He was still glowing, as if lit from within. She could still clearly see his violet-gray eyes and his full mouth. His strong hands and broad shoulders. She could reach out and fold herself into her love's light.
He reached for her. Luce closed her eyes at his touch, expecting something too otherworldly for her human body to withstand. But no. It was simply, reassuringly, Daniel.
She reached around his back to finger his wings. She reached for them nervously, as if they could burn her, but they flowed around her fingers, softer than the smoothest velvet, the plushest rug. The way she'd like to imagine that a fluffy, sun-drenched cloud would feel if she could cup it in her hands.
"You're so… beautiful," she whispered into his chest. "I mean, you've always been beautiful, but this—"
"Does it scare you?" he whispered. "Does it hurt to look?"
She shook her head. "I thought it might," she said, thinking back to her dreams. "But it hurts not to."
He sighed, relieved. "I want you to feel safe with me." The glittering light around them fell like confetti, and Daniel pulled her to him. "It's a lot for you to take in."
She bent her head back and parted her lips, eager to do just that.
The loud slam of a door interrupted them. Miss Sophia had found the stairs. Daniel gave a slight nod and a blazing figure of light darted through the secret door after the woman.
"What was that?" Luce asked, gaping at the trail of light fast fading through the open door.
"A helper." Daniel guided her chin back.
And then, even though Daniel was with her and she felt loved and protected and saved, she also felt a sharp stab of uncertainty, remembering all the dark things that had just happened, and Cam and his thundering black minions. There were still so many unanswerable questions running through her mind, so many awful events she felt she'd never understand. Like Penn's death, poor sweet innocent Penn, her violent, senseless end. It overwhelmed Luce, and her lip began to quiver.
"Penn's gone, Daniel," she said. "Miss Sophia killed her. And for a moment, I thought she'd killed me, too."
"I would never let that happen."
"How did you know to find me here? How do you always know how to save me?" She shook her head. "Oh my God," she whispered slowly as the truth slammed into her. "You're my guardian angel."
Daniel chuckled. "Not exactly. Though I think you were giving me a compliment."
Luce blushed. "Then what kind of angel are you?"
"I'm sort of in between gigs right now," Daniel said.
Behind him, the remaining silver light in the room pooled and split in half. Luce turned to watch it, her heart thumping, as the glow finally gathered, as it had around Daniel's figure, around two distinct shapes:
Arriane and Gabbe.
Gabbe's wings were already unfurled. They were broad and plush and three times the size of her body. Feathery, with softly scalloped edges, the way angels' wings looked on greeting cards and in movies, and with just a hint of the palest pink around the tips. Luce noticed them beating very lightly—and that Gabbe's feet were a few inches off the ground.
Arriane's wings were smoother, sleeker and with more pronounced edges, almost like a giant butterfly's. Partially translucent, they glowed and cast shifting opalescent prisms of light on the stone floor beneath them. Like Arriane herself, they were strange and alluring, and totally badass.
"I should have known," Luce said, a smile sweeping across her face.
Gabbe smiled back, and Arriane gave Luce a little curtsy.
"What's going on out there?" Daniel asked, registering the worried expression on Gabbe's face.
"We need to get Luce out of here."
The battle. Was it not over yet? If Daniel and Gabbe and Arriane were all here, they must have won—right? Luce's eyes flashed over to Daniel's. His expression gave nothing away.
"And someone needs to go after Sophia," Arriane said. "She could not have been working alone."
Luce swallowed. "Is she on Cam's side? Is she some kind of… devil? A fallen angel?" It was one of the few terms that had stuck with her from Miss Sophia's lecture.
Daniel's teeth were clenched. Even his wings looked stiff with fury. "No devil," he muttered, "but hardly an angel, either. We thought she was with us. We should never have let her get this close."
"She was one of the twenty-four elders," Gabbe added. She lowered her feet to the ground and tucked her pale pink wings behind her back so she could sit down on the altar. "A very respectable position. She kept this part of her well hidden."
"As soon as we got up here, it was like she just went crazy," Luce said. She rubbed her neck where the dagger had nicked her.
"They are crazy," Gabbe said. "But very ambitious. She's part of a secret sect. I should have realized it sooner, but the signs are very clear now. They call themselves the Zhsmaelim. They dress alike, and all have a certain… elegance. I always thought they were more show than anything else. No one took them too seriously in Heaven," she informed Luce, "but they will now. What she did tonight was grounds for exile. She might be seeing more of Cam and Molly than she bargained for."
"So Molly's a fallen angel, too," Luce said slowly. Out of everything she'd learned today, this made the most sense.
"Luce, we're all fallen angels," Daniel said. "It's just that some of us are on one side… and some of us are on the other."
"Is anyone else here on" — she swallowed—"the other side?"
"Roland," Gabbe said.
"Roland?" Luce was stunned. "But you were friends with him. He was always so charismatic and great."
Daniel only shrugged. It was Arriane who looked concerned. Her wings beat in a sad, agitated way and sent forth a brush of dusty wind. "We'll get him back someday," she said quietly.
"What about Penn?" Luce asked, feeling a knot of tears in the back of her throat.
But Daniel shook his head, squeezing her hand. "Penn was mortal. An innocent victim in a long, pointless war. I'm so sorry, Luce."
"So that whole fight out there…?" Luce asked. Her voice choked. She couldn't bring herself to really talk about Penn yet.
"Just one of many battles we wage against the demons," Gabbe said.
"Well, who won?"
"Nobody," Daniel said bitterly. He picked up a large shard from the stained-glass ceiling and flung it across the chapel. It shattered into a hundred tiny fragments, but it didn't seem to have released any of his anger. "Nobody ever wins. It's close to impossible for one angel to extinguish another. It's just a lot of beating until everyone gets tired and calls it a night."
Luce jolted when a strange image flashed into her mind. It was Daniel being struck directly on the shoulder by one of the long black bolts that had hit Penn. She opened her eyes and looked at his right shoulder. There was blood on his chest.
"You're hurt," she whispered.
"No," Daniel said.
"He can't get hurt, he's—"
"What is that on your arm, Daniel?" Arriane asked, pointing at his chest. "Is that blood?"
"It's Penn's," Daniel said brusquely. "I found her at the foot of the stairs."
Luce's heart constricted. "We need to bury Penn," she said. "Next to her father."
"Luce, honey," Gabbe said, standing up. "I wish there were time for that, but right now, we've got to go."
"I won't abandon her. She doesn't have anyone else."
"Luce," Daniel said, rubbing his forehead.