“So you came to the correct assumption that part of him could sense wings, maybe even angel wings.”
“I know it’s trivial since you have Mark, but Acalan’s at a fork in the road, and I didn’t want the other side to get to him first.”
“Who is he?”
“Acalan Cabello. His husband was killed in a fight probably brought on by intolerance, but I wasn’t there; I only have his grandmother, Zarita Cabello’s, word for it.”
“Zarita is a good woman. I would believe her. Let me put someone on this. I have a kind guardian angel in mind. I want to see if I can find her. Excuse me a moment.”
Mia drank the wine down. She needed the courage for part two of the conversation.
Michael walked back in and studied Mia a moment. He felt fear mixed with respect roll off her in waves. He tapped her on the shoulder, and she all but fainted.
“Sorry, I was thinking,” she said.
“Would you like to tell me why you’re so wound up?”
“Wouldn’t you rather just read me?” Mia said. “This way I don’t leave anything out.”
“That bad?” he asked, concerned.
“No, maybe not. But please understand the only reason I didn’t come to you right away with it was because I didn’t know how to get to you.”
“Come on, Mia.”
“No, it’s the truth. Twenty years ago, would you have known who I was?” she asked.
“Maybe not,” he said and approached her. “Try to keep your hands off me while I read you.”
Mia turned bright red. “If I survive your censure, I’m going to kill Sariel,” Mia vowed.
Michael moved into Mia’s mind.
Sariel looked at the closed door and worried. Mia had been with Michael a long time. He knew better than to interrupt his general. He worried how Mia was going to react to Michael in his armor. Maybe his cruel treatment of her in the past would keep her from reacting to his magnificence. Whatever happened, he knew he would have to clean up the mess. He insisted she see Michael.
Michael had pulled away from Mia a while ago. He laid her on one of the settees while he ran through the ramifications of what he had seen. He had the two alternate timelines to sort out. He felt the emotional attachment she had to Altair and wasn’t pleased, but Mia was always looking for a father, wasn’t she? This explained why Altair was again AWOL as he was trying to sort all of this out for his friend.
And then there was the Mia and Abigor connection. If she had been promised the dead general’s forty legions and had convinced Abigor to loan her his armies, the Council of Women and all their followers didn’t stand a chance. Mia was very dangerous. He should kill her now, but she had sought out and taken the good counsel of Altair and Roumain. Stephen Murphy had squelched her thirst for vengeance. She was still looking for advantages for Michael, even though he felt her heart resided with Abigor. But he couldn’t be sure. He couldn’t read her heart. All he could do was seek out the information she stored in her head. Unless he just asked her.
“Mia, wake up.”
Mia’s eyes fluttered open. Michael waited until she sat up before sitting down beside her. His wings brushed her skin as he adjusted them.
Mia cleared her throat and said, “I’m sorry. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for my sinful thoughts of vengeance, for coveting Roumain, and maybe Burt…”
He ignored what she was saying and spoke, “Mia, one thing I’m not very good at is reading someone’s heart. It’s an organ that seems at times to have its own mind. Why do you wear Abigor’s chain?”
“Shane Quivers told me about the first time Abigor and I met. He said, ‘You weren’t meant to live, Mia. He was sent to kill you. But Abigor saw you, lifted you up, and you smiled at him. Your fingers, so tiny, curled around his and he couldn’t do it. Instead he released your sight. He wanted you to at least see what was really around you. That life was more than flesh and blood. Life was spirits and paranormal beings, dancing and warring. You wouldn’t have come into your sight until the age of ten.’
“Shane released a memory that had been blocked by Abigor. Back before I sensed the young woman ghost in my nursery, I saw that there were two beings inside one man. I saw Abigor walk out of a much younger Shane. He looked down at me, and I felt the tickle of his scales on my pink newborn skin. This made me smile, and I held on to his finger. You see, I saw the demon and the angel he was. It was the first time I would ever feel love. My mother had rejected me. My father couldn’t bond because of the Cooper curse. But this demon sent to destroy me, cared enough to look into my heart and…”
“And?” Michael prodded.
“I fell in love with him. I know he’s horrible. I wear his chain because it keeps the other generals from killing me. They would not dare touch a possession of Abigor.”
“I want to ask you a question. Before you answer, I promise you I will not act upon the answer. I want the truth.”
“Yes, I will speak the truth. I owe you that much,” Mia said.
“If we were in battle and Abigor was in the position to kill me, what would you do?”
“My allegiance is to you and Heaven. I would kill Abigor. And then I would probably die because
