Rising Feather (The Forgotten Angel Book 3) by Merri Bright

Author:Merri Bright [Bright, Merri]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bright and Dark Publishing
Published: 2022-11-28T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 21

Gavriel

Hearing Rafe’s apology for leaving me to manage Sanctuary alone restored a part of me I hadn’t realized had been crushed.

Once I could speak, I answered his confession with my own. “When you were gone, I had no one I could confide in. At first, it wasn’t that hard. I might not have been the right Angelus for the task, but you did train me. You didn’t leave Sanctuary in the hands of a Novice.” We both glanced at Feather, and I was certain my face bore a matching expression of amusement and adoration. “Mikhail was busy; he always had a project. And I was trying so hard to make certain I didn’t forget anything. I studied all the time. I had to stop composing after only a few years. There just wasn’t time for that and the work. The meetings with the Guides, who were never satisfied with my decisions. The hunt for what was causing the growing imbalance in humankind.

“Then, things got much worse on Earth. I put aside my music entirely, at the Head Guide’s urging. It didn’t seem like a vital task to play and sing when the balance was swinging like a feather in the wind. By the time I realized how bad things had gotten, how much I was missing and messing up, Mikhail was already working on Arabella. I told him how overwhelmed I felt, but he assured me part of that was not having a soulmate. It would all get better when she was brought into our realm.

“It got worse, of course. She fell only an hour—not even that—after she was animated. And I descended into an Abyss of my own making. I felt hopeless, helpless. It was all I could do to keep my wings spread in flight. Not to throw myself into the gate, or let myself fall in a fight with a shadow creature.”

Rafe’s strange face contorted with pain and guilt. “That is my fault, Gavriel. I pridefully believed I could return far sooner. What could be stronger than the great Seraphiel? I had never encountered a force that could bring me down.”

“It was your own compassion that was the true reason for your fall,” I argued. “Feather told us, when you remade her and she returned, how you had taught her to take the burden of crimes onto herself. When I saw you here in Sanctuary, I knew immediately that the taint you bear is the same thing. You tried to take on all the imbalance of the entire void, didn’t you, Rafe?”

“Not the entire void,” he said reluctantly, an odd expression crossing his face. “Just the parts I thought I could save.”

Feather shifted in her sleep, murmuring something about pancakes and abs and rugby players.

Rafe smiled then. “That’s her eighth favorite fantasy—the rugby players at the all-you-can-eat diner. Honestly, I think the maple syrup would just make a mess, but try telling her that.” I felt a pang of envy, and a bitter laugh escaped. “What?” he asked.

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