Yes.
Wow. I thought about that for a few minutes. That’s kind of mind-blowing. At least now Jas can stop fretting that she’s going to live forever, and I’ll be an old lady who looks like her grandma rather than her sister.
“So I see. You have my felicitations.”
Alec bowed his head in acknowledgment.
Are you guys always so formal and old-fashioned?
It is the way of the bureaucrats, yes. I prefer to live in the here and now, but many beings in the Otherworld honor the old ways.
Gotcha. “What sort of aid?”
“I believe our goals are the same,” Terrin said, setting down his teacup. “The mare in question—Mare Disin—desires to free her great-granddaughter from the Akasha, namely, one Diamond Reed.”
I gawked at him despite the fact that I was gawking far too much ever since I’d met Alec. “Diamond has a grandma who is in heaven?” I shook my head. “That came out wrong. She’s got a grandma who is a big-time angel? Boy, that still doesn’t sound right.”
“Diamond has a great-grandmother who is one of the three individuals who wields great power in the Court of Divine Blood, yes,” Terrin said, glancing at his watch. “And we are running out of time to effect a rescue.”
“I have heard of the mares,” Alec said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “If they wield as much power as is reputed, why does not this mare simply remove her descendant from the Akasha?”
“The mares’ powers are confined to the Court; they have none outside of it, much less so in the Akasha.”
“But they do control the Hashmallim,” Kristoff interrupted.
“I was just going to point that out,” Alec agreed, turning to me to add, since he knew I was going to ask, “The Hashmallim are the beings who act as the police force of the Court of Divine Blood. They also serve to guard the Akasha. It is because of them that we could not simply leave it.”
“I remember the greeter saying something about them,” I murmured, wondering what Diamond was doing at that moment. Was she worried? Afraid? Guilt swamped me at being so caught up with Alec that I had been ready to let her happily putter on her own in the Akasha. Despite her reassurance that she was looking forward to seeing all the Akasha had to offer, it was still a place of punishment, and she had done nothing to deserve being trapped there.
“They do indeed direct the Hashmallim,” Terrin acknowledged, smiling his thanks when Pia poured him more tea. Already the bruise marks on his throat had almost faded to nothing. “And if Her Grace Disin had asked the Hashmallim to take her great-granddaughter to the Akasha, she would most certainly be able to demand a release. But Diamond was banished by Bael himself, and combined with the fact that she is a vessel, it makes for difficulties in gaining her release without extraordinary measures.”
“I understood, like, one word in five in that,” I told Pia. “How about you?”
“One in four,” she said, patting my knee. “But I’ve been around these guys longer than you. What’s a vessel?”
“A member of the Court of Divine Blood. In the hierarchy of the Court, they are the lowest member, and justly serve mortals. They answer to—”
“Whoa, wait just a second, here,” I interrupted, shaking my head. “You’re saying that Diamond is an angel, too? Diamond who stole my husband away from me?”
Alec made an abortive gesture.
“Not that I wanted him anymore, and I’m much happier without him,” I said quickly, flashing a quick smile at Alec. “But still, she stole him from me! Angels don’t do that!”
“She is a vessel,” Terrin said, his warm brown eyes doing a little twinkle thing at me. “She serves mortals.”
I thought about that for a moment. “You’re saying she took Dermott from me because . . .” My gaze shifted to Alec, enlightenment dawning in the dusty hallways of my mind. “Because I was going to meet Alec?”
“Because you are a Beloved, and you have a moral code that would not allow you to fulfill that role if you were bound to another man,” Terrin said, hiding his smile in the cup of tea.
“I can’t help but be a little annoyed with the fact that she thought she’d just come along and manipulate my life like that,” I said, feeling disgruntled and somewhat betrayed. “I thought she really loved him. I thought he was better off with her. I thought I was doing the right thing by giving them my blessing.”
Terrin shrugged. “She most likely does love him. Her job would not have required her to marry him, so I assume she felt they had a future together. And just for the record, no member of the Court takes it upon themselves to manipulate mortals. We may guide now and again, but in the end, the choice of what path your life takes is entirely yours.”
My gaze went again to Alec, whose mouth was tilted up on either end in the very faintest of smiles.
You look smug.
I do not feel smug. I feel grateful.
Grateful that I let my inner devil have her way and hook up with you?
Grateful that Diamond had the foresight to separate you from your ex-husband. Did you love him?
When we were first married, yes. But it wasn’t the sort of love that had much depth to it, and before six months were up, I knew I’d made a mistake.
“That’s all and well, not that I mean to make light of your relationship with your ex-husband, Cora, but what, exactly, do you expect Cora to do to get her friend out of the Akasha?” Pia asked Terrin. “Are you going to . . . for lack of a better word . . . use her?”
“Would that I could,” Terrin said, looking even more tired. “But although one Tool by itself is powerful enough to pull most people from the Akasha, a member of the Court is beyond its power. Two Tools, however, should do the trick.”
“Are you saying that the Tools can work together?” I asked. “That they can . . . what, chain power or something?”
“That is a very apt way of phrasing it.”
“So if two of the Tools together are enough to yank Diamond from the Akasha, what would all three be like?” Pia asked.
Terrin shuddered and closed his eyes. “The three Tools wielded by one person would rock the mortal world. They could cause irreparable damage to any being, mortal or immortal. It would, in short, have a devastating effect the likes of which have not been seen by this world since the creation of Abaddon.”
Pia looked at me as if I were a walking time bomb. I knew just how she felt. I looked down at my hands, panic and fear swamping me.
I will let no harm befall you, mi querida. No one will use you in such a way—that, I swear.
But they could, Alec. I could be part of something seriously, unimaginably bad.
I would not allow it, he reassured me, but there was a shadow in his mind that made me feel sick to my stomach.
“So you need us to summon Ulfur in order to get Diamond out, yes?” Pia asked as I was trying to come to grips with my emotions. She glanced at Kristoff. “We’ll have to find another lichmaster.”
“There is one in France. We will contact her,” he answered.
“Won’t it be dangerous for Ulfur and me to be together?” I said slowly, leaning into Alec when he sat on the arm of the couch next to me.
“Normally I would agree that it would not be in any way ideal for you to be within close proximity of another Tool, but this is an extraordinary situation.” Terrin glanced at his watch again. “The time of acclimation is almost upon her, and that would be most tragic.”
What’s an acclimation?