Valteri watched his men training. He’d tried for a time to exercise himself, but his back was still too stiff. Too sore for him to do more than a few strokes of the sword.
A flutter of red caught in the corner of his eye. He turned his head and watched Ariel cross the yard.
She looked just as she had on the day they’d met. Like an angel. A group of children surrounded her and she laughed with them, her face more beauteous than any creature ever born.
Heat rushed through his body, inflaming his loins.
Without thinking, he took a step toward her, intending to seize her in his arms and carry her back to their chambers.
But before he could cross the distance, an unfamiliar rider came through the gate. Frowning, he stared at the serf astride a mule. He remembered seeing the boy tilling a field with his father, who lived not far from the castle site.
He paused as the boy stopped before one of his servants and leaned down to talk. The servant gestured toward him and the boy followed the line of his arm and nodded.
What the hell?
Valteri waited for his approach.
The boy rushed forward. “Lord Valteri?”
“Aye.”
“My father bade me fetch you. There are men destroying the castle wall on the hill, and setting fire to our fields. My father begs you come quick, milord!”
His sight dimming in rage, Valteri called to his men to assemble.
He ran toward the stable, but before he could enter, Ariel caught up to him. “What is it?”
Valteri opened his mouth to speak, then paused.
Masking his emotions, he realized she’d only worry if she knew the truth. So he chose to keep her from needless stress. After all, he’d never been harmed in battle.
Weapons couldn’t harm him.
He had more to fear walking across the hall than riding into battle.
His mind racing, he searched for a quick lie. What could he tell her…?
An idea struck him. With any luck, she wouldn’t know construction of the castle had stopped for the winter.
’Twas at least worth trying. “The builder needs assistance with his work. I’m taking some men to see if we can help.”
“Should I wait supper on you?” Her ready acceptance of his lie brought guilt to his heart.
It was for her own good.
Valteri shook his head. “Nay. If I’m not back, eat without me.”
She nodded. “Then take care, milord. I’ll see you anon.” She stood up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.
Valteri watched her walk away, his face tingling.
Damn it, he’d much rather take her to bed than deal with this. Clenching his teeth, he forced his mind to the coming task and promised himself that on his return, he’d carry out what he’d originally intended.
Bedding his wife.
After the midday meal and after Thorn and Shadow had ridden off to join her husband, Ariel decided to take the men a bite of food while they worked. She didn’t know what kind of provisions they had up on the hill, but they probably were not enough for all the extra men Valteri had summoned.
Not to mention, Shadow, alone, could eat a horse.
The cook wrapped leftovers in plain pieces of cloth and packed her saddlebags, while the groom saddled a palfrey.
The groom helped her into her seat.
With a smile, she thanked him.
Whispering to the mare to take care and not frighten or throw her, Ariel urged the small horse across the yard and out the gate.
The weather was pleasant and crisp, and she decided she couldn’t wait to see the coming spring and what new beauty it would bring to the land.
She hummed to herself as she rode toward the new site.
It didn’t take long to reach the hill.
Yet as she drew closer, her stomach shrank at the last thing she expected.
The sounds of battle.
Of men dying in war.
The wind blew an acrid black smoke around her that choked her and burned her eyes. The scent of burning flesh was unmistakable and it brought tears to her eyes.
Just as the sound of clashing steel and moans of the dying.
Terrified and filled with disbelief, Ariel dismounted so that she could stare at the horror. ’Twas no honest work they were about!
Fierce battle raged all around her.
Though her mind screamed at her to run, she couldn’t move, couldn’t take her eyes off the horrifying sight before her as the men tried to kill each other.
“Milady, why do you come?”
Valteri froze at the familiar voice, a voice he hadn’t heard since the day his angel had been carried into his hall and laid at his feet.
His heart pounding, he turned in his saddle and saw Ariel rising out of the billowing smoke and standing in the center of the Saxon men. Wind whipped her cloak and pale hair around her body.
Just as it’d been in his dreams.
The Saxons rallied around her as if to protect her.
Without thinking, Valteri whirled his horse about, trying to reach her, but the men around him prevented it.
Thorn headed for him while Shadow dispatched the man he was fighting and started for Ariel.
A shadow passed over his body. Valteri turned in his saddle, expecting the sword to slice his thigh as it’d always done in his dream.
Only this time, it wasn’t his thigh they aimed for. His stroke too low, his attacker’s wooden pitchfork bounced off his blade and straight into his heart.
Valteri gasped at the sudden pain that seeped through his chest. His sight dulling, he fell from his saddle.
“The Norman bastard is dead!”
Ariel flinched as that fetid cry went up among the Saxon men.
“Nay!” she screamed, knowing who must have fallen.
She picked up the hem of her kirtle and ran across the field. Men scattered from her path, staring at her as if her presence frightened them even more than the demons they feared.
“Ariel!”
She heard Shadow’s call, but paid no heed as she continued to race across the fallen bodies, searching for the familiar form and colors of her husband.
Maybe he hadn’t fallen.
Mayhap he was …
Then, she saw him.
And Thorn, who was holding him in his arms.
Valteri’s light blond braid was coated with blood. His helm and sword were next to him where Thorn must have placed them.
Screaming out in denial, she ran to his side.
This isn’t real.
Her mind refused to accept what her eyes saw.
But as she fell to her knees beside them, she knew it was no dream. Anguish twisted through her body. Tears filled her eyes and her heart shattered.
How? How could this have happened? He was never harmed in battle.
Thorn met her gaze and snarled. “A fucking pitchfork. Seriously?”
Shadow winced as he stood above them. “Why do we protect humans, again?”
“Ariel?” Valteri’s hoarse voice was scarce more than a croak as he squeezed her hand.
“Shh.” She used a corner of her cloak to wipe the red blood from his lips. From his pale cheeks. “You must save your strength.”
“Nay, ’tis mortal.” His accepting words ripped her soul asunder. He reached his hand up and touched her cheek. A slow smile spread across his face. “’Tis as wondrous as I thought.”
She frowned at him and the misplaced happiness in his gaze. “What is?”
“Dying in your arms.”
Closing her eyes against the sudden wave of agony, she held on to him, willing him to live. “You can’t leave me,” she whispered. “I won’t let you.”
Rage filled her as she grabbed Thorn’s shoulder. “Do something! Heal him!”
“I don’t have those powers. Conceived in deception. Born for destruction.”
“Shadow?” Adidiron was his father. Surely, he could do something.
“I’ll get Acheron. Hold on.” Oblivious to the humans around them, he vanished.
Ariel bit her lip. “Did you hear that? Shadow has help coming. Just hold on, my love.”
Valteri cupped her cheek and smiled. “I…”
The light faded from his eyes and his hand fell from her face.
“Nay!” she screamed.
This was not how he would end.
This was not how she’d let it end.
Suddenly, she felt a burning inside her as her powers returned.
All around her, psychopomps appeared, claiming souls.
She saw them so clearly.
Ariel looked up and met the sad eyes of Raziel, who’d come for Valteri’s.
Hollow and aching, Ariel rose to her feet. She would not allow this to happen. With a courage she’d never had before, she faced her brother and willed Valteri’s soul back into his body.
“You can’t do this, Ariel.” Raziel stood firm before her. “You know the rules and the limits of your power.”
“You’re not taking him. I will not allow this!”
“You can’t stop it.” Raziel held out his hand for Valteri.
With a confused expression, his soul rose up from his body and reached for Raziel.
Nay. Nay. Nay!
Desperation filled her. She would not allow them to steal the life and soul of an innocent man. He had suffered too much to have this be his ending.
“You’re not taking him!” she repeated.
Before Raziel could move, she grabbed the one thing she knew would end this.…
The dagger from Thorn’s side.
Without a second thought or hesitation, she plunged it deep into her own heart.
Pain spread through her like fire.
“No!” Raziel screamed.
Thorn cursed as he caught her in her arms. “What have you done!”
“I can’t let him pay for my sins.”
Thorn winced. “You have no idea what you’re doing. You fucking idiot.”
In spite of those harsh words, Thorn’s hold was tender. His expression kind and pain-filled. He may have been demonspawn, but he was a gentle being.
“I know what I’m doing. I’m letting the better soul live.” Feeling more at peace than she ever had, she felt the pain drain from her body.
And everything stopped.
Ariel floated up, and once again her wings flapped behind her.
With a deep breath, she stared down in amazement. Thorn still held her next to Valteri’s body.
The sight of her husband’s undeserved death filled her with an unexpected rage. Something that shouldn’t have been possible while she was in her Arel form.
Yet she felt it now. It was raw and palpable, and made her want to rip apart everyone who had a hand in it.
For the first time, she understood Ethbert’s fury.
And Mildred’s.
Their need for vengeance and for justice. It flowed through her and it took everything she had not to lash out at those around her.
But she wouldn’t be that person.
Valteri had taught her to be better than the abusers. He’d risen above, and she refused to dishonor so noble a heart.
So instead, she narrowed her gaze on Raziel.
“Don’t interfere, Ariel.”
Don’t interfere. He was as crazy as they’d accused her if he thought for one second that she was going to allow him to complete this mission.
“Sorry, brother. I must.”
Before Raziel could stop her, she broke his hold on Valteri.
Grabbing both of Valteri’s wrists, she pulled him away and turned with him.
In these forms, Valteri should have no memory of her. He shouldn’t be able to see anything more than where he was heading.
Yet he focused on her with utter clarity.
“Ariel?”
The tenderness in that one word wrung her heart and brought tears to her eyes.
She loved him more than she’d ever thought to love anyone. Touching his face, she grimaced at how cold his skin was. “I’m sorry, Valteri, but it’s better this way. Please forgive me.”
“Don’t you do it, Ariel!” Raziel shouted.
Ignoring him, she kissed Valteri’s lips one last time. “I love you, Valteri the Godless. Never forget me.” Then, she shoved his soul back into his body.
Valteri jerked awake, his entire body aching.
“’Tis a miracle!” Wace shouted, his youthful face beaming. “I thought you were dead, milord.”
Shaken and uncertain, Valteri ran his hand over his chest. It’d been a direct strike.
Straight through his heart. His mail was torn where the pitchfork had pierced his chest, but no other mark existed to prove he’d ever been wounded.
Looking around him, Valteri realized that his men had defeated the Saxons. And a few feet away, he spied the body of Ethbert. He shook his head and sighed. Though he held no great love for the Saxon, he regretted the end the poor man had come to.
Moans filled his ears as his men searched the bodies and gathered the wounded.
Then, his gaze fell to Thorn beside him.…
To the body Thorn held in his arms.
Nay …
Excruciating agony ripped through him, piercing his heart and scalding his soul.
Please, not this!
Anything but this.
He forgot everything else as he scrambled toward Ariel. With a trembling hand, he took his wife’s body from Thorn and cradled her against his chest. Tears filled his eyes as he inhaled the sweet rose scent.
’Twas no dream.
Ariel had saved him. Her words circled his mind like beasts of prey seeking to bring him low.
And bring him low they did. Raw, brutal grief ripped through him as he realized the price she’d paid.
What she’d done for a worthless piece of shit.
“I love you, Valteri the Godless,” her gentle words whispered in his mind, slicing his soul with agony.
Valteri clutched her body tight, willing her back to life as tears flowed down his cheeks. “Don’t leave me, Ariel. Please.”
His heart shattering, he glared at Thorn. “Do something!”
“There’s nothing I can do. I can’t interfere with free will.”
“Then you’re useless.”
Thorn let out a bitter laugh. “More than you know.” Rising to his feet, he sighed. “If you—”
“Just go! All of you have done enough.”
They had done what no one had ever done. All those years the monks had tried so hard and failed.
Now …
He was finally broken.
Ariel stood before her father and his council, her head sedately bowed. By the stern look on his face, she knew she’d long outworn his patience.
Even now, Kadar was demanding they hand her over since she’d broken countless rules. She was his prize and he wanted her.
“You know we’re not to interfere with human life!” He circled around her with a glare that should have left her a smoldering pile on the floor.
“Aye.”
“Then why did you push his soul back into his body?”
Ariel swallowed. One of the worst parts about having been human, she still had human emotions, and now it was hard to rein in her feelings. So while she felt a degree of remorse for breaking their strict rules, the moment she thought of Valteri, all guilt vanished.
For him, she’d do it again.
And that defiance was pissing off everyone around her.
Constantly.
“Ariel? You haven’t answered me.”
“What do you want me to say? I couldn’t let him die. It wasn’t right, and I loved him too much to stand by and do nothing.”
Michael growled at her.
“I would apologize, but it wouldn’t be sincere.” Ariel moved forward and again bowed her head. “I’m ready for my punishment. I’m aware that Belial is supposed to take me to Azmodea for what I’ve done. Go ahead.”
The look on her father’s face had to be similar to the one on hers when Raziel had shown up for Valteri’s soul.
Though to be honest, Belial didn’t look as pleased about this as he should have. He and Thorn, along with Shadow, were off to the left, and they all had the same tired expression.
Sneering, Sraosha flicked his wings. “She has to go, Michael. We have to do our duty. No one can be immune. Not even your daughter.”
“Wait!”
She frowned as Gabriel appeared and pulled her father aside, out of her hearing.
Nervous, she glanced over to Thorn and Belial, neither of whom would meet her gaze.
What were they talking about?
Obviously, it was her, as Gabriel kept gesturing in her direction.
Nervous and unsure, she wished she had some clue as to what was going on.
Could they be planning something worse than sending her to Azmodea?
Was there anything worse?
That very thought sent a shiver down her spine.
After several terrifying moments, they moved to stand in front of her.
Gabriel stepped forward and Ariel flinched, half expecting him to motion for Belial.
Instead, he inclined his head toward the Arel behind her.
Bracing herself for her trip to the worst of the hell realms, she drew a ragged breath.
“Come, Ariel.” Raziel took her by the arm and her wings dissolved.
She was losing her wings? That wouldn’t happen for a trip to Azmodea.
Confused, she looked at her father. “I’m being banished?”
Her father nodded. “For a time, or for eternity depending on the choices you make.” He turned his back to her.
“I don’t understand.” But he refused to say anything more.
In fact, no one would say a word.
What the …
Ariel bit her lip to keep from pleading for mercy. She’d known the consequences for her actions, and the least she could do was meet them bravely.
Like Valteri would do.
For him, she’d condemned herself. Whatever her fate, she would face it with the same courage she’d learned from him. And regret nothing.
Not as long as he lived free.
But why wasn’t Belial or Thorn escorting her?
This didn’t make any sense.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked Raziel.
His eyes grim, Raziel pulled her from the room. “To a fate worse than death.”
Valteri sat in his chair, holding Cecile in his lap. She purred contentedly and he wished he could be so easily soothed. Once again, pain was all he knew and he had no hope of anything better.
Over and over, he saw his Ariel in all her beauty and kindness reaching out to him.
Why had she forced him back into his body?
Why couldn’t she have allowed him to die and be free from the misery of this life, once and for all?
“Valteri?”
He froze at the sound, his heart stilling. When he heard no more, he sighed. “Now I’m even hearing her voice.”
“Can you feel my touch?”
A hand brushed his cheek.
Valteri sprang from his chair and he swung around with a gasp. Cecile let out an indignant yowl as she fell from his lap and landed on the cold floor.
His heart pounding, Valteri blinked, unable to believe his sight. “Ariel?”
A smile curved her lips and she reached for him. “Aye.”
Seizing her in his arms, he held her tight. “Are you truly here?”
She laughed in his ear, the sound sending waves of joy through him. “Aye. My father returned me.”
“But how? Why?”
Her smile melted his heart. “Thorn. He not only convinced his father to release me, but he worked out a deal for Belial. Since I’d broken so many rules, the others didn’t know what to do with me and my defiant ways. It’s hard to be an Arel once you’ve been corrupted by human emotions. So, here I am.” She touched his cheek, and he marveled at the warmth of her flesh.
A sudden pain replaced his joy. “For how long?”
She sighed heavily. “Hard to say. The gods are cruel beasts.”
“What do you mean?”
“My father, bastard that he is, thought the worst punishment imaginable would be to tie my life to yours.” She smiled at him. “So take care, Valteri fitzJaden. You not only have my heart. You have my life in your hands, too.”
“And I will spend eternity making sure no one ever again threatens either.”