Michael stood in the fuzzy light beyond the dead end in the Realm of Light. He had arrived only moments ago with the intention of spying to garner Lucifer’s location from the one angel who could view him. But as he determined that the view from this distance was too skewed to pinpoint a location below, a sound he hadn’t expected caused him to freeze in the in-between light. Michael’s heart beat faster as he made sense out of the hazy view before him. Beyond the trunks of blackened trees with bare branches, past the rolling hill of dead grass, and around the pond she glimpsed through, was Gabriel.

With her face in her hands, shoulders hunched, and wings quivering, she wept silver tears. Though her long hair draped forward, sheltering her sorrow, the sound made him gulp and tempted him to abandon his reason for visiting her in the location she was forever locked within. “Stop this madness. Lucifer, please, this is not who you are.”

Her words reminded him of the prophecy that had spurred his actions long ago. He had never imagined that setting Lucifer up to fall would result in the disgusting intimacy he had walked in on. Gabriel bared of cloth and wrapped in Lucifer’s sweating arms and quivering wings. The memory set his veins alight even now. But another emotion toyed with him. Covertly helping Lucifer escape imprisonment while knowing any escape would lead to his brother’s banishment had set this prophecy on its path. And now it was time to set things right.

It was time to undo what had begun so very long ago.

The intermittent flares of souls passing provided the shelter he needed to hide his actions and his thoughts.

He cared for the lovely Gabriel more than he should allow. More than he did for any of the archangels he commanded. He always had. And it was that tenderness that urged him to keep to his plans. Though he loathed seeing her suffer, her sorrow could be used to his advantage—for the good of them all.

Heart and mind now synchronized, he marched through the fuzzy light, coming out through the thick tree and into her garden.

Sensing his entry, Gabriel startled at once, hands smearing her tears away as the moving images playing out over the pond fell to a murky brown. The ice-like waterfall released, and the sound of gushing water concealed the jangle of her glowing restraints as she shot up to her feet. “Michael.” She sniffed, looking angered that he had invaded her privacy and seen her distress. “Why are you here?”

Or perhaps that anger was still a result of him burning Lucifer’s wings from his back.

Whatever the cause, Michael ignored the need to know. Instead, he strolled over the blunt, dead grass and around the pond. Keeping any telling emotion from his face, he stopped right in front of her and took hold of her hands. Gabriel tensed and strain showed on her pale face, but Michael held strong, refusing to let her step away from him. “I know why you weep, Gabriel. I know where your despair stems from.”

Gabriel stared at him as if waiting for him to deliver some new punishment to her for still caring about Lucifer. But though the knowledge of her undying loyalty made something in him want to snap, he remained on task.

“I am not here to berate you, Gabriel. I know you suffer. I wish not to add to your pain.” As confusion danced in her large, silver-blue eyes, Michael tugged her down as he knelt on the bank of the pond. She resisted at first, but then relented, seeming weakened in her sadness to fight physically. He slung his arm around her, tugging her closer. “You know I am sorry, do you not? I am the commander of angels, but that does not mean I take pride in all that I am tasked to do. Like you, I serve a purpose. Like you, I am a servant.”

When she only looked at him with scrutiny and clear disbelief, going rigid under his arm, a memory rose up in his mind. The first action he had taken without an order from God. Beside the looking glass, he had seen Lucifer attract the attention of humans below. He had seen them advance on Gabriel after Lucifer’s departure. And then he had been ordered not to intervene as they set upon her with the intent of burning her alive to stop the rumored flood. God had ordered him to prevent Lucifer from interfering too, and he had. While Gabriel fought for her life, he had fought his brother to keep him above—until he glimpsed them setting fire to her long robe. With the threat of her annihilation freezing his heart, he had gone against God’s orders while the flare of a passing soul hid his actions and thoughts.

“That day on Earth when you were set alight, when those barbaric men acted to burn your body to ashes, I prevented Lucifer from coming to your aid. I fought to keep him above…” His arm fell from around her tense shoulders and he collected his free hand in his lap. The spray from the waterfall did nothing to calm his sudden nerves. He worried at his dirty nails while clenching and unclenching his teeth. The renewed flare of another Earth soul passing loosened his lips. “Until I could no longer do it. I let him go. Let him throw me from the looking glass—and then I struck him with light so he could traverse below to save you before it was too late.”

Gabriel’s lips parted with his confession and her hand flew to her heart. Perhaps it was racing as fast as his now was. She shook her head, brow bunching as her hand fell to tug at the straw-like grass by her folded legs. Her voice was a whisper, “Why?”

“I had to. I wanted to be the one to fall, to save you from harm.” He laughed, but it was a sound of irritation. What he had to say next was true, but it would also serve his purpose. “I could not do it. I was loyal. Yet I knew someone who would do anything to save you.”

“Lucifer.”

That name from her lips made his jaw clench, but Michael quickly released it before she could notice. “I know you watch him. You are the only one of us with the ability. You have seen all that he has done and plans to do. You know what is coming.” He paused to take a deep breath, waiting patiently until intermittent flashes streaked across the light-filled sky. “Now I need your help. God will wait this out. He will watch and let the destruction unfold first. But I am ready to do what must be done to stop this threat. Tell me where Lucifer is, allow me to go to him, to reason with him.”

Gabriel’s gaze slid to the angel sword that was a permanent fixture at his waist. Currently, it was lying harmlessly against the blackened dirt between them, but they both knew what the sheathed, silver length was capable of. It was the only weapon that could end an angel instantly, and permanently. She pulled her knees to her chest and stood tall, her chains rattling at her abrupt movement. Looking more hurt than angry, her delicate hands formed fists at her sides. “I know you seek to find him. I have seen you below many times. You cannot glimpse him through the looking glass, and God will not let you locate him on Earth. He knows what your heart holds and so do I. I have never betrayed Lucifer and I will not start now. You will never find him, Michael.”

Michael rose up slowly, fighting to keep the agitation from his expression as he forced himself to breathe normally. Small rocks under his bare feet only added to the strain of controlling his emotions. “You misread me, Gabriel. All I wish for is peace for Below…”

He sighed slowly, scrubbing a hand down his face as a new course of action came to him. He should have known better. Gabriel was as clever as she was beautiful. Of course she would see right through his ploy at being sincere and understanding when it came to Lucifer. But she would never expect this—

With another flare hijacking the endless light overhead, he flung a tiny ball of light down at the ground. It clinked as it hit one of the chain links, not splitting the restraint but damaging it enough to offer an escape. Stepping close to her, he raised her lowered chin with his finger.

Forced to look him in the eye, her confusion had returned. “What have you done?”

Michael smiled. “You are right. He will never listen to me. He never has before.” She went to step away, and he cupped her cheeks with his big palms, feeling the heat that reddened her face. “But he has listened to you. When you demanded he leave you in that field before you were attacked, he did. When you announced his imprisonment, he surrendered. You are the only angel that can get through to him and stop this danger before it ends more lives and creates an unstoppable army of monsters on Earth.” He released her face and turned to leave, adding over his shoulder, “The only angel that can stop this threat before it lands Lucifer in a place worse than Earth.”

Gabriel struck out, grasping his bicep to yank him back. Fear danced in her wide eyes. “What do you mean, a place worse than Earth?”

Michael had heard the words from God’s own lips the last time he tried to encourage his maker to allow him to intervene in the mess Lucifer was creating. God’s refusal had come with those words and lacked any explanation. “That, unfortunately, is not for me to know.” And with that, he pulled away, leaving her with a fear she would not be able to deny and the ability to escape her damaged chains to do something about it.