When Evangeline and I slipped through the exit and out onto the wide marble terrace, the ambivalence became more relaxed. The government building had been raised over the cobblestone street. There were about fifty marble steps that connected the terrace to the street. Evangeline bounced down them with me in tow. The sky in Elysium was overcast with clouds. The temperature was chilly, and suddenly, I wished for my outer uniform shirt. Still, the stress of witnessing the argument between two of the most powerful beings I had ever met and being forced to deal with Kyrian’s repugnance of me melted away. Evangeline did not share any of the same negative energy. Her disposition was more cheerful. In fact, there was a high-energy bounce in her step. I had to exert myself just to keep up with her. Walking quickly just came naturally to her. "I suppose we don't have to do any formal introductions. I know who you are, and you know who I am."

I swallowed, still a bit intimidated. At least in the jail, I knew the protocols and routines. Here, I was drowning in an ocean of the unknown. "A seraph princess?"

Evangeline released an amused snort before saying, "I was hoping to bypass that nonsense. I prefer to go by Evan."

"Briara, nickname: Bria," I responded lamely.

Evangeline nodded. "I like that."

We soon reached the bottom of the ornate staircase. The government building sat on a long street amidst other buildings. On the other side of the street, there was a row of stores and restaurants. Seasonal smells and music flooded out of the stores. Window arrangements of dark gold vases, purple orchids, and white candles immediately caught my eye. Further down the opposite side of the street, there was a mass gathering of people. It didn’t appear as if they were doing much of anything and were just waiting to gain admittance into a restaurant. I had to check myself from staring too much: half of them had wings.

Evangeline led me to the first street that ran perpendicular to the train station, and we walked down it. Besides passing by a couple of people, some of who had wings, and some who didn’t, the street was vacant. We crossed through a couple of other streets until we had reached what I immediately knew was the home of the seraphim monarchy.

As we approached it, my vision of the chateau was impaired by the tall buildings surrounding the street. Then we cleared the buildings, and I had a better view of the royal building. An iron fence blocked entry into the marble courtyard that stretched before the cream-colored chateau. It was to this iron fence that we walked. Once there, one of the soldier gatekeepers allowed us in. Evangeline strode purposely across the courtyard. The courtyard was made of two different shades of marble squares formatted to produce a checkered pattern. Surrounding it, the chateau formed an inverted u. Full-length windows occurred at regular increments. Because of the time of day, it was impossible to see into the windows and what waited beyond in the residence.

We went through a door on the far side of the courtyard. The marble continued indoors. I found myself walking into a foyer. It was a vast and wide room. Few high-backed velvet chairs had been set out at intervals throughout the space. Huge landscape paintings hung on the walls in ornate wooden frames that were as much pieces of art as the paintings themselves. The room could have contained three hundred people easily. Evangeline just walked through it nonchalantly, as if she had done so a million times before.

Unable to withstand the silence, Evangeline gave me a side glance once we were halfway through the hall. "They say you're a mage."

I sucked in a breath. "Not sure if I believe it entirely, either."

"You really didn’t know you were a mage?"

"No, not until like five minutes ago."

"You would have thought my lovely brother would have filled you in on a lot after you two escaped the jail."

"He wasn't the most talkative."

Evangeline’s mouth quirked sideways, and she shoved her hair behind her shoulder. "You never used your magic before?"

I considered her question. "In hindsight, yes, I can say that there have been instances." My mind went to the Union Station Massacre. Even after the conviction, no one could determine what weapon I had used. I had watched the video footage only once, in the interrogation room. When it was aired during the trial, I had averted my gaze out of shame. Had it been magic then, and then when I had pushed the officers and monsters backwards? "It seems impossible. My mother and mentor had seared it in my mind that magic didn’t exist. It was fine to read fictional stories and all, but the moment I pretended I could make something levitate with my mind or put a curse on someone, they immediately reminded me that magic wasn’t real. They were severely adamant."

"Were they mages?" Evangeline wondered, pushing a door open at the end of the hall.

"I don't know," I answered. "Why would they lie and make me believe I was mortal?" I felt lips pursing in speculation. If my mother and Galileo knew I was a mage, if they were mages themselves, then why conceal it?

"Don’t know. Maybe ask them when you see them next?" Evangeline shrugged. We had reached a small stone staircase. Lighting was sporadic, as if this was more of a private route than public. Evangeline took to ascending the stairs as if she climbed them every day.

I winced. "Can’t. They’re both dead."

Evangeline glanced at me over her shoulder with a sympathetic expression. "I’m sorry." I nodded, and Evangeline returned her attention to ascending the steps. She left me to my thoughts, which were a whirlwind of questions. It felt like life had spun out of control over the past twenty-four hours. For the past four years, my life had been regulated by jail and court discipline. Everything had been on a specific timeline that I had absolutely no control over. I ate whenever food was inserted through the door slot, like I was a caged wild animal. I took a shower whenever it was my daily hour out of my cage, and if there was enough time, I attempted to call Jay. Whenever I had enough pills, I traveled to the sanctuary and wandered through amazing worlds with Hawk. Otherwise, I was locked up in that twelve by six cell for twenty-three hours a day, with only the freedom to decide what I would do next to try to keep the boredom at bay. Now, I had been whisked from the jail to the royal seraphim chateau. Now, I had learnt there was more to the universe than mortals. There were others, and I was a part of that group.

Once we reached the staircase’s apex, we were met with a stone hallway veering off in both directions. Evangeline directed us to the left. From the windows inserted into the wall on the right side, I realized we were on the backside of the chateau. The windows overlooked a vast, inspiring garden with fountains and pretty flowers. Closed doors appeared to our left. Their heights were extremely tall—perhaps to accommodate the seraphic wings. The doors had been made from wood, and an artist had carved different short stories and images into the panels. "Are you and Kyrian close?" I inquired.

"We used to be."

"He became the lovely person he is today?"

"I take it he wasn't exactly pleasant to be around?" She looked over her shoulder at me. In response, I gave her a half-shrug. "He wasn't always like this.”

"What happened?" My lips pursed, doubting.

"Millenniums ago, he decided he needed a reprieve from his duties here. He left the seraphim behind. He’s only returned recently.”

"What do you mean?" I was intrigued.

Evangeline fidgeted with the material on her dress, uneasy. "I shouldn't tell you. It isn’t my story to tell." I respected her decision to not gossip. There was still some underlying tension to his story. While it was clear that Evangeline loved her brother, she and others were frustrated with him and the decisions he had made. Even without Evangeline’s confirmation, from what I could piece together, Kyrian had abandoned his people for some time, resulting in bitterness to form. Moreover, Kyrian was not too enthusiastic about being back in Elysium to fulfill his national duties. There was more to the story, and I wasn't certain I would ever get it. Kyrian certainly wasn't talking, and I didn't think I would be here long enough for me to build enough rapport with someone to get the information from them. If I cared.

"And his invisibility?" I questioned.

Evangeline winced. "That's also tied to the same drama that sent him spiraling out of control in the first place. It's a curse that we haven't figured out how to break."

"A curse? Like some fairy tale?" I tried to keep the amusement muted.

"Unfortunately, yes," Evangeline confirmed. "If someone looks at him, he could die. Or so we think. Every time we've tried to look at him since the curse's onset, Kyrian suffers severe pain. He seizes, screams bloody murder... it isn't pretty. Although maintaining the invisibility drains him, it's a better alternative than that pain."

I bit my lip. There was a part of me that despised I was so curious about some egotistical, arrogant bastard.

"You look like you are about to explode. You might want to stop thinking so hard. I can almost see smoke coming out of your ears," Evan laughed.

"I'm still trying to process everything," I admitted. "I'm just a bit overwhelmed, that's all. Until I was arrested, I never slept in the same bed longer than a month. I got to travel the entire world until I was nineteen. I got to see a thousand different wonders in the universe, got to marvel at their mysteries. However, I never saw one sign that these shadow societies existed. I truly thought that the mortals were in a world by themselves."

Evangeline smiled back at me as she came to a stop before the last door in the hallway, which became a dead-end. "We’ve had millenniums to learn how to co-exist and make the mortals think they are by themselves in the universe." Evangeline opened the door to reveal a short hallway that led to a massive studio apartment. A California king bed was the statement piece of the room, and I was blown away by how large it was. Its sheets had not been straightened out on it and were thus haphazardly skewed across the mattress. The second statement piece was a giant wardrobe, which doors were thrown open to reveal the interior chaos. A dresser sat next to the wardrobe. On the far side of the apartment, there was an entry that led out to a balcony. Then there were the clothes. Clothes were thrown everywhere. The wardrobe and dresser looked as if it had vomited up Evangeline’s clean clothing; clothes had been thrown on the foot of the bed and forgotten about; and then there were piles of clothes all throughout the room. A few mementos were scattered on her dresser.

Evangeline gazed around her room with her hands on her hips, weighing a decision as she chewed on her bottom lip. "Ready to feel like a human again?" she asked me as she gestured for me to follow her into the attached bathroom.

Evangeline’s bathroom vanity and shower consisted of black marble, while the giant bowl of her sink was white porcelain. Surprisingly, she kept her beauty supplies way more organized than her clothes, and they were kept in containers arranged on her vanity. Evangeline bent before the vanity and pulled out two lush hot pink towels and a washcloth. "We’ll get you feeling human again, and then I'll order us some food. Throw your uniform in the trash. I’m sure you aren’t going back to the mortals. I’ll take care of it later. When you’re done showering, come out and I’ll have some clothes ready for you!"

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Evangeline departed the bathroom after that, shutting the door behind her. Frazzled, I took a deep breath and glanced around. That sense of surrealism cascaded over me. A bit of my previous fatigue was still lingering, making it somewhat believable that I was just dreaming, and I would wake up in my jail cell once more, left to spend life incarcerated, left to spend life as one of the most despised people in any group. I shook off the temptation to pinch myself or slam my head against the wall—just to see if I would feel the painful sensation—and dedicated myself to the task at hand.

Disposing of my red jail uniform felt liberating. The garments felt dirty in my hands. I had sweated in them multiple times and the sweat had dried. It was a wonder that no one had scrunched up their noses because of the odor. My pants had dried blood crusted on them. In contrast, the pink towels Evangeline provided looked much cleaner. Another aspect of the liberation was the literal disposal of the garments. The jail staff got agitated and threatened to charge you for the cost of the clothes if you tore them up, tried to flush them down the toilet, or throw them away because there were old bloodstains on the underwear. A thrill rushed through me over the rebellion of tossing the uniform away. It was another thing that distanced me from that fate, and the longer I was freed, the more I was determined to remain that way. I tried to block out the guilt over not following through with my punishment for the massacre.

After removing the bandaging, I noticed that the demon’s claw marks on my calf had been reduced to a light red, and scabs had developed over the lacerations. Except for light throbbing here and there, I didn’t feel any pain. Kyrian’s cream had worked miracles. The shower washed away the rest of the dirt I had accrued over the past couple of days. When I finally emerged and wrapped a towel around my torso, I felt like an entirely new person. Or at the very least, back to who I had been on the morning before the massacre.

I opened the bathroom door to meet Evangeline. I paused and left it at a crack when I heard Evangeline involved in a conversation with a gruff, masculine voice. After relying only on my hearing when he was around, I had become very familiar with Kyrian’s voice. I hardly dared to breathe, lest I alerted him to my presence. Our past interactions had been so antagonistic that I was reluctant to emerge from the bathroom, cleaned up, and with only a towel keeping me from full nudity. I didn't want to hear any smart-ass comments about how I was enjoying myself now while my victims were quivering inside of their homes, wondering if I was about to attack. I hovered just beyond the threshold.

"Are you guys insane?" Evangeline was hissing. "What even prompted you all to think this was a good idea?" Through the crack, I could see that Evangeline was standing just inside the entryway. Her door was shut to the exterior hallway. She was facing towards the bathroom door. Her wide eyes were focused on the space before her. Where Kyrian had to be standing, I realized.

"They are up to something, Evangeline. The council and the mage government. That much was clear when Emerson came to me privately and promised me he would let me go if I retrieved the girl," Kyrian informed.

"Bria, Kyrian. The girl’s name is Bria."

"She killed people," Kyrian grumbled. I stifled my irritation by digging my toes deep into the bathmat and digging my fingernails into my palms.

"So have you," Evangeline shot back.

"In warfare."

She shook her head. "Look, there are probably things that we don’t even know about that massacre. The only thing we know is that it was probably related to magic, and Bria didn’t know she had any ability until today, Kyrian. I know you think that there is some big conspiracy going on with the council, enough to sabotage your precious duty to the mortals, but maybe you should look into why Bria’s supposedly dormant powers exploded that day after nineteen years. You and I both know that mages usually come into their powers in their childhood." My heartbeat was pounding against my chest. Was what Evangeline saying true... could it be true? Could I be innocent? Possibly?

"I’ve looked into Bria’s eyes, and I’ve looked into psychopaths' eyes before. They aren't similar at all. The psychopaths' humanity was nonexistent, but Bria's... she's going through a rough time with all of this, Kyrian. She's putting on a brave front, yes, but inside, she's struggling. Bria would never intentionally harm any of those people."

"You figured all that out in the ten minutes you've spent with her?" Kyrian snapped.

Evangeline tilted her head to the side. "Don't forget what I was trained in," she reminded. "You need to figure out who is pulling Bria’s puppet strings."

"It doesn't matter. I'm leaving anyway."

Pity appeared on Evangeline's face. "Kyrian," she groaned. "Please tell me you don't believe they are just going to let you go! Did you really think the archangels would free you if you completed this one oh-so-important duty for them?" Evangeline’s eyes were searching the air before her.

"I have no reason to not believe that the deal is legit."

At this, Evangeline’s head rocked back as she released a guffaw. The energy sent her leaning against the opposite wall. When she looked at her brother again, her gaze was darkly humorous. "Oh Kyrian, I didn’t think you were this stupid. Did your mortal life make you this idiotic? The archangels will never release you from your duties again. Now that they know what is motivating you, they will just keep using it against you so you will do their dirty work. You must stop being their pawn and accept who you are."

"That’s what Rhea and Jakobi said. That’s why I eventually tried to do what they wanted and kill her, the archangels be damned. I was standing there in the cell with the dagger and intention. And then I hesitated," Kyrian confessed softly. My heartbeat stopped for a second. He had come to kill me. The only reason he didn't was because of the demon bursting in and interrupting the attempted assassination. "Those few seconds of hesitation screwed everything up, and now the archangels are getting everything they wanted. If you believe for one second Emerson won’t find some way to give her over to the mages, then you’re blind as well. He's probably in his office now, figuring out how to circumvent the monarchy."

"Why did you hesitate?" Evangeline pressed.

There was a stretch of silence before Kyrian said, "It doesn’t matter. I waited too long and when the demon slammed into me, the dagger I was going to use slipped from my hand. In the effort to get control of it, I cut myself on my forearm. It was fine, it was a superficial cut, but..." Kyrian blew out a large breath of air. "Would you mind examining the blade and seeing if you can determine if there are any unusual properties in its composition?" Kyrian held out the dagger to Evangeline, who reluctantly accepted it. Her fingers curled around the bottom part of the hilt gingerly before letting it fall to her side.

"Do you think it was forged with poison?" Evangeline inquired. Her eyebrows pushed downwards in curiosity.

"I don’t think so." Another pause. "Adriana gave me the dagger."

"You’ve had that dagger for millenniums?" Evangeline blinked.

"Adriana shipped it to me after she left and heard that I was seeking permission to commit suicide from the council and our parents. I think she wanted me to use it to do the deed. I just thought it was just her way of getting vengeance on me for not following her. But now, I’m not too sure."

Evangeline growled. "That fucking cunt. She would want you to kill yourself with the tool she provided. It's a damn good thing she's probably dead, because if I ever see her again..." Evangeline let the implied threat die. "I’ll definitely look at the blade and see if it was forged with poison. It shouldn’t take me too long. I’ll get back to you."

"Don’t just look at poisons," Kyrian requested.

Evangeline’s eyes narrowed, and her head tilted in consideration. "Why?"

"Just a feeling. When I went to her cell, I was prepared to kill her. I knew I couldn’t let her fall into the council’s hands and let them mold her into a pawn. After I got cut, I felt differently. I felt compelled to save her from the demon."

His sister’s eyes narrowed more. "Perhaps you just saw her soul," she debated. "Why did you even bring this to kill her? If it was given to you by Adriana?"

Kyrian was quiet for a long pause as he considered his answer. Finally, all that he admitted was "I was compelled."

Kyrian departed Evangeline’s room after that. Evangeline walked towards her dresser and placed the dagger behind a decorative pot. Without even turning around, Evangeline called out, "How are you doing in there, Bria? Hope you don't turn into a sponge!" Gingerly, I opened the bathroom door and stepped out. She eyed me as she asked, "How much of that did you hear?" She had turned around fully. Her hand laid against the edge of the dresser.

I shrugged. "Enough. How did you know I was listening?"

"One perk of being a seraph: superior hearing. That and I heard the water turn off."

"I didn’t want to interrupt."

Evangeline waved a hand through the air. "You can tell the truth, Bria. You've already made it clear that you'd rather avoid my grumpy brother if you can." I matched Evangeline’s small smile. "Come, let’s get you some clothes." She nonchalantly turned her back to me. I still hesitated after what I had heard while eavesdropping on her and Kyrian. When she observed I hadn't fully emerged from the bathroom, she paused. "You okay? You can come out." I took a meager step out of the bathroom, but not too far away so that I could dart back inside should I need to retreat to safety. I kept my back towards the wall. Evangeline examined my body, sizing me up. "I think I may have something for you to wear. It's nothing fancy, but we're not going anywhere tonight. I figured you'd like to just stay in after your whirlwind of a day. I'll get us some food and we can watch something funny."

Feeling anxious, I hugged the towel to myself. Evangeline had stuck her head into her wardrobe. Every so often, she would toss an article of clothing out. The shower had helped clear my head a little. It had paused time for a little—enough so that my brain could catch up with the events. "I didn't know there were demons." There was a question in the statement, and I hadn't quite processed everything to realize exactly what I wanted to know. Perhaps I was just seeking clarification, seeking something to make this new world make sense.

"Yeah, and they have been a bane on the seraphim's existence since the very beginning.”

I swallowed. "One attacked me at the jail. I thought I was having a nightmare or something." I despised how weak my voice sounded.

"Are you serious?" Evangeline emerged from the wardrobe with clothes in her hands. "You should consider yourself lucky. The unprepared rarely survive a demon attack. Seraphim try to monitor the demon infiltrations, and we've gotten pretty good at it. I'm surprised that one got past the sentries. I'm sure someone's ass is going to be raw soon enough." Evangeline returned to digging into the wardrobe, apparently not satisfied with the collection growing on her arm.

"There were a lot." I told her, thinking about the other prisoners and wondering if they had survived.

"I'm sure there will be an investigation into how the horde got in," Evangeline assured.

I shifted on my feet. Uncomfortable with any type of silence, I questioned, "Why do some seraphim have wings and others don't?"

"We all have wings," Evangeline informed. "Some of us just choose to not wear ours." Evangeline stepped back from the wardrobe. "I, for one, am a bit lazy and don't want all that extra weight on my back. I need to be quick on my feet, too, and sometimes the wings knock everything over, so I wear mine for formal events only." Evangeline approached me, and I took a small step backwards. Frowning, she handed me the clothes from an arm’s length away. "You're skittish. You weren't before." Then it occurred to her, and she laughed. "You think I'm going to kill you!"

My lips trembled. "Your parents sent your brother to assassinate me. The council wanted him to extract me, but your parents probably learned of the mission and approached him before he went," I accused. Rhiannon had put on a convincing act, berating the archangel about going behind her back and assigning Kyrian to extract me.

"And you think that since I'm a part of the Zakaria family, I'm out for your blood, too? Perhaps I'll slit your throat while you're sleeping, poison your food, use my seraphic abilities on you?"

I swallowed. "Your father wanted you to attend to me while I'm in Elysium."

Evangeline rolled her eyes. "He just didn't want Emerson to have access to you anytime he wanted. He doesn't trust him."

"That was very obvious."

"Bria, I'm not going to kill you," Evangeline declared. "I don't know if you want me to swear a blood oath. Or if you want me to leave for the night, you can stay here. I'll talk to Emerson and have him send up a league of guards to secure the perimeter so you can rest well."

I shifted on my feet, suddenly uncertain. "You're going to go against your family's beliefs?"

Evangeline gave another one of her characteristic snorts. "Bria, I've been alive for millenniums. You’re the subject of much political controversy right now, and you are not the first thing that I've disagreed with my parents on." Evangeline approached with a few gingerly steps. She placed a hand on my arm. Genuine earnestness radiated from her eyes. "Look, my mother didn't order your assassination because she hated you—and I’m sure it was her who told Kyrian to kill you. She's just fearful, that's all. She thinks you're a very dangerous pawn in the game, a game consisting of people who have vast amounts of power and influence. My family doesn't trust the archangel council or mage government, and she just didn't want you to fall into their hands. It still doesn't make what she attempted to do okay, but she's a very old woman. She's spent her entire life maneuvering chess pieces around on the board to survive and protect what's hers. The next time you see her, you can punch her right in the nose."

"I'm not going to punch your mother!"

"She's immortal; she'll be okay," Evangeline shrugged. "Now that you're here with us, she's not going to order some secret assassin to come and kill you. And if she does, I'll kick that assassin's ass and you and I can spend the rest of the night drawing penises on his face."

The seraph princess seemed genuine enough that I trusted her to not hurt me. I relaxed and went to put on the clothing Evangeline provided. Since we were staying in for the night, she gave me a set of pink and white striped pajamas to wear. "So, are you more of a wine kind of girl or a wild one who prefers shots?" Evangeline asked as I walked away.