When I came to, there were hushed voices. My mouth felt dry, and I had practically melted into the bed with exhaustion. Peeling my eyes open, I saw it actually wasn’t a bed but a sleeping bag, and I was in a tent.

“I think he’s fled back to the underworld.” Lincoln’s voice was strong, and I nearly cried hearing it. He was okay.

“I’m not taking any chances. The other Archangels are coming to escort Brielle back to the academy, which is where she’ll need to stay.” Michael’s voice was fatigued and sharp.

“Yes. Thank you, sir,” Lincoln replied.

“Linc,” I mumbled loudly, wondering how many hours had passed. I needed water and a ten-hour nap.

Lincoln burst into the tent then, and I was surprised to see he looked relatively unharmed.

“You’re okay,” he breathed.

I nodded. If by okay, he meant the Devil was chasing me and I felt like I’d been hit by a truck, then yeah, I was okay.

He knelt down beside me.

“What happened? Lucifer? Your wings?” I asked, sitting up slowly. I reached down to my thigh to do a quick check and make sure Sera was still with me. Then my eyes fell to the small diamond band on my left finger and I smiled.

I’m promised.

Lincoln rolled out his shoulder. “They’re broken, but Noah says they’ll heal in time. I just can’t use them.” He was a soldier. Without his wings, he could get hurt.

“Lucifer?” I asked again.

Anger lit up Lincoln’s face. “Gone for now. But Brielle….” He was having a hard time composing himself.

I nodded. “I heard. I can’t leave Fallen Academy for a while.”

His eyes went cobalt. “Forever.”

I recoiled. “What?”

Lincoln grasped my hands. “Brielle, it’s the only place you can be safe.”

I puffed air through my teeth. “I’m a Fallen Army soldier. How can I help with the war if I’m hiding on campus?”

Lincoln sighed and looked out the tent’s open flap. “You can run the healing clinic or advise.”

Advise? What the hell did that even mean? I knew he was trying to help, and I did want to focus on my healing studies, but I also wanted to be out there, in the war zones, ferrying the people into Angel City.

“So I just hide for the rest of my life?” My voice felt hollow, and in that moment, the Dark Prince’s words came back to me.

Archdemon. I’m an archdemon.

‘Oh hooey, what does that shit-for-brains know?’ Sera voiced, but I couldn’t get that dark thought out of my mind. It had latched on tightly, and now I felt it would consume me.

Lincoln ran a hand through his hair. “No, you can’t hide for the rest of your life. Look, we’ll figure this out, okay? For the next two years, you’ll stay on campus and… we’ll figure this out.”

Two years.

“Can I still sleep over on weekends?” Technically his apartment was just off campus.

He swallowed hard. “The demon alarm doesn’t extend to my apartment complex, so…”

My face fell. Next year everyone would be getting apartments, and I’d be stuck in the dorms.

“But I’ll see about getting you your own room, or I’ll buy you a trailer,” he rambled.

He was being agreeable, so I would decide to stay on campus. I knew him too well. But I also didn’t want to get kidnapped by the Devil, and taken to Hell to do God knew what, and become some Archdemon. I just nodded. I’d do what was best for me and for Lincoln.

‘Good girl,’ Sera agreed.

There was a bright light at the tent opening, and then Raphael was ducking his head in, to peek inside. His chest was adorned in full gold-plated armor and his hair was slicked back into a ponytail. I’d never seen him battle ready, but he looked menacing.

“Hello, Brielle. Let’s get you home.”

Nodding once more, I stood with Lincoln’s help, and then walked out of the tent to greet the four Archangels.

The first thing I saw was Michael’s face and hair streaked with black oil and soot. When he saw me approach, he bowed slightly. “Brave Brielle. I’m very proud of what you did.”

My eyes widened, and I just barely resisted the urge to look over my shoulder and see if he was talking to someone else. I’d made a half-good, half-evil orb, then wussed out and flew away. What could he possibly be proud of?

Michael seemed to read my thoughts. “Lucifer invokes fear in people, but you didn’t cow. You fought, and then, when you knew it would be useless to fight any longer, you retreated.”

All of the archangels nodded in agreement.

“Carrying Lincoln that high, and that far. It takes tremendous strength,” Raphael added.

Mommy juice.

“I guess so.” I was too tired to argue.

I looked around, wondering if I’d see a car waiting to take me home. We were in a parking lot of what was once a grocery store, and now seemed to be a temporary military setup. The only cars were a few military issued SUVs, but they were far off the lot.

“I’m not sure I can walk that far. I’m so exhausted,” I told the crowd of powerful archangels with a bit of shame.

Michael stepped forward, wings fully extended. “We’ll be flying back to the academy. All of the roads are on lockdown after Lucifer let a bunch of demons into Angel City. The army is still trying to gather them up. Flying is safer.”

I wasn’t sure I could fly back to the academy either.

As if he’d heard that thought, Lincoln stepped forward. “She’s too weak to fly. Michael, can you carry her?” Lincoln asked the tall, blond, and extremely gorgeous archangel.

“Of course.” Michael stepped closer to me.

I swallowed nervously. Being the damsel in distress wasn’t my thing, but I was about to fall over.

Lincoln rushed forward, pressing a tender but chaste kiss to my lips. “I’ll check in on you later,” he promised.

Michael nodded to Lincoln. “Hold down the fort until I’m back.”

Lincoln raised a hand and saluted him. “Of course, sir.”

Then Michael was there, gathering me in his arms, and with one kick of his boot, we were airborne. Next thing I knew, Raphael, Gabriel, and the elusive Uriel were flying with us in a protective formation.

I loved Lincoln, I did, and I knew Michael was married, but damn if the situation wasn’t a little swoon-worthy. Being ferried across the sky in a strong archangel’s arms? I could definitely cross it off my bucket list.

After a short flight, we were landing in the quad where a few students were still milling around, Shea one of them. Lincoln must have called her. Her eyes were rimmed red, evidence that she must have been worried and crying.

As Michael set me down, I looked at each one of the archangels and thanked them. Michael had been the only one to hear Lucifer’s words about me being an archdemon, and our gazes lingered a little longer than the others as something unspoken passed between us. That look told me he wouldn’t tell anyone what the Prince of Darkness had said.

As they flew away—all but Raph, who walked back to his office—Shea thrust herself at me in a bone-crunching hug.

“What the hell, Bri! One second Lincoln tells me he’s proposing to you tonight, and the next he calls and says the freaking Devil crashed your engagement.”

Tears lined my eyes as I looked at my best friend’s worried gaze. Holding up my hand to show her the ring, I smiled. “I said yes.”

We both let out a pathetic laugh, and then she was pulling me toward the open Bright Hall doors. “Dude, your mom is worried sick,” Shea informed me as we walked through the halls.

Lots and lots of staring at me confirmed that the rumor mill was in full effect. Tiffany’s stare was the only one that got to me though. If she calls me Archie, I’ll kill her dead right here and now. I lifted my left hand in her direction to show off the ring, and the look she gave me confirmed that she was definitely capable of murder as well.

“Did you guys know Lincoln was going to propose?” I asked my bestie.

She scoffed. “Of course! He sat your mom, Mikey, and me down and asked us all.”

My heart nearly melted at her words. He was the best.

When Shea threw open the door to our shared room, I was assaulted with white balloons and toilet paper streamers. Purple magical writing hung in the air above my bed: ‘Congrats!’

But the sullen faces of Luke, Chloe, my mom, and Mikey were a different story.

“Hey….” I wasn’t sure what else to say.

My mom rushed forward to pull me into a hug. “What happened? Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

I really, really didn’t want to talk about it right then. “I’m fine,” I told her, and she backed away two steps, seemingly taking the hint.

I held up my hand awkwardly and smiled. “So… Lincoln proposed. Or kind of. Promised? If that’s a thing. We’re getting married in like three to five years,” I told the group.

That seemed to loosen them up. Chloe burst forward with her vampire-like speed and inspected the ring. “Oh my God, I’m so jelly. Promise rings are adorable.”

I chuckled.

Luke was next. “I’m super happy for you, and I know this is all about you, but something happened that I’ve been dying to tell you guys.”

Yes. Please take the spotlight off me. “Spill it.” I sat on the edge of my bed because if I didn’t, I was going to fall over.

Luke looked at Chloe a little awkwardly and then chewed his lip. “Donnie asked me out to a movie with a few of his friends, and I’m freaking out!” He jumped up and down like a lunatic.

I grinned. “That’s awesome. Is it like a friendly group hang, or…?”

Luke looked desperately at Chloe. “I don’t know. He said, ‘You wanna catch a flick with me and my buddies, Tommy and Bam?’”

Chloe nodded, impressed. “Tommy and Bam are dating, so it’s totally a double date.”

The shriek that left Luke’s throat was akin to a dolphin trying to find its mother.

“I’m going to faint,” he breathed.

I laughed, as did everyone else. Even my mother was laughing.

“Thanks for being here, guys. I love you all,” I told my friends as the exhaustion hit me full steam.

Lying back on my pillow, I tried to keep my eyes open but failed. The last thing I saw was my mother tucking the blanket around me and telling everyone I needed my rest.

Even at twenty years old, a girl still needs her mom.