Raphaim growls in frustration at her stupidity, “Then you will die, Keeper. I will be long gone before they come for you.”
As he stomps towards her, he picks up her useless hand and presses the scroll into it. “Here!”
In shock, she looks at her hand and tears fill her eyes. “I don’t understand, Raphaim. The girl said you would not let her leave. You blocked my powers and now you help me, why?”
Her fingers curl around the scroll, and he places it across her heart. “I did not lure you with the girl. That was the Twins doing, and I did not block your powers. That was all you. Do not mistake me for your angel, Keeper! Everything I do is for one reason, Varena! I give you this for a promise from you to free her! My father keeps her captive and I am not strong enough to fight him.” In frustration, he looks into her shocked blue eyes.
“It’s not possible. They escaped. I was told they all escaped,” she whispers.
“Your angel lied to you!” He sneers at her and says, “All of them were caught, and all are dead except my Rena. You will save her or you will scream for death before I am through with you and everyone you love!” Quickly he leaves, and smiles showing his fangs when he hears her screams, “Malach!”
As he rushes through the sky, Malach follows her heartbeat, drumming wildly and erratically. He lands at a small shack, leaving a group of four angels as guards outside, he hurries inside. The sight of her bloody and bruised almost stops his heart. Elina turns her face to him, and sighs out his name.
“Malach,” she groans and he drops to her side, snapping his wings close to his body inside the small room. He tries to pull her shirt aside; he stops when she flinches away from him. “Elina, I will not hurt you.”
With tears in her eyes she says, “You already have. How could you let them all die, Malach? Why did you lie to me?”
“Everyone is okay, Elina,” he tells her thinking she is confused from her blood loss. “Your family is safe.”
Shaking her head, she draws a weak breath and screams, “NO, They are all dead! You lied to me!!!!” She sobs when she thinks of her people, “I left them to die, but you said they made it out, Malach.” Hurt and confused, no longer sure who to trust, Elina reaches for her power and blocks him, creating a shield around her body.
“Elina! You will let me heal you!” he roars.
“NO! Why should I trust you? He said only Varena lives. How is that possible? I don’t know what to think anymore!” Her shield flickers and he seizes control.
“Enough! You have lost too much blood.” As he stands, he stretches out his wings and rips her clothes from her body. Too weak to fight, she simply stares at him with hopeless eyes. Horrified at the wounds covering her body he lifts his hands and calls for help. Silver and blue the angel dust rains down and seeps into her wounds, warming her as the healing starts. Elina closes her eyes against the pain, and refuses to look at him.
“Betrayer!” he hears in his mind and he sighs as she succumbs to the healing sleep. The loss of blood worries him, so he covers her in a silver robe, and lifts her in his arms taking her to the one place he knows he can keep her safe.
Slowly Elina opens her eyes and blinks, focusing on the stars above. She inhales slowly, drawing in a deep breath, she finds the pain dulled and tries to move her hands. She flexes her fingers, then makes a fist and lifts her arm slowly to push her hair out of her eyes. She is home in her cave, and healed. She looks around her room, groggy and parched, then pushes up to her elbows, noticing that she wears a silver robe and nothing else. The robe parts and she looks at her thigh where the arrow was and finds a pink scar. Holding out her other leg she sees the bone has been healed. After she sits up, she waits for the room to stop spinning and reaches for a glass of water. Her grip is not at full strength and the glass slips from her fingers, exploding on the hard floor. Before she can move Malach appears, and she stares coldly at him. Her heartbeat accelerates as he moves to clean up her mess. With a wave of his hand, the mess is removed and he stares back at her.
Shaking with barely controlled fury, Malach snarls “Okay, Keeper, we should get this out of the way.” When she starts to stand, he has to force himself not to assist her.
On weak legs she faces him, her guardian, confident, friend and betrayer.
“Betrayer!” he hisses, snapping out his wings to full width. “How dare you call me that? I have never betrayed you, Elina!” His aggressive stance causes her to jump, so she brings her power close looking at him.
“He said they all died! How could you not know that?” Pounding her heart with a fist, “I could have saved them, Malach!” She rushes at him, and beats on the tattoo cross on his chest, “You should have let me go back!”
He grabs her fists and jerks her against his body, his emerald eyes flashing with fury “NO! You know you were not strong enough! Who told you this?”
“Raphaim saved me in the pyramid,” she responds jerking away from him. “He said Varena is alive and he gave me the scroll, Malach. She is the only survivor of my people.”
“You took the word of a demon for truth!” In disbelief he looks at her and asks, “Who is the betrayer here Elina?”
The silky silver robe swishing around her legs as she paces, unable to look at
