Kai dropped his forehead to mine. “What did you see?” I asked again.
His answer was to crush me in his embrace. The loud thump of his racing heartbeat made me apprehensive. I’d seen many iterations of his death, but something about him being the recipient of a vision terrified me. “Do I die?”
He gripped the door frame so hard it fractured. “Don’t,” he said. At the same time, he tightened his hold on me with his other arm. Angelfire lit up the aura around him. I felt the first strains of a teleport but didn’t have the slightest idea where we would go right now. When we remained suspended, it struck me that he didn’t intend to light himself up. Almost as though he was scared something was coming and he was preparing for us to run.
I grabbed a chunk of hair at the base of his neck and pulled his head back. “Kai,” I said. “I can’t be the meek little human for your Council and the girl who survives the wrath of the devil at the same time. It’s mutually incompatible. If what you saw is Lucifer coming for me, I can’t run. I won’t run.”
He looked into my eyes, searching for a second. The way he turned his head away made me think that wasn’t it. “Kai! If I don’t know what’s coming, I can’t prepare for it.”
He finally let me go to the tune of a vicious growl. “I saw your death,” he said. “But it wasn’t Lucifer. On the field of battle, when you turn on us, I’m the one who kills you.”
The light around him fluctuated into a tone so dark it was almost black. “I keep seeing a vision where you’re the one who brought the armies of Hell to Seraphina to murder my family. And I’m forced to kill you to save them. That’s why...” he made a sweeping gesture at the room. I finally understood. He was in here reliving this memory not because he wanted to torture himself, but because he needed reassurance that it hadn’t happened this way.
“It’s not real,” I reminded him. “You of all people should know that.”
He started pacing, his fists balled at his sides. “All this waiting around is really pissing me off. But what else can we do? We can’t kill him.”
That was the bloody catch-22 in all of this. Lucifer was our biggest threat but to kill him meant unmaking a seraph, and that kind of energy displacement would destroy our dimension. But with Lucifer alive, the prophecy in all of its iterations would always hang over my head. It was an impossible riddle. One I was too tired to contemplate tonight. I stifled a yawn behind my hand.
Kai watched me rub my eyes. His gaze lingered on where my pyjama bottoms had ridden down and the top of my panties were showing. I yanked my pants up hurriedly but he was already smirking. “What?”
“Little snowflakes?”
I could feel the blush creep over my skin. But I tilted my chin up. “It’s seasonally appropriate,” I said. “Actually, I’m kind of cold.”
Neither of us pointed out the thinly veiled ruse to get him to hug me. He did it anyway. I pressed my nose to his chest and inhaled. “I’m sorry about your family,” I said. “I promise to try not to die.”
He stiffened. “That’s not funny.”
“I know it isn’t. I’m not trying to be.”
I could feel him swallowing hard. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about today,” he said. “It’s hard enough for you at the moment. The last thing I wanted to do was dump this on you. Obviously that failed.”
“I don’t need you to save me, Kai.” I chewed on the next words. It was still difficult to put myself into a vulnerable position. “But I can’t walk around the corner and see you holding her. I have enough problems with trust as it is.”
He held me closer. “Got it,” he said. “For what it’s worth, she just kind of grabbed me and she was crying and I –”
“Stop talking.”
He cupped my face in his hands. “Can I just say one more thing?” I nodded reluctantly. “You didn’t show up to training today –”
I groaned and slapped his hands away. “You’re the worst.”
“I’m just saying you’re already at a disadvantage so it’s not the best idea –”
I opened the door and started to walk away. He didn’t follow. The crowd outside had dispersed a little, but I didn’t need radar to know Chanelle was still among them. I was all the way to my door before I huffed at the sight of him leaning against the hallway.
“Very funny,” I said.
“Do you see my point?” A monkey would have gotten the point by now. I was going to be competing against supernaturals who, amongst other things, could teleport. If I kept skipping training, I was going to get my ass handed to me. Even if I went to training, I was probably going to get my ass handed to me.
“I’ll have you know the kids think I’m going to win.”
He chuckled. “The kids still believe in some of our fairy tales.”
“Just you wait.”
He reached out and grasped my hand. “One way or another, I’ll nullify this blood vow. Just try and stay alive.”
Trying to stay alive seemed to be my motto these days.
21
Both Sasha and Roland scowled at me over breakfast. “Let me guess,” I said. “You’re annoyed I didn’t go to training last night.”
They just glowered. “Oh, get over it,” I said. “It was one day.” I was already in a sullen mood. Giselle had left a threatening note under our door this morning.
“You’re not taking this very seriously,” Sasha finally said.
“Give her a break,” Diana said. “There’s more going on than just
