I shook my head. “Never mind. Same question, without the Harry Potter reference. Where are we?”

  Osca waved a hand at the doors. “This is the Divine City’s gathering hall. A place of pertinent meetings and discussions, where the Throne’s conduct their business.”

  “Wow.” I looked up to the tall building, feeling smaller than I already did by all of the glistening Power muscles. “Sounds very ‘pertinent’.” Osca didn’t seem to catch my teasing of his proper vocabulary, but the small smile on Riyon’s face gave me what I wanted.

  Osca nodded and reached up to the large handle carved into a lion’s head and knocked it against the door twice, causing an echo inside the building. The two doors creaked open, pulling inward, and a small female angel with dainty red wings bowed to the Power men, side-eyeing me suspiciously as she dipped forward.

  She wore the same thing as the other females I saw in the city, which wasn’t more than a white cloth draped over one shoulder, stretching across her chest, and wrapping around her hips to fall to her mid thigh.

  “Brothers. Welcome back.” She turned to me with a fake smile, and pretty blue eyes that complimented her shiny gold hair. If I had seen her in my neighborhood, I’d guess she was no more than sixteen. “And… welcome, Miss.” Her welcome to me was polite, but she had a fear about her. Was she afraid of me?

  “Thank you.” I said back, trying to sound nicer than I had been to the men. I didn’t want her to be scared. “My name is Erin. What’s yours?”

  The tightness in her shoulders lessened and she smiled bigger. “It’s Batya. Very nice to meet you.”

  “You too, Batya.” A pleasant exchange with a Power angel? Such a thing seemed unheard of… for me, anyways.

  Osca cleared his throat. “Thank you for the welcome, Batya. You and I will be taking Miss Porter to freshen up before her meeting with Morian.”

  My heart rate picked up. “Can’t Riyon come with us instead?” I was afraid to offend Osca. He didn’t seem like the type to handle it well. “I mean, you must be needed for more important things than following me around, right?” Riyon pulled his lips in, trying to stop another smile.

  Osca thought on my words and did his usual curt nod. “You are right. I would like to go ahead and speak to Morian before your appointment.” He turned to Riyon. “You will remain her shadow.”

  Riyon stood tall. “Yes, Talapati. I will.”

  Osca eyed me once more before entering the building and taking a right. Thank heavens. I hoped that was the last I’d see of him for a while, if not forever.

  After Osca was out of sight, Riyon quickly relaxed and bent to pull Batya into a big hug. My eyes went wide at the display in front of me. It was shockingly familial.

  Batya giggled like a schoolgirl, sounding even younger than before. “Put me down, Riyon! This is completely improper!”

  He dropped her back to her feet and stepped back again. “Did you not miss your big brother?”

  She rolled her eyes and then looked at me with a blush. “I am sorry, Miss Porter. We are not related as he says. He is more of a neighbor.”

  I shook my head. “Please, don’t be sorry. It’s just nice to see something other than military perfection, finally.”

  Riyon nudged my shoulder in the same way Penelope always does. “It’s formality when a Talapati is present to show little emotion. They are made for war, not family.”

  “That’s sad,” I said. Not that I cared all that much about Osca.

  Batya shrugged. “It is normal in the city.” She pointed to Riyon. “I have been around this rule-breaker much too long, or else I might be like Osca myself. He is my father, after all.”

  Riyon scoffed. “Thankfully, you are not.”

  “Your father? But you called him brother, and he barely looked at you.” My idea of a father was much different.

  “A father here isn’t the same thing as a father in your world, Miss Porter,” Batya added, showing little care.

  “Call me Erin, please. Like you said, you’re not like your father, so you don’t have to be so proper with me.”

  She smiled wider and waved us into the massive building. “Come…, Erin. We must hurry and get you to a change room in time, or our heads will be had.”

  Chapter 7

  * * *

  Riyon and I followed Batya into a large hallway with arching ceilings that went on for at least the length of a football field. Pillars were built into the walls and reached to the ceiling, where they split the hall into sections. It felt like walking through a Victorian castle built for a king. Everything was very white and completely solid-looking, as if it were a spiritual place.

  I was so busy looking at all of the intricate designs that I nearly ran into Batya when she stopped. She smiled at me, and pointed to an open door to my right, between two large pillars.

  “This is the place. We can leave the big guy out here to sit pretty.” She teased Riyon and I loved it.

  “Finally, some girl time.” I sighed out the words, and we left Riyon with his arms crossed and a scowl on his dark face.

  After the door shut behind us, Batya patted the cushion of a fancy chair for me to sit and walked over to a closet, disappearing inside. Sitting felt nice after all of the hiking and walking, especially after my night’s run in the rain. It felt like days had passed since then, but no clocks were around to tell me the time.

  I was left to check out my surroundings, and the small room was just like the rest of the building. White. Other than the chair I occupied, there was one other matching seat and a tall mirror on one wall. A very simple dressing room.

  “There are no clothes similar to the ones you have on now. You will need to dress in our traditional wardrobe,” she called from inside the closet and my throat tightened up.

  “What do you mean by traditional wardrobe?” I knew the answer before she showed me the tiny item of “clothing”. “No way. I can’t do that, Batya.”

  She held a white garment in front of me that matched her own. It was a simple white drape hooked together in two spots at the shoulder and the waist by a golden ring.

  “It’s quite a beautiful dressing. Better quality than mine,” she tried to reassure me.

  I shook my head. “Everyone will stare at me if I wear something like that. I’m a jeans and t-shirt kinda gal.”

  Batya tilted her head and looked me up and down. “That outfit you have on now will turn many more heads, trust me.”

  She was right. The angels already stared at me like I was a freak. I nodded in agreement and took the drape from her.

  I changed out of my human clothes and stood in front of the tall mirror with wide eyes after putting the angel garb on. “I feel like I’m in a play,” I said with a grimace.

  I clearly remember from sixth grade when the teachers said your hemline had to be below your fingertips. Well, I’d be sent home in an XXL school t-shirt for wearing something like this.

  Batya smiled and shook her head. “I think the phrase is ‘you look smokin’.”

  I dropped my jaw and turned to her laughing. “Well, look who knows a thing or two about simple human slang.”

  Her pale cheeks reddened and she tossed a thick bunch of hair over her shoulder. “Oh, I’m not really supposed to know what I do, but I have a fascination for… well, everything different.”

  “I understand that.” I smiled back at her, adjusting the cloth around my chest, assuring that all of the goods were locked in place. I imagined Batya knew a lot for her age, and it felt like as good a time as any to pry into the ways of the angels. “Batya, I have a lot of questions about your ways. Can I ask you something?”

  She sat in the chair opposite me, and leaned her elbows on her knees. She looked desperate for gossip. “Absolutely.”

  “Well, I’ve heard there are actual guardian angels up here, just like I’ve seen in movies back home. Is that true?”

  “I’ve never seen a movie, but we do have Guardians. They come through here mainly to train, and in transition between human charges.” She raised her blonde eyebrows. “What kind of angel movies are there?”

  I smiled at her interest in human existence. “There are actually quite a few. None all that accurate, though.” I chewed on my bottom lip before continuing. “There is one movie about a male guardian angel who watches over a young woman. The woman can see him and she… falls in love with him.”

  I had to blink rapidly as I realized the truth of my words. “In the movie, the woman kisses her angel and he is taken from her…” I paused too long, reliving the moment Zander left me on that field.

  “What happened to the Guardian? In the movie.” Batya listened intently to my not so made-up story.

  I shrugged. “He… uh, went to heaven and she moved on. It was really an awful movie.” She looked disappointed, understandably so. “Anyways, I know it was just a movie, but what would actually happen in that situation? Just out of curiosity.”

  Batya raised a single eyebrow and sat back in her seat. “Well, if a Guardian fell in love with his charge and the two somehow kissed, I imagine he would be reassigned.” Reassigned? “Not that it’s even possible.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “A human wouldn’t be able to see her Guardian. Humans don’t have the mental capacity to handle something like that. So falling in love isn’t a concern.”

  My eyes fell to the soft marble floor, and I watched my bare feet. Not for a normal human…

  Batya stood suddenly and her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, I’m so sorry if I said something wrong. I didn’t mean that humans weren’t smart… I just…”

  I cut her off with a raise of my hand. “No, no. You didn’t. I just have a lot on my mind.” I gave her a reassuring smile and grabbed her dainty hand. “Thank you for talking to me.”

  She bowed her head and put a few lost strands of my hair back into place. “There. You are ready to see Morian.”

  I groaned. “I’m not so sure about that.”

  “You’ll be fine.” Riyon’s voice came from the doorway where he stood with crossed arms. “We should move on. They will be expecting you.”

  ⬨⬨⬨

  I sat alone in an empty room. A long table was in front of me, covered with food I couldn’t have dreamt up in even my wildest dreams. Of course, my wildest dreams consisted of a gorgeous guardian angel smiling at me under a willow tree.

  I sighed out loud, knowing Zander had to be so close to me, but just out of reach. I stared at a bowl of berries in front of me. I’d never seen a berry like it before. It reminded me of a blueberry, but it was actually blue instead of purple like I was used to. A bright sky-blue.

  I wanted to taste the heavenly fruit, and all of the other dishes as well, but I wasn’t about to try angel food from another realm. I’d read the Percy Jackson books and knew very well what happened when mortals tried to eat immortal food.

  I looked around at the huge dining room that Riyon and Batya left me in only minutes before. They said I was to meet Morian there alone, and to try and relax. He was supposedly a good Throne angel, but I struggled believing that after the first golden-winged Throne I met attacked me upon entering the city.

  I scoffed at the memory, wishing I could go back to that moment and deck the guy.

  “Is something funny?” A deep voice echoed in the round room and I jumped in my high-backed antique chair.

  I spun around and there stood the biggest man I’d ever seen. And that was saying something after running from the brute Nephilim, Morax. Man wasn’t the word for him, either. He was clearly a Throne angel, and his slick golden wings touched the floor behind him, longer than the Power angels wings by a long shot.

  His muscles were larger than my head, and for a second I thought about going over to touch them. It was totally out of curiosity, but the thought quickly faded and I was looking at his face for the first time. He looked kind, even as I thought it couldn’t be the truth.

  His long sandy-blonde hair even outshined Penelope’s silky locks. Now, Morian could have been a Hanz or a Fabio for sure.

  I tried to remember what he had asked me when he walked in the room, and I quickly responded. “Nothing is funny. I was just thinking about how different this place is.”

  He looked around himself and nodded. “I suppose it is. I have grown used to this home of mine. I have forgotten life on earth.”

  “You must be Morian?” I asked, wanting to move on with getting the answers I desperately needed.

  He pulled out a chair only a few down from where I sat near the head of the table and took a seat. “Yes. I am Morian, and welcome to the Divine City, Miss Porter.”

  I wanted to roll my eyes at his formal greeting. Great. Another Osca. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m hoping you can tell me why I was brought here.”

  Morian’s thick eyebrows raised on his forehead. “Straight to the point, then. I can do that.”

  I sighed. “Good.”

  Morian plopped a few of the pretty blue berries past his gray beard and into his mouth. “First, I’d like to tell you that you are not an ordinary human.” He looked into my eyes. “Though, I’m sure you know this by now.”

  I nodded silently.

  “You are also not an ordinary angel, either.”

  I tilted my head at him. “I’m not an angel at all.” Did I believe that, though?

  Morian leaned against his wings and shrugged. “You know yourself better than the rest of us, Miss Porter. You know who you are and what you are capable of… at least, you think you know.”

  I didn’t know how to respond. The way he spoke to me made me feel like he could see through every fiber of me down to the marrow in my bones.

  He continued, “Something I know about you that you do not realize just yet, is that you are absolutely an angel. It is in there.” He pointed toward my chest, and somehow made it not look creepy.

  I instinctively brought a hand to the white fabric that hung loosely over my cleavage. “You can see inside of me?”

  He nodded with a soft smile. “I cannot see the physical you. It is not like an… x-ray? I believe that is the correct word.” I nodded to assure him he was right. “I can see spots of light. It is your soul. Your angel soul.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Are you going to tell me I’m evil, too? I had the soul talk already with another Throne like you. Amell?”

  Morian laughed, and the sound was surprisingly warm. “Yes. Amell is still young with a lot to learn. My son can be on edge, and less welcoming than most.”

  I was taken aback for a moment. “I didn’t know Thrones had children.” It made sense that they all had children. I wasn’t sure how else they could’ve had younger generations of angels.

  “Many angels have the capability of siring offspring. They cannot do so without an eternal mate, and not all of us have such a mate, but the possibility is there.”

  I wanted to shake my head, but chose to sit still and not give away how utterly lost I was. I knew that my birth father was a Nephilim… a fallen angel. Somehow he impregnated a human woman and I was the result. How is that possible if my mother wasn’t his eternal mate?

  I was about to ask my burning question aloud when he leaned on the large wooden table with his elbows and read my mind. “I know you must have questions about how you came to be. I want to be honest with you.”

  “Honest sounds great.” Mostly.

  “My people have the very same questions as you. Because I am being honest, I can tell you that we do not know what exactly you are, Erin.” He shrugged his shoulders, which seemed uncharacteristic for such a high and divine being. He was just as lost as me, only he didn’t have to be the enigma itself.

  I looked past him at a carved pillar that held up the high ceiling. An angel was engraved into what looked to be marble, and it floated down from the sky, wings outstretched and sword drawn. Diving toward a Nephilim who grew from out of the earth, coming from hell to fight.

  Without the distinct colors of the wings, they could be the same creature. Like brothers.

  Morian shifted so that he blocked my view of the carving. “I understand that this is hard to digest. Please know that we brought you here only to figure out…”

  “Am I a Nephilim, Morian? Am I evil?” I felt anger rising in me, but I wasn’t sure if it was at the Throne angel or myself. “I’m certainly not human. That only leaves one parentage doesn’t it?” Why beat around the bush?

  Morian stood, and I shrank inside of myself at his sheer size and intimidating form. He was just as buff as his son, just grayer around the edges.

  “Miss Porter. I can not begin to tell you if you are evil, divine, or incredibly ordinary. You have a soul. No Nephilim has a soul like a human or divine. All I can tell you now is that if you are a full angel, whether fallen or not, you are extremely powerful and a threat to your enemies. Do not make me an enemy.”

  I nodded. “I don’t want that either.”

  Silence stretched as a common goal floated in the large room. I felt the need to ask about Zander. He had to know what went on with us. He was the boss of the place after all.

  “Morian. I have another question.” He sat up straighter and waved a hand out for me to continue. “My Guardian was taken off of his assignment to protect me… I’m not sure if you knew that I was able to communicate with him, but…”

  Morian held his hand up and cut me off. “I know all that happened between you and Zander Reid. He earned his wings protecting you without a thought for himself. He is awaiting his reassignment.”

  My heart picked up pace and I began tapping my foot. Zander was okay. “I would like him to remain my guardian. I trust him and I will need someone to protect me if I stay here.”

  Morian raised an eyebrow. “We have more than enough loyal Powers to be your guards here in the city. A Guardian angel is to look after humans only. Not other angels.”

  “But…”

  He cut me off again. “You love him.”

  My mouth dropped open and I shook my head. “That’s not…” I couldn’t lie.