Wrath of the Fallen by Eve Archer

Chapter Thirty

Ella

After watching them tear off down the drive, I’d retrieved my phone and wandered into a long library with roaring fires at either end. Luckily, the French doors were also open, otherwise the heat would have been stifling.

I stood on the balcony for a while, trying to peer over the trees and track the black SUV that had left with Dominick, Rami, and the prince of demons. After a bit, I gave up. The trees were too lush and leafy, and the stone walls around the property didn’t help, although they hadn’t done much to keep Sara inside.

I shook my head as I turned and walked back into the room. “What were you thinking, Sara?”

She obviously hadn’t been thinking. Not clearly, at least. I blew out a breath as I sank onto the tan leather couch. Not that I was one to talk. I hadn’t been thinking straight when I’d begged Dominick to fuck me while my hands were bound to the bed. At the time it had felt right, necessary even. The compulsion had been so powerful; there was nothing else I could have done.

I glanced around the soaring bookshelves and richly patterned wallpaper. Despite the outward appearances of an elegant, if ostentatious, French chateau, there was something very off about the place. “Maybe the fact that it’s the lair of the prince of demons,” I muttered darkly to myself.

There was no doubt in my mind that the place was having an effect on me and Dominick. Considering that Sara had run off in the middle of the night with a demon she barely knew, I’d say it was affecting her, too.

“It’s okay,” I told myself. “They’ll find her.”

But what would I say to her when she returned? She’d been right about being the odd man out and I could only imagine how bizarre if felt to be thrust into a life that wasn’t your own, and you had little connection to. I was accepted by the Fallen because Dominick had claimed me as his mate. As much as she and Rami might make eyes at each other, neither of them had acted on it, and now that Rami had pledged himself to Mastema, the possibility that anything might happen between them seemed like a lovely dream that would now never happen.

There wasn’t much I could say, but at least I could make sure she was safe and not being seduced by Caspiel. I wasn’t even sure if Sara knew he was an incubus.

Thinking about the gorgeous demon and the sultry looks he’d given Sara was not helping. I jumped up from the couch and took long steps toward a table that held a crustal decanter. I wasn’t a big fan of scotch, even the expensive kind that Dominick preferred, but I needed something to calm my nerves while I waited.

I popped out the stopper and poured myself a few glugs of the amber liquor, lifting the sparkling crystal rocks glass and eyeing the contents with some amount of suspicion. Since I didn’t see anything else to drink—and did not want to summon a demon servant—I took a sip.

I gasped. Whatever that was, it wasn’t 18-year-old scotch. The liquor scorched my throat on the way down, and I replaced the glass on the table. If I couldn’t distract myself with booze, I’d have to try books, since the walls were lined with them.

Walking along the built-in shelves, I let my finger trace the leather-bound covers, admiring the gilded lettering and the deep embossing of some of the spines. There were no paperbacks or even dust-jacketed volumes. Each book looked to be hundreds of years old with the scent of aged paper and dust distinctive.

I pulled out one crimson-bound book, a small cloud of dust puffing into the air as I opened it. The end papers were painted with silver and glimmered as I flipped through the pages. I couldn’t read the language printed on the pages, but I recognized it as French.

My heart sank. Were all the books in the library in French? Had the books come with the house when the demon prince had acquired it? An illustration caught my eye as I flipped, so I turned back to find it. It was a pencil drawing of a demon, complete with pointed wings and a spiked tail. The demon’s expression was so intensely evil that my breath stuttered in my chest. I closed the book swiftly.

“So maybe these books didn’t come with the house,” I whispered to myself as I replaced the book on the shelf. Not many people owned books with terrifying images of demons.

Despite the drawing sending a chill down my spine, I continued to walk along the shelves. If the library was filled with books about demons or celestials in general, I wondered if there were any volumes about the Fallen. I knew what Dominick had told me, but there must be more information. They had existed since almost the beginning of time, and had been banished from heaven since the early days of civilization on earth.

My fingers faltered as I ran them over one book, buzzing from the touch of the nut-brown spine. I pulled it from the shelf and took it over to the couch, where I sat down and opened it on my lap.

This book wasn’t as dusty as the other one had been, but it smelled of old paper, and the pages crinkled as I turned them. At first, the words looked unfamiliar but then I could understand them, the strange words making total sense to me. I blinked a few times, not sure if was hallucinating, glancing quickly at the glass of liquor I’d left virtually untouched.

Looking back at the pages that now featured paragraphs of words I could easily understand, I decided to go with it. I wasn’t even sure what language I was reading, but it made complete sense to me. It even sounded natural as I whispered the words out loud.

“The prophecy was given by the angel called the fire of god, and the one known as the angel of evil, who became the prince of demons and injustice.”

Wait a second. My breath hitched in my throat. Was this talking about Mastema?

“Any angel who has been cast from the sight of God shall not be irredeemable, but his redemption shall be given only if he is bestowed the true love of a human marked by an angel, and he truly loves her back. The fallen angel may choose to be redeemed in the final judgment, or he may choose for the angelically-marked human to be granted immortality with him.”

I sucked in a breath and almost dropped the book. Was this the prophecy that Dominick and the Fallen were always referring to? I shook my head, unable to believe that it was written in a book in Mastema’s library.

“The angel of evil was sworn to keep this secret. If he divulged this truth, he would relinquish his own fleets of demons. Uriel bound this promise with the fire of his sword, sealing it into heavenly truth, but not revealing his actions to the other archangels, who would despise him for his action and his desire to see his former angel brothers redeemed. Only once did he whisper this secret into the ears of the fallen angels, but in their sleep, they did not comprehend what the words meant, or how they’d come about the knowledge.”

After that, the book went on to talk about Uriel some more, but I stopped reading, leaning back against the couch cushions and trying to compute what I’d read. It was similar to what I’d heard about the prophecy, but I’d never heard anyone mention the choice. The fallen angel could be redeemed or give immortality to the human.

I stood quickly, slamming the book and sending up a puff of dust. This changed everything. First of all, it wasn’t all the Fallen at stake. It only affected the one who elicited the love of the marked human. If Dominick chose not to be redeemed, maybe the archangels wouldn’t be so determined to separate us. If their goal was to keep him from being restored to his original status, he could take that off the table by making me immortal instead.

I swallowed thickly at the idea of immortality, but then I reminded myself that I’d be with Dominick. I could spend the rest of time with him with neither of us growing old and decaying in front of the other.

With trembling hands, I grabbed my phone from the side table, dialing Dominick and cursing as it went to voicemail. I stared at the screen. This was not the kind of thing you left in a rambling voicemail or sent in a text. “Call me, “I begged after the beep. “It’s important.”

Then I hung up, clicked the Find My Phone app, and located Sara. No way was I going to sit around and twiddle my thumbs waiting, now. This was too life changing. I ran from the library, my pulse fluttering at the thought of telling Dominick that I knew the prophecy.