Chapter 4
870 Words
For one impossible moment, nobody spoke.
The rain hammered the pavement.
Traffic lights flickered back to life at the end of the street.
And Kael Voss—who looked like he could personally fight God and win—was staring at the man with the umbrella like he wanted to tear his throat out.
The man smiled.
"Kael."
"Lucien."
The names landed between them like a threat.
I looked from one to the other.
"Great. You know each other."
Neither of them looked at me.
Ronan, however, let out a low whistle.
"Well, this is awkward."
I rounded on him.
"Do you mind explaining what the hell is happening?"
All three men looked at me.
Not at each other.
At me.
And somehow, that was worse.
The man with the umbrella stepped forward.
He was beautiful.
There was no other word for it.
Not handsome.
Not attractive.
Beautiful.
Dark hair. Pale skin. Eyes the color of old wine. He looked like he belonged in oil paintings and nightmares.
"Lucien Blackwood," he said, with a slight inclination of his head. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Aria."
Finally.
That word again.
Everyone kept acting like they'd been waiting for me.
Like I'd missed a meeting centuries ago.
"I don't know you."
"No," Lucien said softly. "You don't."
The sadness in his voice caught me off guard.
Before I could respond, Kael moved.
Not toward me.
Toward Lucien.
"Did you do this?" he asked.
Lucien's expression didn't change.
"Do what?"
"Wake her."
The air around Kael changed.
I couldn't explain it.
The temperature didn't drop.
The lights didn't flicker.
But something primal in me suddenly became very aware that the man standing six feet away was not human.
Not even close.
His eyes glowed.
Gold.
Bright enough to illuminate the rain.
Ronan took a subtle step backward.
Interesting.
Apparently even demon assassins knew when to be nervous.
"I asked you a question," Kael said.
Lucien sighed.
"You always did have anger issues."
The concrete beneath Kael's feet cracked.
I should have been terrified.
Instead, I felt...
Safe.
The realization disturbed me more than the glowing eyes.
"Nobody woke her," Lucien continued. "Not intentionally."
Kael didn't relax.
"Explain."
Lucien finally looked at me.
Really looked at me.
Not at my face.
Not at my body.
At something underneath.
And for one horrifying second, I felt exposed.
Like he could see every secret I'd ever had.
"You killed tonight," he said quietly.
I froze.
"People die in underground fights."
"No."
His voice was gentle.
Which somehow made it worse.
"You killed because you remembered."
The world tilted.
Remembered?
Remembered what?
I opened my mouth.
Then I saw it.
Not with my eyes.
In my head.
Blood.
So much blood.
A battlefield beneath a black sky.
Thousands of people kneeling.
A crown.
A sword.
And me.
No.
Not me.
Someone wearing my face.
She was standing atop a mountain of bodies.
And she was smiling.
I stumbled backward.
The vision vanished.
"What..." I whispered.
The word barely came out.
Kael was suddenly beside me.
Not touching.
Just there.
As if he was resisting the urge.
"Aria."
I looked at him.
And saw fear.
Not fear for himself.
Fear for me.
"Tell me what you saw."
I didn't want to.
Because if I said it out loud, it would become real.
But the words came anyway.
"A battlefield."
No one moved.
"A crown."
Lucien closed his eyes.
"A woman who looked like me."
Ronan muttered something under his breath.
"What?" I snapped.
He looked at me.
And for the first time since we'd met, he wasn't smirking.
"That's not possible."
"Stop saying that!"
The shout echoed down the empty street.
"I killed someone tonight! Monsters attacked me! Time stopped! You all keep talking about me like I'm some kind of dead person who came back to life!"
Silence.
Then Lucien spoke.
"Because you are."
Everything inside me stopped.
"No."
He nodded once.
"Yes."
"No."
"Aria."
"No!"
The rain intensified.
Or maybe I just noticed it again.
I took another step back.
Then another.
"I know who I am."
Do I?
The thought wasn't mine.
I knew that immediately.
It came from somewhere deep inside me.
Somewhere old.
Somewhere waiting.
Do you?
My breath caught.
No.
No.
No.
I wasn't crazy.
I wasn't.
Then another voice spoke.
Not in my head.
Behind me.
"You are asking her to remember too quickly."
Every hair on my body stood up.
Because unlike the others, I hadn't sensed him arrive.
I turned.
A man stood at the mouth of the alley.
White wings spread behind him.
Not costume wings.
Not fake.
Real.
Massive.
Beautiful.
Terrifying.
Rain fell through them without leaving a mark.
He looked at me with eyes full of grief.
And love.
The kind of love that survives long after it should have died.
"Aria," he said softly.
My heart broke.
Not metaphorically.
Not emotionally.
Actually.
A pain split through my chest so violently that I dropped to my knees.
Because I knew him.
I had never seen him before in my life.
And somehow...
I knew him better than I knew myself.
"Asher?" I whispered.
The fallen angel closed his eyes.
And smiled.
"Hello, my queen."
- Writer
