Marklew and Shaw stood in the doorway of the cathedral, directing people as they entered. Behind them, research mages were leafing through papers and frantically scribbling notes, gathering ingredients, and casting preparatory spells. The whole scale of the ritual felt far grander than what they had tried before.
“Through there,” Marklew said, pointing her through a doorway at the near end of the cathedral. “You will be proceeding in at the start of the ritual. It represents—well, never mind what it represents. Shaw can lead the way.”
Through the doorway, Ines found herself in a chapel cooler and quieter than the rest of the church. She passed what looked like a dining table made from a single slab of black stone. She brushed her fingers across the old, cold rock, realizing as she did so that it must be the tomb of someone important.
“His name was Bede.” Rumiel stood in the center of the room, wings spread behind him, still looking as majestic as the day they had met. “A scholar who died centuries before you were born.” He looked at the tomb and smiled. “He was a fine man. I liked the way he laughed.”
Ines found her whole attention drawn to Rumiel. The chapel was beautiful and tranquil, but without other people to distract her, she found the angel drew all of her attention.
She remembered the moments of intimacy they had shared. Fond looks, held gazes, kisses as sudden and powerful as lightning from a clear sky. His words swirled through her mind. Kind things he had said, and cruel ones when he sided with Michael. Those last words about Bede, a reminder of how different their lives were in every way. He might look like a teenager, but he was older than this building. For the next year, Ines would still be a child in the eyes of the law, while he had lived since before that law was written.
Rumiel was beautiful, strong, and good. He had the face and the body of a model. He was so perfect that it felt unreal.
“There is something we must discuss,” he said, stepping around the tomb to stand beside her.
“I suppose,” she said, hoping that it was about the ritual. Important as her feelings for him were, she squirmed at the thought of talking about them.
“This business is nearing its end,” Rumiel said. “As you so wisely said, if we do not succeed soon, then it will be too late. It is possible that neither of us will live to see another night.”
Reluctantly, Ines nodded her agreement.
“Should we fall, then what I say now matters not,” Rumiel continued. “It is but memory, more dust in a shattered world.
“But should we succeed, I need to choose a path. Without Michael, the Blazing Host are lost. I could lead them, return to our place in Heaven and continue God’s great works, doing so more kindly than in the past. There is a place for me in reshaping the forces of Heaven, should I wish it.
“Or I could remain here, with you. Make a life in this world, as part of the new order that will rise from all we have been through. An order you will play some part in shaping, I am sure, Ines Salgado. But I would only choose this path to be with you. I can only choose it if you wish to be with me.”
He took her hand in both of his.
“Which will it be?” he asked, staring deep into her eyes.
“I can’t decide your future for you,” she said, her whole body trembling.
“Then choose your own,” he said. “You know the choice of which I speak. Which of us will it be?”
Ines’s head was a whirl of conflicting desires, a spinning, tangled mass that blocked out all rational thought. Panic made her clench, tightening her grip on Rumiel’s hand.
“I’ve never...” she began but couldn’t complete the sentence. “I don’t know how to...”
Footsteps made her turn. Shaw walked into the chapel, supported by Damon.
“We’re joining you for this procession,” Damon said. “We’re supposed to...”
His words trailed off as he looked at them, seeing her hand in Rumiel’s. His face went stiff, and his right hand tightened around his pocket watch, knuckles whitening at the pressure of his grip.
“I see,” he said coldly.
He started to turn away, but Shaw gripped his arm, holding him in place.
“Ines,” she said, “you don’t have to say anything, but if you want to, then you can. It’s okay to ask for what you want. That’s part of what love’s about.”
The words gave Ines courage. It wasn’t just their meaning. It was knowing that, no matter what, Shaw was there to help her. She could lean on someone else to see her through.
Taking a deep breath, she turned to look at Rumiel.
“You’re amazing,” she said to him. “You’re like no one else I’ve ever met. So strong, so fierce, so determined. And this...” She waved a hand up and down, gesturing at his whole body. “And this...” She laid the palm of her hand against his cheek. “Just to think that you would look at me in the way you have, would think about me in the way you have, that’s something that will always make me feel better about myself. I’ve been loved by a hero of legend, and no one can ever take that away from me.
“But I don’t want to spend my life with a hero from legend. I can’t feel close to that. Your whole life is so different, so distant from mine, I would never feel like we really shared our hearts. I want you as a friend and as a champion. But I love Damon. And if, after all this, he’ll still have me, I want to be with him.”
Rumiel nodded solemnly.
“So be it.” He leaned forwards and kissed her on the forehead. “I will always be there for you, Ines Salgado, as a friend and as a champion. I too have been made better by what has passed between us, and I will be forever grateful for that.”
He swept her into his arms, and they hugged each other tightly. As they separated, Ines took a deep breath and turned to look at the others. Damon looked bewildered, while Shaw was stifling a smile.
A bell tolled out a single deep note.
“It’s time,” Shaw said.
With her in the lead, they walked out of Bede’s chapel and into the main chamber of the cathedral. The whole place was packed. Mages, soldiers, and wingless demons filled every available standing space. Angels and dark-winged creatures hovered above them, the beating of their wings the only sound.
Then chanting emerged from the far end of the cathedral, quiet at first but rising in volume. Glowing magical energy spilt out from there, pouring from Cuthbert’s shrine.
Weaving their hands through the air, the mages, demons, and angels pulled down strands of that power, combining it with their own. Ines did not understand the details of what they were doing, but she could follow the big picture. Wherever a soldier stood—an ordinary man or woman without any touch of the arcane—the others passed strands of magic to them. The soldiers stared in amazement but kept their calm as they twisted the strands together. In their hands, the different magics were bound—currents of black, white, and sparkling grey turning to rainbows of dazzling color as they flowed together.
By now, Ines had progressed to the center of the cathedral. There, the rainbow strands of magic were passed to her. She could feel the power thrumming through her, and she gasped as her whole body tingled and glowed.
“No!” A bright figure came soaring in through a broken window. The archangel Michael drew his sword as he hovered above Ines’s head. “This shall not pass,” he said, slashing at the strands of magic around him. They split and fell, their power lost. “To me, Blazing Host! Find your strength, and set this world to right!”
The magic still flowed through Ines, but something in it was changed. It felt weaker, less focused. If this continued, then everything could be lost.
The angels flew forward, forming a circle around Michael. Ines watched with tears in her eyes. They had come so close, and now...
Rumiel rose in majesty, his glow illuminating the carved stones of the cathedral and the faces of the people gathered there.
“No more,” he said sadly. “Brother Michael, you know only violence, and you bring only ruin. It is not for you to set the world to right when you have done so much wrong.”
“Traitor!” Michael snarled. “Blasphemer. Seize him, my host. Let Rumiel be cast down into the darkness where he belongs.”
The angels closed in, but it was not Rumiel that they laid their hands on. It was Michael.
“No!” he bellowed, struggling against them.
“Him, not me!” he screamed as Helda tore the sword from his hands.
“You will ruin everything!” he cried out as they dragged him to the ground, binding his arms, wings, and legs with glowing chains, silencing him with a gag torn from another angel’s robes.
Then they returned to the spell.
In wonder, Ines felt the power surge through her once more, rich and unstoppable. Its strands came together and then separated, spreading out to become a net and then a sheet, something that was both within and above the world around her. She felt it spread out through the rest of Durham and was aware of each building and person it touched. Then she felt it sweep on, across Britain, across Europe, across the world. The whole of the Earth seemed to sit inside her soul at once. She was everything, and everything was her.
It was wonderful.
And then it was over. She opened her eyes and found herself standing in a cathedral in which hundreds of people were smiling at each other.
“You did it!” Marklew rushed up and hugged her until she felt she might disappear into his vast bulk. “You wonderful, brilliant girl, you did it!”
Other people slapped her back, shook her hand, wrapped their arms around her. There was cheering and laughter all around. Even the soldiers, who only half understood what had happened, were grinning and staring in amazement at their own hands, hands that moments before had been weaving magic.
Ines’s mother came over and hugged her.
“You were right,” Julie Salgado said. “I am so proud.”
“Thanks, Mum,” Ines said.
A strange realization came over her. She still loved her mother, and she was still pleased to have her approval, but that approval wasn’t everything in the world, as it once had been. She wasn’t a little girl anymore.
Together, they walked out of the cathedral along with the rest. Palace Green was filled with excited chatter. Someone had found a guitar and was starting to sing a celebratory song.
The angels gathered in the center of the green, Michael held by two of them. Rumiel waved, and Ines went over to join them. She was surprised to see that he had been talking with Damon, the two boys smiling.
“It is time for us to go,” Rumiel said. “This new Barrier of Mercy will not let those of the other realms remain on Earth except by human invitation. As it grows in strength, it will cast us out.”
“We could invite you to stay,” Damon said. “If you want.”
Rumiel shook his head.
“We have work to do,” he said. “Like you, we have to rebuild, to find a new way of being after all that has passed. Farewell, Damon Lorus.” He shook Damon’s hand. “Farewell, Ines Salgado.” He hugged her briefly one last time. “God smile upon you all.”
He rose from the ground, flying slowly at first up into the night sky. With a great beating of wings, the other angels followed him, rising towards the heavens. Their bright bodies shone against the darkness, moving faster and faster as they went, becoming distant figures and then tiny dots that merged with the stars and were gone.
Behind them, the whole crowd clapped and cheered, even Eldervain and the demons.
Ines took Damon’s hand. Together, they walked away towards the edge of the crowd and some much-needed privacy.