Page 167 of A House of Gold
"Don't." Croesus's voice is sharp. His hand covers my mouth gently but firmly. "Don't repeat what he said. Don't even think about it."
I look up at him, confused, terrified.
The angels are surrounding me now, and their faces, all of them, have gone completely blank. Stone-faced. Shuttered.
"What did he mean?" I try again when Croesus removes his hand.
Silence. Complete, absolute silence.
"Tell me!" The bonds flare with my desperation, and I feel all seven of them flinch.
"No," Seraph says flatly. His mirror eyes are cold, distant. "And you need to stop asking. Now."
"But–"
"Some knowledge will get you killed," Kael interrupts. "You've heard this before. After the vision. This is the same. Worse, even."
Please.Idris's voice in my mind is desperate.Stop asking. For your own sake.
"You all know what he meant." I'm shaking, from the power drain, from fear, from frustration. "I felt it through the bonds. The moment he spoke, you all–"
"Felt nothing," Dorian says quietly. His warm brown eyes are sad but firm. "We felt nothing. We know nothing. And neither do you. Understand?"
It's a warning. A plea. A command all at once.
I look around at all seven of them. Seven fallen angels who are lying to me. Who clearly recognized something in the archangel's dying words. Who went from confused to terrified to absolutely locked down in the span of seconds.
And who are going to take whatever secret they understood to their graves rather than tell me.
"Fine," I whisper finally.
"Smart girl," Lysander says, but there's no flirtation in his voice. Just relief.
"Now," Croesus says, his hands on my face forcing me to look at him. "You channeled too much power. Your body is burning itself out. We need to get you back to the house, stabilize you, "
"The bonds," I gasp. "They feel wrong. Too strong. Like they're..."
"We'll handle it," Seraph cuts in. "But not here. Not in the open where Heaven might send another archangel."
Caspian opens a portal with visible effort. "Bring her.”
Croesus lifts me easily. I feel his terror mixing with something else. Something that might be guilt.
They all know something. Something the archangel said that made them recognize a danger I can't see.
But they're not going to tell me.
And as Croesus carries me through the portal, as consciousness starts to slip away, I can only feel one thing through six of the bonds:
Fear.
Not fear for me.
Fear of what I've become.
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I'm burning from the inside.
