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My breath hitched, my chest constricting. Such love. There was such love in his voice, his words, the way he looked at me. Deeper than was possible from one week spent together. The kind of love grown over time, built on intimate knowledge of living together, of sharing a life, a home.
Home.
He was home.
And I’d forgotten him.
No. My memories had been stolen, torn from my consciousness and stuffed into a vault deep inside me, with only bits and pieces leaking out over time. My awareness turned inward as I tried to locate the place where my dreams and that sense of knowing originated from. I followed that thread of vague recollections, only to run into what felt like a wall.
“I can’t get through,” I muttered, my eyes unfocused. “I know it’s there, but I can’t get through the wall.”
The more I tried to claw at it, the heavier my headache became, until every beat of my heart made me wince with pain.
“Zoe…”
I looked at him through tears clouding my eyes, from the migraine, from the sorrow of knowing I held all the knowledge of our past yet couldn’t access it. “I want to remember you.”
“You will.” Steely assurance filled his voice. “We’ll work on it. I’ll help y?—”
He broke off, whipping his head to the side, acutely focused on the opening to the cave.
Through the haze of pain, I heard the flapping of wings only a second before their energy filled the room. It all happened so fast. Power arced in the air, hitting Aziel in a targeted blast. His back bowed and he screamed, the movement causing my blade to slide precariously close to his heart.
My cry of alarm, of shock, got stuck in my throat, fear paralyzing my limbs as half a dozen angels streamed into the cave, swords drawn and wings crackling with lightning.
Two figures stepped closer, their blades gleaming as they laid them against Aziel’s throat. He was trembling with what looked like aftershocks of a seizure caused by the blow of power he’d taken.
“Fiend,” the male angel said with a sneer at Aziel, and my heartbeat stumbled when I recognized him as Dahariel, the seraph directly superior to Derdekea, one rank underneath Raphael, our archangel. “Trespasser,” he hissed, his blue eyes sparking, the sunset colors painting his fair skin in warm hues. “Your foul energy has tainted this realm.”
“Chaya.”
I jolted at my name—that didn’t quite feel like my name anymore—my eyes darting to the other angel beside Dahariel, her sword aimed at Aziel’s throat as well. I blinked at Derdekea, who regarded me with something like pride on her face. Her silver-blond hair braided tightly to her head, she nodded at me, a smile adorning her face of deep brown.
“Well done,” she said. “Very impressive. To have subdued this demon all on your own, holding him here at sword-point. And to think, I’d written you off as not having a talent for warfare. I’ll have to revise my evaluation of you.”
“Wha—” I croaked, not even getting a whole word out, my throat too dry, my chest too tight. Pain pounded in my head, lancing through my heart.
“You can lower your sword now, soldier.” Derdekea gently laid her hand on mine, which was still holding the fucking blade with its tip sliced into Aziel’s skin. “We’ll take it from here.”
No.
No, this couldn’t be happening.
This wasn’t real.
They couldn’t take him.
They couldn’t drag him away now that I’d only just found him.
The headache ripping into me with serrated blades, my eyes met Aziel’s, his face twisted with pain from whatever magical hold Dahariel seemed to have on him.
But wasn’t Aziel a seraph, too? He was so powerful. I’d felt his strength, the impact of his magic. He was stronger than Dahariel. I wouldn’t stand a chance going up against just one of these angels—let alone six—but Aziel should be able to blast them all to fucking Hell if he so wished.
But he wasn’t fighting. He didn’t raise his power, didn’t burn them with his fire like I knew he could.
I caught his gaze just as Derdekea made me remove my sword from his chest, my eyes pleading with him as I still struggled to speak, my parched throat not making a sound. Why aren’t you fighting?
And then I saw the answer on his face as he looked at me with a heartbreaking combination of stubborn protectiveness and resignation and gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head.
