Page 20 of Wolf of Ashes
“Cathedral?”
“The stronghold of the Philadelphia Order of Angels. These angels are known for their ferocity. Whatever battle was fought here appears to confirm it. We need to leave.”
“Philadelphia,” I whisper. “Fuck.”
More worrying to me than the identification of our location is the fact that we’re still in Philadelphia. My cage is here. Zadkiel lured Mom to this city under the guise of helping her. I was hoping that, by traveling through the dark keeper’s realm and then through a pocket of the veil, I’d moved far away from my cage.
As for the Order of Angels, every major city has one. Each is led by a Serene Commander—a warrior angel stronger than the others.
The fact that we’re now standing within the stronghold of the Philadelphia Order means that my jailer could also be here. Even though he’s a Sentinel, and they usually keep to their pockets of the veil, he’s also an angel, which means he would have a right to come here.
In fact, if there was some battle he was called to help fight, it could explain why he disappeared for a few days. Even now, he could have discovered that I’ve escaped and might be on my trail.
“No.” I groan against these possibilities, fighting my need to escape, which is now at war with my desperate need for sustenance. “But there’sfood.”
The scents wafting through the archway on our left are driving me to madness. If there’s a fight ahead of me, I need to be stronger for it.
I jab my finger in the direction from which the smells are coming. “Food.”
“We don’t belong here,” the keeper says, more gently than I was expecting.
My response is harsh in the face of his calmness. “We don’t belonganywhere. Everywhere we go will be dangerous for us. I’m not afraid, remember?”
Just telling myself that doesn’t banish the fact that I should be afraid, but it does allow me to put my anxiety in its place and replace it with another emotion.
“I’m hungry. I’m dehydrated.” My voice becomes a low, dangerous growl. “And now I’mangry.”
“You’re hungry-angry,” the keeper says, nodding as if this is a thing.
“Angry-hungry.” I growl, but I end on a whimper when he continues to hold my arm. “And thirsty. I’m really thirsty. Please?”
The panthers, too, whine up at me and then turn to the keeper, their eyes big and pleading as they look to him.
He makes an unhappy sound in the back of his throat. “There are safer places to eat and drink, but the fact that you’ve admitted this weakness tells me you’re not going to manage the journey.”
“Weakness!” I spit. “Don’t insult me right now. Did you not hear the part where I’mangry-hungry?”
He appears completely unmoved by my fury, but he releases my arm. “As you like.”
Immediately, I launch myself in the direction of the arched passageway to the left of the damaged room.
The keeper stays close behind me, and the four panthers spread out around me in the corridor. I follow what feels like a short maze of hallways, the cooking smells growing stronger until I finally reach a partially open door.
From within the room beyond it, there also wafts the floral scent I detected before, and once again, my instincts are at war.
There’s danger in that room. Just as the keeper warned.
The female panther’s soft growls reach my ears as the keeper looms in behind me. I proclaimed to him that I wouldn’t hesitate to fuck with powerful creatures, but the floral scent is giving me pause.
His shoulder brushes mine. I expect him to tell me he told me so and tug me in the other direction.
Instead, the sudden blackness of his eyes takes my breath away.
He reaches past me and pushes open the door.
With the movement of his hand, dark light resembling thin threads of mist appears around his fingertips and travels across the space in front of us. Tendrils whoosh around the door’s edge and reach across the air.
As the light streaks into the room, I take in the layout in a heartbeat.
