Valeria groaned when she finally woke. A gentle touch caressed her brow with a cool, damp cloth. She opened her eyes to find Nile peering at her, the soft glow of his gaze kissing her cheeks with warmth. He smiled. “You’re awake.”

She winced when she tried to move. “Unfortunately,” she said, her voice an embarrassing croak.

“You shouldn’t get up yet,” Nile warned. He steadied her as she ignored him and tried to rise.

A terrible, jagged pain wound through her right shoulder and she twisted to see what was stuck in her skin. She’d expected shards of glass or pieces of stone for the burn that screamed across her senses, but there wasn’t a wound at all. Only a beautiful tattoo of a rose that glittered and glowed as if made of specks of the sun. Her eyes went wide as memories came flooding back. “You did it,” she whispered with awe.

Nile grinned. “Do you like it?”

She twisted and tried to pinch her shoulder to get a better view, but hissed with pain from the effort.

“Here,” Nile said and offered his hand. “There’s a place where you can see it better, if you feel up to it.”

She considered his palm before taking it. When she slipped her fingers through his, a delicious shiver ran up her spine.

He didn’t let her go as he helped her down the halls. Her birds twittered with excitement and perched on the sliver of windows that opened into the gardens. She halted when she reached one large enough to look out of.

It was green.

“What—”

Nile laughed and tugged her hand. “Yes, I’ll get to that. But first, this way.”

She bit her lip as she obeyed and continued through the halls until they came to a wide room. At the end, a mirror hid beneath a layer of dust.

Nile released her just long enough to run to it and wipe it down with the cloth he’d used on her forehead. A patch just at her height glistened and he pulled her up to it. “Come see.”

She loved the excitement in his voice. She took her time to peel away the tattered layer of her sleeve to expose the mark that Nile had put on her. His cheeks flushed when she turned and gave him a smile. “Is it safe to look?”

He nodded, not taking his brilliant gaze from hers. “Yes.”

She turned, and gasped to see the winding art that glowed down her arm. Swirls of power threaded through her veins and the glow she’d seen in Nile’s eyes now wound its runes through her body. But the tattoo of roses looked so beautiful. “Are you an artist?”

Nile huffed a laugh. “Hardly.” His smile softened. “My mother was, though. Perhaps her memory guided the magic.”

Valeria’s heart hurt too much to smile back. She knew Nile’s pain, and that pain threatened to break the innocent joy of their moment. She turned back to the mirror and traced a finger over her sensitive skin. “Why a rose? Why not a saffron bloom?” She loved it, but she’d been born of Tree Mother’s sap, and Tree Mother had bloomed saffron blossoms.

He came to her side and twirled a finger through her hair. “Saffrons are too fragile. Roses blaze with ruby red, just like your hair,” he grinned, “and they come with thorns.”

She slapped his hand away, but couldn’t keep the smile from overtaking her face. “Is that so? And what kind of thorns might I have?”

He opened his mouth to speak, but then his gaze flickered to the mirror. She turned to look, only to find that a golden form had appeared in their reflection.

The Light had found them.

“What do you want?” Valeria snapped as she stalked up to the mirror’s surface. She stabbed a finger onto the glass that had turned hot with the creature it held within. “I already got you into this world in one piece.”

An eerie giggle made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. “I came to thank you, unruly child.” The creature trapped on the other side pressed her palm to the glass. “I offer you a gift, if you’ll take it.”

Valeria frowned and glanced to Nile. His jaw snapped shut and he shook his head.

She agreed with him. She shouldn’t trust this creature. It was too unpredictable and wild, but a part of her wanted to take this reward, whatever it might be. So she pressed her fingers against the creature’s and endured the blazing heat that bled through.

The creature smiled, before reaching through and grabbing Valeria by the wrist. Before she could react, she was yanked through.

* * *

Valeria should have known that mirrors could behave as portals to a creature of the Ether. She swirled in a blinding vortex of Light as she launched up into the sky.

She opened her mouth to speak, but any sounds were swallowed up by the swirling waves of power as she soared.

She’d thought the creature had returned her to the Ether, but when she saw a golden city span out before her eyes, her stomach dropped. She knew exactly where she was.

“Why have you brought me here?” she cried. She didn’t want to see this city. She didn’t want to know anything about the angels other than how to take them down.

“This was your birthplace,” the creature said, her blazing hand a scalding rod against Valeria’s shoulder where her tattoo burned to contain the power. “Let’s go see what it looks like now.”

The city blurred as the creature took them through walls, through time and space into a realm that was somewhere between this city and the Ether. Grand, crystal trees sped by as they moved through the orchard that housed unborn angels. Valeria felt like she knew this place, even if she couldn’t remember it. She reached out as they passed the rainbow-hued eggs that housed the creatures she could have called brethren. Her fingers retracted when she recalled what these unborn children were. These were lost souls she couldn’t save.

The Light pointed at a Hallowed angel who carried one of the eggs. Valeria’s stomach turned to think of what he might do if it were a deformed child. Did they simply toss the eggs from a cloud?

“That’s a healthy one,” the Light said and gave Valeria a sheepish grin. Her features glimmered like glass against the brilliance of the angel city merging with her ethereal form. “Let’s see where he’s taking him.”

Valeria opened her mouth to protest, but the creature gripped her wrist and slammed them through a wall of Light that divided the Birthing Forests from a place between the city and the sacred grove. Grand houses lined golden streets and children ran and played. The Light creature took her into one of the largest that encircled a courtyard of greenery and flowers.

The angel children were too young to take off in flight, but some tried anyway, flapping their wings and laughing as they tumbled over one another. That’s when she spotted an adult among them, laughing and smiling with a charming grin that took her breath away.

Her heart turned cold when she recognized the angel.

“That’s Anark,” the Light whispered proudly, as if this wasn’t the angel that had brought death and flames to her family.

Valeria stiffened and rage tingled along her fingertips. “Why have you brought me here?”

She hadn’t intended to yell, but her voice was loud enough that Anark turned, the silver waves of his hair flowing over his shoulder as his amethyst gaze found her and widened with surprise.

Valeria’s heart skipped a beat. “He can see us?” she asked, leaning in to the creature of Light.

Children flapped their wings and laughed as they tumbled over him, but Anark didn’t throw them off. He eased them to the ground and patted their heads before coming over to Valeria. “By the Divine,” he whispered and his gaze swept over her with unhidden amazement. “How are you here?”

Valeria frowned and jerked a thumb at the creature giggling at her side. “She brought me here.”

Anark glanced in the direction she’d pointed, but shook his head. “I don’t see anything.”

Valeria rolled her eyes. Of course the Light was doing this on purpose. She wanted to ring its neck, but if she did that, she might never get back to Terra in one piece. “Never mind,” she bit off and crossed her arms. His wings fluttered and Valeria noticed for the first time the dark, jagged scars that ran down his exposed ribs. “Still healing from the demon you brought to my home?”

He sighed. “I didn’t bring a demon. That was—”

The Light creature shrieked, cutting him off and blistering the ground with heat. The children cried and Anark bent his knees and went for the blade at his back.

An angel with golden eyes of a Hallowed rushed in.

“It’s fine,” Anark shouted. “Just get everyone out of here. I’ll handle this.”

The angel glanced at the creature of Light and frowned before herding the children out of the courtyard.

The creature’s golden eyes bore into hers. “I brought you here because it is his duty to care for the angel children. You were once one of them, and it’s his duty to protect you, if you’ll find the courage to ask for his aid.”

Valeria growled. “I don’t need anyone’s protection.”

The Light gripped her wrists and seared blinding pain that scourged down to the bone. “This is the power of the Coterie, unruly child. Accept his aid, or I will be doomed to return to the Ether forever when you inevitably die under their wrath.”

Valeria wrestled herself free and hated the tears that burned her eyes. She found Anark with his wings flared and battle stance ready, his magnificent form a painting that took her breath away. “It’s fine,” she managed to say through chattering teeth. She’d never been good with pain.

He straightened, but let his sword hang free in a loose grip. “You didn’t come here of your own accord.”

She rolled her eyes. If he were as intelligent as he were beautiful, she’d have a hard time thinking straight around him. “Of course I didn’t come here of my own accord. You killed my family.”

His jaw flexed and he returned his sword into its sheath. “Then whoever, or whatever, brought you here, wishes us to make amends?”

Valeria wasn’t sure how she felt that he didn’t deny he’d brought death to her family.

The Light widened her eyes, giving an impatient stare until Valeria continued.

“I’m here to ask for your aid. The Coterie is coming for me.” She shifted her weight and her fingers went to her thigh for her dagger, but she was a spirit. She curled her fingers into a fist, feeling naked without a weapon.

The angel nodded slowly. “I wouldn’t deny aid when asked for it by one of my own.” His gaze fell to her shoulder where Light burned under her tattoo, still visible even in her spirit form. “But the Darkness, has it not tainted you?” His gaze matched hers again, this time fierce and determined. “I will never work with Darkness. I’ve seen what it does.”

She thought about telling him the truth, just to enrage the Light that was bossing her around. The creature hovered over her and warning zaps pinged against her senses. “I am purified,” she said, choosing to wait before she tested her limits with this creature she barely understood. “Come to Terra and see for yourself.” She spread her arms and swirled, the golden shimmer of her ethereal dress swinging wide around her hips.

Anark smiled, the gesture so beautiful that she staggered. “Then I shall come to your aid. Celestia will rejoice to welcome you home.”