Chapter Fourteen
CAM
Thea kissed him and he pulled her against him, savoring the feel of her.
She pulled away. “Good luck, Cam,” she said, her blue eyes shining. “I hope it goes well.”
“It’s not about luck.” He kissed her again, breathing her in. “I just need to make sure they know I cannot be an effective Power without you.”
She smiled, leaning into him, but within a second her face clouded over. “And afterward you start on this assignment straight away?”
Cam tried not to tense while his arms were around her. “Yes, but I’ll come back to let you know what they say.”
She worked the inside of her cheek, ordering her thoughts. “There’s something about the assignment that doesn’t feel right, Cam.”
His heart fluttered. She could tell something was wrong. That was a good sign for them as a couple, but he didn’t want to worry her. “It will be fine, Thea. Don’t worry. I’ve done it before.”
“How long will the assignment take?”
“Probably four or five weeks.”
“Angel Realm weeks or human world weeks?” she asked.
“Angel Realm.”
“Shit, that’s a long time,” Thea exclaimed. “You won’t see me for months, Cam!”
“I’ll be coming back to you at the end of every human week,” Cam said, forcing himself to smile. “So you’ll see me every day.” He didn’t add that he would have to experience an entire week without her, which would be fucking torture.
“Okay. Good,” she said, lowering her eyes. “But I won’t be able to speak to Amber for all that time, will I?”
A niggle of guilt scratched at him. “I know, I’m sorry. It can’t be helped, Elithea.”
She nodded, though she was clearly unhappy. “I called her yesterday and told her I might be out of contact for a while. She sounded okay, but she really wanted to know when I’d be back. Dad’s doing well. Dani will be seeing him every week, in human time, to try and repair his mind.”
“As soon as this assignment is over, we can go and visit them both, Thea.”
“I know, I know,” Thea said, as she reached up to kiss him. “I understand, Cam. I just hope they’ll be okay. I kinda wished I’d been to see Dad when I had the chance. It’s my own fault.”
Cam pulled her into his arms, wishing he could hold her like that forever. However, as his meeting time with the Thrones approached, he forced himself to pull away from her. He couldn’t miss his chance with them—he’d end up waiting another three months—and he wanted to see Zak before he went to the Thrones Sanctum.
“Good luck, Cam,” Thea whispered.
He kissed her hard and took off into the air.
Cam hadn’t allowed himself to think about the assignment while around Thea. They had spent the last two days buried in each other, making love as often as possible. He had lost himself in her touch, her warmth, her attention. Now, he needed to face everything before him and consider how he would deal with it.
He arrived at Zak’s office and knocked.
Zak welcomed him in with a grave expression. “Are you prepared?”
“For what?” Cam asked, irritably. “Facing the Thrones or the fact I have to deal with a Legion task force?”
Zak sat at his desk. “Well, both.”
“No,” Cam said, pacing the room. “I’m not prepared for either.”
“When you see the Thrones, just keep reminding them that the Creator made you natural mates. That’s the main thing that will work in your favor. It will make them question their own doubts about it.”
Cam nodded. “And the task force?”
Zak watched him, tense. “Tell me now if you can handle it. Friend to friend.”
Annoyance brushed Cam’s nerves. He stopped in the middle of the room. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“The last time you faced a Legion task force, Kara’s death was fresh.”
“So?”
“So you don’t feel that way now, do you?
Cam’s eyes narrowed. “Are you saying you don’t have faith I can deal with them?”
“I’m saying you’re in a different place, now.” Zak stood up. “You are happy. Happier than I’ve seen you in a long time. There’s no shame in wanting to preserve that, Cam.”
“And what do you suggest?” Cam said, hotly. “That I pass up all the difficult assignments and become a shadow of the Power I am?”
“I have allowed your… unique approach to your duties to continue for a long time, Cam. And this is the first time you’ve been assigned a Legion task force again. I need to know you can deal with this.”
Cam exhaled harshly. “I can.”
Zak watched him for a long moment, before turning and walking slowly away from him, across the room. He turned back to look at Cam, thoughtfully. “Do you honestly think you’ll be successful on your own, like before. I can always get you partnered with another Power.”
“No,” Cam said, firmly. “As long as I have Thea to come home to, I will be perfectly able to destroy this task force like I did the other one. Thea makes me feel… different. Calmer, stronger, more able to deal with things. If I can draw on that, I’ll be fine.”
“I’ll make sure her quarters are close to yours,” Zak said. “But if there’s any chance you don’t feel capable—”
“I am capable,” Cam snapped. “More than capable. It will be done!”
Zak stared at him for a long moment and then nodded. “The task force will probably expect a number of Powers. Here’s the brief with some of the Legion demons we’ve identified. They’ve been sighted all over the human world, mostly in North America and Africa but frequently in Australia and East Asia as well.”
“That’s quite a spread,” Cam said, thumbing through the file.
Zak nodded. “They are bold.” He paused, watching Cam. “I advise you deal with them quickly and efficiently.”
Cam resisted snorting at him. He must know by now that Cam could not and would not do that.
“The quicker you deal with them and move on, the less this assignment will be a problem.”
Cam dropped the file on Zak’s desk. “It won’t be.”
***
The Thrones Sanctum sat in the middle of a wide rippling lake a few hours flight from the Stream. It was a beautiful building that curved and jutted to form an intricate pattern if viewed from above. It tapered off at the top into four bronze spires that sat close together, almost like a narrow crown. The building’s many walls changed color daily to complement and contrast the color of the clouds. Today they blended between amethyst and lemon.
Cam soared across the lake, angling down toward the wide entrance. He landed softly and greeted the angel at the entrance before entering. Inside, he stepped into a wide corridor. A number of angels knelt on the crimson, velvety cushions that lined both walls and Cam remembered when he had knelt there waiting for his appointment. It was truly a strange system. The atmosphere was serene and calm, and most of the angels had their eyes closed. An Angel of the Order, with curly brown hair that fluffed out around her head, padded down the corridor toward him. He recognized her as the one who had given him his appointment time.
She beckoned him to follow her and led him across a wide hallway and through some winding corridors. From the inside, it seemed the sanctum building had been made from frosted glass, as light glowed through every wall and lit up the entire building, but from the outside it looked like it was made from stone.
The Angel of the Order slowed in front of an olive green door and gestured to it.
Cam nodded his thanks and stepped inside.
Three Throne angels sat in the center of the room behind a large golden table. They were enormous even though they were sitting down. Broad-shouldered and tall, they wore matching tawny robes and each one had a slightly different shade of blond hair, though their hair was styled the same way.
Thrones hardly visited the human world and therefore tended to be bigger than other angels. They also rarely used their facial muscles, judging on their impassive expressions as they watched Cam make his way to the chair on the other side of the table. He never saw them smile or raise an eyebrow. He sat before them, looking each of them in the eyes, trying to find details to differentiate them from each other.
“What is the purpose of your request to see us, Camael?” said the one on the right. He had blue eyes while the others had brown.
“I have found my natural mate.”
“Congratulations,” said the one in the middle. “That is truly a blessing.”
“Thank you,” Cam said. “I would like permission to claim her as mine. and I ask for our mating to be announced.”
“What is her name?” The angel in the middle had the darkest shade of blond hair of the three.
“Elithea.”
The atmosphere in the room seemed to change even though there was nothing to visibly suggest it. The Thrones seem to tense without moving, their gazes bore into Cam, and the silence was a little too long before one of them spoke again.
“The Nephilim?” asked the angel on the left. His voice was deeper than the others.
“Yes.”
There was another silence while the Thrones stared at him.
Cam clenched his jaw and held their gaze, determined not to be daunted. “Is that a problem?” he asked eventually, every muscle in his body tense though his voice was light.
“Angels do not mate with Nephilim,” said deep-voice.
“If she is even a Nephilim at all,” blue-eyes added.
Of course they had heard.
“She is a Nephilim,” Cam said, firmly.
“Even if she were,” deep-voice said, “Nephilim are unsuitable mates for angels. They are practically human, they exist only for a short period of time, and they are… weak. They are, of course, indispensable to us in the fight against demons, but as a mate? Completely inadequate. It is unwise.”
Cam held tightly to every shred of self-control he possessed. When he spoke, he kept to the point, though his tone betrayed his annoyance. “You are speaking as though this is an arranged mating—as though I have a choice. I do not.”
Deep-voice blinked, as though surprised, but did not respond.
“This is an unusual natural mate pairing as it is,” said dark-blond. “The addition of this latest information about the nature of what she is makes it even more complicated.”
“She is not dark,” Cam almost snapped. “The Creator would not have paired me with a dark being.”
“That is likely to be true,” said blue-eyes. “But as a Power, the Creator could simply feel you needed something darker to keep your attentions. She has a sense of humor, you know.”
The other two Thrones almost smiled.
Hot anger shot through Cam. “Elithea is not dark. I know she’s not, I feel that she’s not.”
“Yes, we know you are bound to be protective of her,” deep-voice said, waving his hand at Cam in a bored manner. “Calm down.”
“And how would this be funny?” Cam said, his voice booming through the room. They were treating his and Thea’s connection as though it was some kind of joke—belittling everything she was. “She can enter the Angel Realm, she has an angel-form and she can get pregnant. Does the Creator’s humor extend to playing such risks? Allowing a dark being into the Realm? You must be aware the Dominion League have been training her and have sent her on an assignment for the last two months. How can she be good enough for that and not good enough to mate with a Power?”
At that, the Thrones’ intense demeanor seemed to waver. The angel on the left shifted in his chair, while the other two glanced at each other.
“Our role in the Angel Realm is not just to organize the pairing of mates, Camael,” said blue-eyes. “It is to organize, manage, and run the entire Realm and make sure it is the place the Creator intended it to be. We oversee all of the angel orders and make sure they are happy. It means we can identify the potential for problems and dealt with it efficiently.”
Cam glared at him. “I understand your purpose, Throne. I just wan—”
“Although the Creator may make two angels natural mates,” the Throne said, as though he hadn’t even spoken, “it may not be in the best interest of the Angel Realm for those angels to stay in the same duties once mated, or to mate straight away, or to even stay in the Realm at all. All of this must be considered.”
Cam swallowed. “So you need to consider how Thea and I will affect the Angel Realm, but there is no problem of us being mated?”
“Many natural mates have no issues with their pairing, but some have had many,” said the Throne with the deep-voice. “Some have even ended in both angels Falling. The Creator does not explain all that she does. The Seraphim can sometimes explain her decisions, but mostly we can all only be guided by what we feel through the Stream.”
Cam examined his words, trying to squeeze an explanation about what that meant for him and Thea, but all he could hear was a warning.
“Once it is discovered what Elithea truly is, we will summon you,” said the angel with the dark blond hair in the middle.
Cam took a smooth breath, calming himself. “Is this the only condition of our mating being announced?” He wanted them to confirm that if Thea wasn’t a dark being, their mating was guaranteed.
“No,” said the deep-voiced Throne. “We need to speak to the Seraphim to see if they know anything about the Creator’s intentions with you both. However, knowing the circumstances around her being so powerful and how her mother managed to conceive while entering the Realm would be in your favor.”
Cam frowned. “What do you mean?”
“When female angels enter the Angel Realm, the chance of pregnancy is greatly reduced, particularly if they are also regularly connecting to the Stream.”
Cam stilled. “I thought that avoiding being in one’s angel-form during sex prevented pregnancy.”
“It does for males,” said the blue-eyed Throne. “For females there are a number of preventative methods.
Cam thought back to what Thea said about the difference between male and female angels having children. “Why is it so different between males and females?”
“Because males and females are different,” said dark-blond. “If a female angel wants a child, she needs to be certain of her choice and take the necessary steps. She needs to shift into her angel-form during sex, stay out of the Realm for at least two Realm weeks and not connect to the Stream. And it only works with her mate, obviously.”
Cam’s mouth dropped open in shock. “So female angels can get pregnant… with angel children?”
All of the Thrones looked at him like he was crazy.
“Do you not remember your training, Camael?” dark-blond asked.
Cam stuttered to find an answer. “I never… I mean, I didn’t… It wasn’t—”
“Important to you,” finished blue-eyes. He nodded and almost rolled his eyes. “Most Powers don’t bother to pay attention to such things, you’re not the only one.”
“But I thought angels weren’t supposed to have children?” Cam said. “I thought it interfered with their ability to do their duties. That’s what I remember from my training.”
“Yes,” blue-eyes agreed. “Angel couples that have children do not undertake duties in the human world like most other angels. Those families live in a specific area of the Empire together.”
Cam’s mind raced. “So if Thea lived in the Angel Realm and became pregnant—”
“That would be unlikely to be approved,” deep-voice interrupted. “Although the angel parents no longer have duties, those angel children do. They are a very specific type of angels called Cherubim, and any child Thea has would not result in the required Cherubim purity because of her human half.”
Cam’s head began to spin. So angel children existed? The idea blew his mind. It was like a whole new part of the Realm had suddenly been revealed to him. He had buried himself in his work so much, even before Karaya’s death, that he had no idea about any of this. He hadn’t been interested in anything that wasn’t directly to do with his duties. His focus had been so narrow—no wonder he had been blindsided when Thea came to the Angel Realm.
“Regardless of all of that,” blue-eyes said after a moment of silence, “the fact remains, Elithea’s mother should not have been able to conceive before she Fell, especially with a human male. That is why there is some doubt Elithea is truly a Nephilim.”
“We will summon you again once her nature is confirmed,” said deep-voice, a note of finality in his tone. The meeting was over.
Cam nodded and stood slowly, shock still rolling through him. “Thank you for your time and consideration,” he muttered, before leaving the room.
Cam spent the next hour flying above the Angel Realm, deep in thought. The Realm felt different to him now, a place to be examined, explored and redefined. Now that he had Thea, he needed to be sure they could live together here the way they both wanted. If she was going to be scrutinized at every turn because she was a Nephilim, she may not want to stay. And he couldn’t blame her. Regardless, he would follow her anywhere she wanted to go.
As he soared through the floating buildings, heading back to Thea, his mind drifted to the idea of her having children. Regardless of what the Thrones said, any child Thea had would be perfect. He rose high into the air, his eye glazing over the Empire he had always seen but clearly not understood. Would he want children? He had never once thought about it before, but with Thea… Would he want it enough to give up his duties? Would she want it? If they returned to the human world to live she could have children and he could still keep his duties, but he would likely be away often; they wouldn’t be together the way he wanted.
He shook his head and sighed. First, he had to get through this assignment and Thea’s father needed to confirm her nature, then they could talk at length about what all of this meant for them.