The Underworld Library (Hellbrary Book 1) by Laura Bickle

Author:Laura Bickle [Bickle, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Syrenka Publishing LLC
Published: 2021-03-31T00:00:00+00:00

There were few quiet corners of the Heavens.

At first, Eremiel had thought that this was because the territory of the Heavens was small. And maybe it was, compared to Earth and the Underworld. But after millennia in the company of other angels, gods, enlightened souls, and elevated mortals, he had arrived at the conclusion that paradise was, for most, a banquet hall of singing and laughter and dancing.

Eremiel did not dance. It wasn’t that he couldn’t dance; he just hadn’t been moved to do so for several thousand years. Dancing was for those who could forget their troubles, and Eremiel was one who never let go of his long enough to be drawn into the dance.

Eremiel walked through a garden at the topmost branches of the World Tree, pruning flowering cherry blossom branches. Fallen petals at his feet released heady fragrance under his steps, and warm sun shone on his face. Most inhabitants of the Heavens found these areas to be boring, but Eremiel was content to maintain the gardens here. As content as an angel without wings could be, in any event. Here, he wasn’t subject to the sidelong glances and pitying whispers of the other angels. Here, he wasn’t expected to make merry with the freshly dead mortals. Even the King of Heaven, Orushun, had forgotten him in this faraway spot.

It was, from Eremiel’s perspective, an ideal place to be. Being out of Orushun’s sight and mind was best. The last time he’d attracted Orushun’s attention, the King of Heaven ripped his wings from his body. Eremiel had not forgotten that; he still felt as if phantom wings stretched from the scars on his back, and fractured small bones had calcified in lumps between his shoulder blades, where his wings were once affixed. They still ached.

And so did he. He missed the feeling of flying free, of being alone in the sky with the sun warming his back and the wind sluicing through his feathers. He missed the far sight of seeing the curve of the Earth below him, how tranquil it all seemed from a distance.

And he still missed serving Llythria. She had been Orushun’s favored daughter. She was everyone’s favorite, really, and Orushun had been right to step aside and bestow her with the title of Queen. If Eremiel had been honest with himself, he’d fallen more than a little bit in love with her. He would have died for her, and he almost did.

But Llythria had fallen for Caldrius. She’d always loved the night, and it thrilled her to sneak away to enjoy summer nights on Earth, to walk the meadows with the deer and listen to the owls. As her servant, Eremiel would lie about her whereabouts. It was on one of these adventures that she’d met Caldrius, who also gazed upon the stars for inspiration. Eremiel had continued to cover for her with Orushun, but Orushun had sent a spy to follow Llythria, a mouthy mockingbird that had spilled the tale.

And Orushun had been furious.

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