Sixty-Nine
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Camilla
I fiddled with the chains attached to the cuffs wrapped around my wrists.
The buzz from whatever air conditioning they had stirred above my
head. I sat back on the bench in my cell and tucked my legs under me with a sigh. I tried to keep track of how many days I had been locked up by counting the meals Vincent brought me, but my internal clock was just too messed up, and the grumpy celestial was no help.
My hands flexed, and I concentrated on my palm, willing just a flicker of emerald magic to form, but like every other time, nothing happened.
Sighing, I leaned against the cool wall.
A door whooshed open, and I sat straight. Any distraction from my thoughts was welcome at this point. Light poured into the room, followed by voices. My heart quickened, thinking Vincent had returned, but I quickly snuffed that reaction. We barely tolerated each other, but at least when he was here, I didn’t feel so alone. Even if he just sat silently or complained.
I heard a deep laugh as two sets of feet headed my way. Logan. My hope and excitement deflated.
“I will suspend you if you do not cease.” Samkiel’s voice was a low growl filled with exasperation.
At the sound of his voice, I stood. I hadn’t seen Samkiel since they’d locked me away down here. My hand instinctively ran to my throat. I gulped, remembering the feeling of his power coursing through my veins, almost boiling my body alive. The dark thoughts just kept coming, and I couldn’t help but remember the stories I’d heard of Samkiel and Logan.
How, when the two of them showed up together, their enemies fell. Was that
to be my fate? Had my usefulness run its course? I couldn’t help how I began to tremble, terror twisting me in knots.
They came to a stop in front of me. The power radiating from them made my skin prickle and my magic sing. They were men-shaped forces of light, air, and pure raw power.
“Hello, Camilla. Are you enjoying your cell?” Samkiel asked. His voice always reminded me of the ocean. It sounded beautiful but could create a storm so dark and violent that it would drown you in seconds if you allowed it.
“It’s lovely.” I lifted my hands, the engraved silver cuffs rattling.
“Celestial chains and all. Oh, and the company. Vincent is the best guard.”
Samkiel looked at Logan, his brow furrowing with confusion. “Peculiar, I only sent him for one watch. He’s been back?”
Logan shrugged. “I don’t know. He hasn’t said anything about it to me.”
That caught me off-guard, and I realized I probably should have kept my mouth shut. Vincent had come back regularly. He’d tell the others to leave, and then he would usually just sulk, barely speaking. But the nights he did, we talked about everything and nothing.
Samkiel brushed it off, placing one hand in his pocket. Even his council garbs screamed power, the silver a stark contrast to the unrelieved black of the celestials. I knew he was the protector and savior of every realm, but right now, he seemed every bit of a predator. Sheer power wafted off him.
Maybe that was what Dianna loved most about him. Or maybe it was the ego she’d complained about, but I knew her and could tell she found his confidence sexy. I mean, in all fairness, he’d earned it. He needed no help, no armies. I had heard the stories, read the texts, and witnessed a small amount back in San Paulao. He had nearly ripped the room apart after Dianna was shot. I could easily picture him doing the same to Onuna if she had died in Yejedin. There would be nothing left in the wake of that destruction.
Samkiel was just a boy in love with a girl. I knew it, even if they hadn’t said it. Or, like her, denied it. I could feel it dancing across my skin, leaving goosebumps in its wake. Love was nothing but magic in its purest form.
“I’m assuming you’re here to tell me I’ll be executed soon?” I swallowed the growing lump in my throat.
Logan snickered, and Samkiel shot him a quelling glance before saying, “Actually, quite the opposite.”
I took a step, the chains at my feet rattling. “You’re letting me go?”
If Samkiel heard my racing heart, he didn’t mention it. “Temporarily,” he said.
“Why?” The ‘after everything’ was silent.
Samkiel took a step forward, and I took one back. His large frame took up half the cell door, partially blocking my view of Logan.
“Please, do not get too excited. This is not a….” He looked at Logan.
“What is the word I am searching for?”
“Vacation? Maybe?”
“Ah yes, not a vacation for you. I simply require something from you. A favor, no, I apologize, a request, so to speak.”
My nerves raced. What could he want from me? “What is it you need?”
“Merely a day.”
“A day?”
He rubbed at the growing stubble on his jaw as if searching for the words. He seemed nervous. What could he possibly need a day for?
“Yes, I wish for you to impersonate me. Only for a day. Logan will be with you the entire time, helping you if the council wishes to speak, but no one else will know.”
Sweat broke out down my spine. “You want me to impersonate you
during a council meeting for a day?”
Samkiel nodded.
“Why?”
“The reason is none of your business.”
The way he said it and shuffled his feet told me everything I needed to know. I fought to keep the smile off my face. Dianna. It had to be because of her. She was the only one I knew that could unnerve him enough to crack his tough exterior.
“Okay. I’ll do it. It’s the least I can do considering…”
Samkiel pinned me in place with his gaze, and my words trailed off. An icy wind ripped through the room, and if looks could kill, I’d be dead.
“This changes nothing about your imprisonment, nor does it make up for what you have done. Do you understand?”
I nodded, lowering my gaze. “I know.”
“Perfect,” he said from right in front of me. He hadn’t bothered to lower the glowing bars. He just appeared inside my cell. I froze as he dipped his head toward me.
“If you try to flee while I am away, try to hurt or trick anyone I care for, I will make sure your death lasts eons. I know how, and I can show you. It would be easy after what you did to my Dianna. Is that also clear?”
My nod was more of a feverish shake. He straightened, my eyes boring into his broad chest. One second he was there. The next, I was looking at Logan beyond the cerulean bars.
Logan tapped his fingers against the screen on the wall beside my cell, and the bars fell.
He stepped inside and produced a key before reaching for my hands. I noticed the hint of a tattoo curving around his wrist as he unlocked the cuffs.
“I’ll need to eat something if I am doing a transfiguration spell.
Especially if I am to hold it all day.”
The chains fell to the floor, and my magic welled to the surface, wrapping me in warmth.
Logan stepped back, his expression hard. “I am surprised Dianna let you
live after what you did.”
“You care about her.”
“She is my queen.”
“What?” The word left my lips on a gasp.
“If Samkiel so chooses, she will be. But she is also more than that.”
Logan took me by the arm and led me to the door. “She saved my life twice and made it possible for me to rescue my wife from Yejedin. So, to say that I care for her doesn’t even begin to express what I feel for Dianna. She’s family now, whether or not she knows it. So let’s get you fed, and this day started, and maybe, just maybe, it will work long enough that they can have one day of peace together.”
A smile teased at the edges of my lips. Maybe in the cruelest way, Dianna had gotten the one thing she so desperately craved—a family.
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