who infiltrated their way into our communications, hoping to take us out or make us angry enough at the Archangels that we’d go ballistic.

“Why do you think the Fallen would work with the enemy?”

I glance at my parents, noticing Mom has her hand raised. Cute.

“May we speak freely?”

Mikhael bows his head. “Please.”

“Fallen have been mistreated for a very long time.” The council room grows loud with aggravated grunts, but Mikkael only has to raise a hand to silence them, allowing Mom to continue.

“We’re given the worst jobs and paid poorly to do them.

There are areas we cannot enter because of our wings and housing areas we cannot live in, even if we could afford it.

Even now, we’re sequestered to the Fallen district, a place more filthy than any other area in Silver City.

While I don’t agree with the Fallen who sided with Auriel, I can understand what they’re trying to achieve. ”

The room is silent when she finishes. Put like that, I don’t see how anyone could argue, let alone the Pures, who have never had to deal with those inequalities.

“My wife is right,” Dad adds, grabbing her hand in solidarity.

“I doubt the Fallen would have agreed to work with Auriel, or even the demons, if they knew what he was really planning. They wanted freedom and equality, but all they’re doing is helping rid the world of their own population faster than before. ”

“What do you mean, ‘if they knew what they were really planning’?” a woman with short curly hair and a pointy nose asks.

“From what we overheard in captivity, it sounds like their goal is to remove all traces of Fallen from the city. It’s why they’ve built a bomb filled with broken angel blades and hope to drop them on the Fallen district.”

If this information didn’t come from my parents, I might not believe it, but these council members don’t have the luxury of knowing my parents enough to trust their word.

My stomach knots just thinking about the offer Auriel made me.

Of helping him with the promise of protecting my parents when what he wanted all along was their kind wiped out.

“What we have to do now is work together. Not just against Auriel, but in the future, too. We need to win this war and continue to improve the lives of all our citizens, not just the Pure.”

One of the council members groans and slams his fist down on the table. “No one is treated poorly. Has it maybe gotten a little out of hand? Sure, I can admit that, but to say that Fallen and Pure aren’t equals is a load of shit. A look through history will prove it.”

It’s Darok. The piece of shit that came with us on our rescue mission. I’m immediately reminded of how much I hate him. How dare he sit there and carry on with this nonsense after what my parents and I just shared? As if he’s known a day of hardship in his fucking life.

“Your privilege is showing, Darok. I agree with what Hayliel and her parents are saying,” Azrael says, standing from his seat at the table.

“We see it at the guild where only Fallen may work. But we have just as many Pure citizens, if not more, and I know several who would love the opportunity to fight for our city themselves. Fallen lives are not worth less than Pure, and I think it’s time we changed the narrative so this becomes more widely understood by all. ”

I smile at him, glad to have him on this side of things.

Mikkael claps his hands once, drawing all eyes toward him.

“It would appear we have some work to do. Camael, Maribella, would you two be willing to help us speak with other Fallen? We’d like to compile a list of all grievances and ideas on how we can improve things.

If we can change their minds, maybe they’ll give up on their plans with Auriel and those beasts.

You have our word that, once we deal with him, we’ll work on making things right in the city again. For every member of the community.”

For a second, all I can do is stare at Mikhael.

Did he truly just offer that? Alone, he likely wouldn’t get anywhere.

They need Fallen angels to reach other Fallen, and who better than my parents?

The eternal optimists who have dealt with their fair share of bullshit.

Personally, I love the idea, but I’m not sure what they’ll think.

Mom and Dad are having a quiet conversation, but the moment their eyes find mine, I know their answer. They’re going to do it.

“We will help, as long as your offer remains genuine,” Dad says, gripping Mom’s hand.

“Then it’s settled—” Mikhael begins to say amidst another round of grumbling from a few council members, but before he can go on, someone knocks on the door. The messenger enters, but instead of heading to the Archangels like I expect, he comes to me.

“Sorry to intrude, but you asked to be told if there was any change with Zeke.”

I suck in a breath, scared at what he might say next.

“He’s awake.”