An explosion interrupted my sleep. I sat straight up in Evangeline's bed and, in the effort to find cover, slipped to the floor, bruising my bottom. Wide awake, I stared at the blooming cloud of smoke coming from the center of Evangeline's apartment. The seraph was coughing and waving her hands to clear the smoke away from her face. As soon as she could breathe again, she darted for the balcony door to yank it wide open. Realizing that I was alive and unharmed, although with a massive pounding pain against the forefront of my head, I hooked my elbows onto the bed and heaved myself back onto the mattress.

"Sorry about that... I didn't mean to wake you!" Evangeline said. While I had been sleeping, she had been working at the table in her studio apartment. Before I had passed out, there had been a single orchid on the table. Now, chemistry tools, a brass cauldron, and notebook were arranged across the table's surface. The dagger Kyrian had asked Evangeline to investigate was on the table before the cauldron.

Brushing some hair out of my face, I asked, "What happened?"

The seraph shook her head. With her hands on her hips, she explained, "I was just checking the dagger against all the regular potions, seeing if it reacted to a particular one so I could identify the potion Adriana used to forge the blade."

"I think you got your answer."

"Unfortunately, no," Evangeline denied as she considered her notebook. "That was not the correct reaction for that combination. It was simply an explosive negative." A small smiled crept to her face over her word play. She returned to her workstation. Once there, she stared down at her notebook. "I'm running out of potions to test, though. I know the basics, but it isn't like I'm an expert or anything."

My body still hurting from all the poisonous toxins I had subjected it to last night, I flung myself back onto the bed. My arm draped over my eyes to block out the morning sunlight flooding in through the open balcony door. "Did you even sleep?" I asked Evangeline, incredulous. Her apartment still had remnants of our two-person party. It had already been a mess with all her clothes flung about. We had added to it with the numerous bottles of wine and vodka, plates of tapas, and even more clothes as we dressed up and danced to high-energy songs. Evangeline, despite her status, was open and friendly, and thus easy for me to bond with. It was like I was back in college with Skye—only more relaxing, as I didn't have the looming mountain of schoolwork hovering over me.

"No." Evangeline declared. "I wanted to get this done for Kyrian, just to make sure that he's all right and he doesn't have some crap inside of him that will turn him into a demon or kill him slowly, somehow stripping away his immortality. I wouldn't put it past Adriana," Evangeline muttered darkly. Evangeline picked up her notebook and flipped through the pages.

A theory popped into my mind. "Is she the reason Kyrian has to be invisible all the time?" Evangeline had refused to tell me the previous day, and I hoped that she would tell me now that we had interacted a bit more.

"You mean the wicked, vindictive witch who felt scorned enough to make Kyrian's life a living hell if he ever returned to his seraph family? Yes, she cursed Kyrian. He's under some horrible fairy tale curse I'm not certain there is a happy ending for."

"What do you mean?"

A series of hard knocks against Evangeline's door interrupted our conversation. Evangeline frowned, glanced at the door, and put her notebook down. I heard her footsteps traveling across the floor to meet the sound. In what was probably only twenty seconds at most, but seemed like an infinity from my painful perspective, the knocking stopped. Even with my arm over my head, I could hear the conversation occurring at the door.

"Archangel Emerson would like to see Ms. Disraeli and you in the atrium immediately," a neutral masculine voice informed Evangeline. I frowned, immediately disliking the order. I shifted onto my stomach out of protest.

"She's still sleeping," Evangeline lied. "Does it have to be now, or can he wait until she wakes up?" Evangeline inquired.

"It has to be now," the messenger responded.

Evangeline assured him she would escort me to the atrium. Following it, my ears captured the sounds of her shutting the door and returning to the main apartment. "I guess Emerson wants to see you," she commented nonchalantly. I watched as Evangeline went to one of her cabinets, grabbed something from within, and shut it.

"What does he want to see me for?"

"I'm not too sure." Her footsteps carried her to the mini kitchenette, where I heard water flowing. She tore open a packet, and then there were a series of chimes, like a spoon crashing against the glass. I hoped she would delay as long as possible and make the archangel wait for me. That was not the case, however, and after the chimes stopped, footsteps approached the bed. She set down something on the bedside table. The mattress dipped with her weight as she sat next to me. Her hand pressed against my back and rubbed it. "Bria."

I grumbled a refusal and readjusted my arm to cover my face. Evangeline went from rubbing my back to patting it. "Come on. I have a hangover drink for you. It's not a hamburger, fries, and coke, but it does the job just as well." I groaned at the thought of the ultimate hangover meal. It was one that Skye, Xavier, and I had shared frequently.

"Can I just stay here?"

Evangeline laughed. "I'm not sure if I advise that. Emerson may just come here himself and pull you out of bed."

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"That would be embarrassing," I agreed. It was enough motivation, however. My arm flopped away from my face, and I transitioned onto my back. Evangeline shifted on the bed to distance herself.

"You look like you just had an all-out war in the ninth circle of hell," she commented blandly. She reached to grab the glass she had set on the bedside table and handed it to me after I sat up. I glanced into the glass. To my surprise, it looked like a chocolate milkshake. Pensively, I took a sip of the substance. I was happy to learn that it tasted like a chocolate milkshake. I looked at Evangeline, questioning. "Seraphim ingenuity," she shrugged.

I examined her as she moved around the room. This was the most laid-back I had seen her. Her hair had been shoved into a messy high bun; her face was in its natural state; and her clothes baggier. There were streaks of a gray substance across her face and staining the palms of her hands.

"Is he going to be okay?" I asked in between sips. Evangeline did not need me to clarify whom I was talking about.

"As far as I could figure out, he'll survive," Evangeline stated.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Evangeline and I walked into the chateau's atrium as presentable as twenty minutes could make us. This was a different part of the chateau I had yet to be in. We entered a grand hall. Even though I knew better, I let myself be taken in awe over the beauty of my surroundings. Rows of glass windows followed the hall down. Each window contained different imagery in colored glass. One had a field of tulips in front of a mountain range. Another had a seraph high in the air, with his mighty wings spread wide, and a golden halo hovering just above his head. The one next to it depicted a small pond with a forest of pine trees bordering its backside. Colored glass had been inserted into the floor, destroying the monotony of the gray cobblestone. I also caught specks of it up in the glass ceiling. There were comfortable looking leather chairs arranged to promote conversation throughout the hall, although no one was using them at the moment. Perhaps any bystanders had been frightened away by the presence of authority at the front of the atrium.

Emerson was standing in between a group of seraphim and a person I'd never seen before. Rhiannon and Jakobi were also present. A handful of seraph soldiers were arranged around the group. They were unnecessary, as it seemed like all the seraphim had military training, even Evangeline. The outsider had come alone.

Curious, I eyed him as Evangeline and I approached. Wings didn't sprout from his shoulder blades, and he lacked that ethereal quality all seraphim seemed to have, as if they had stardust coursing through their veins. He was also extremely nondescript: if I had seen him in a crowd, nothing would have held my attention. An average height and weight, he had a full head of dull brown hair that was not in any particular style. He dressed conservatively, almost as if he was returning from an office meeting. He had the foundations of a beard growing. As nondescript and simple he was, this made him even more approachable.

"I thought we were going to discuss this at the council meeting," Rhiannon was arguing as we neared. Her face was flushed from her anger, while her eyes spoke of betrayal and suspicion. Evangeline and Kyrian's father, Jakobi, was also frowning deeply, standing by Rhiannon's side.

Emerson didn't try to placate the royals. "I contacted Sebastien after our previous discussion when I learned demons had been involved in the extraction," he explained. "This is not a mere coincidence, and I am concerned that we cannot maintain her safety here with us. Briara Disraeli belongs with the mages, her people, and it isn't our right to keep her from her people. I also didn't want to chance a demon invasion if I waited for your meeting.”

"Fighting demons is what our purpose is," Rhiannon said through clenched teeth. "It's absurd that you thought we would not be able to keep her safe against demons here! We're the best the universe has!"

Emerson simply shrugged, as if he didn't want to put in the energy to argue with the queen.

Rhiannon's shoulders tensed, and she stepped forward. Jakobi's hand pressed down against her shoulder to prevent her from moving, acting as an anchor against her rage. Her hands were fisted at her sides. "Disraeli is not a mage," she snarled. "If the mages wanted her that much, then they should have gotten her before she could ruin so many mortal lives. Maybe then she would have been trained to control her magic. Now it's a moot point. She's already destroyed, it's in her blood. She'll do it again if left unfettered!"

The strange man tilted his head in curiosity; he failed to be affronted by Rhiannon's wrath. "While I absolutely agree with you, Queen Rhiannon, about our failure to be proactive before, I have to disagree when it pertains to the future. It was a failure on our part that we did not realize there was one of our own amongst the mortals, especially with such a magnitude of power at her disposal. Training to control their abilities is imperative for all mages. We all saw what happens when a mage is not trained and that power, that energy, is left to fend for itself."

The discussion faded as Evangeline and I took the last steps of our approach. Emerson stepped in between Evangeline and me to put his hand on my elbow. He applied slight pressure on my elbow to guide my attention onto the man, the mage. He effectively blocked out the royal family from the new conversation circle he had formed. "Chancellor Kersey, I would like for you to meet Briara Disraeli."

"Sebastien," the man corrected, already turning towards me. He placed his hands over his heart, his left under his right, and bowed his head slightly. "It's a pleasure, Briara.”

Unaccustomed to his cultural greeting, I just nodded at him and presented a small, nervous smile. Emerson patted my shoulder. "Sebastien Kersey is the mage chancellor. He's the one who requested our help to retrieve you from the mortals."

Heart pounding, I glanced at Sebastien with more interest. Who was this man with enough power to delegate such a task to the archangel council? His arms had moved back to his sides, where I saw a large ruby ring sitting on Sebastien's right middle finger. The ruby was in an emerald cut, and if the ring had been any bigger, it would have been garish. Sebastien was inspecting me, as well. What he was thinking remained concealed underneath his expression. "I think it is time for you to be reunited with your people," Sebastien informed me with a small, inviting smile. "I am very appreciative the seraphim could help me out by bringing you here while I dealt with an emergency that arose. While I'm sure their hospitality was on point, it's time to get you acquainted with Astraera. Emerson, we'll schedule a later date to meet."

I was a bit surprised to feel saddened to be leaving Elysium this soon. My surprise increased when Evangeline pulled me into a hug and told me goodbye. Her parents' distant and formal goodbye was to be expected. Archangel Emerson wished me luck. None of them followed when the mage chancellor led me away from the seraphim and raveled us away. The sensation was similar to when Kyrian had raveled at the apartment in Denver. I was just as apprehensive now as I was then. The unexpected waited ahead. I had never contemplated where a population of mages would live. I had never contemplated belonging to a group of magical people.

The promise of a new life offered a hope of a future different than prison.