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.I wanted to reach out and take that pain out of her eyes.Now I know I wasn’t looking into the eyes of a dead person’s soul, but my living, breathing mother.This helps me get back on track.I start the engine, open the garage door using the remote and reverse out.‘Without knowing, my imagination is going wild,’ Ebony says, and I can see she’s making headway with calming her temper with deep slow breaths.‘What do you think, Jordan?’Man, what a loaded question.If only I had a choice, but I don’t.I really don’t.I have to swallow my spit to force the lies out.‘Well, you know Jezelle is in love with him, right?’She peers at me sideways.‘Yeah, I guess.Go on.’I muster up an empathetic look.‘She was the first he picked for his team.’Her face drains of colour.‘How do you know that?’‘Gabe told me in the kitchen last night.You weren’t around.’ I pick up pace as I drive through Thane’s winding driveway, caring little for the fledgling flowers and shrubs springing up again after Thane’s drying winds burned them to their roots.‘Who else?’‘That’s the part I didn’t want to tell you.’‘You’d better tell me now.’‘There are five more, but Thane doesn’t want them to join up with him and Jez for a few days.’‘Pardon me?’‘It’s like the two of them are on some secret mission together.or something.’‘And you’re sure about this?’I swallow deeply.‘Yep.Positive.’ And then I add for good measure, ‘Apparently, Jez found out that if you don’t return to Avena by the time you turn eighteen the court will select someone else to be Thane’s princess.’‘What?’‘And you know who that’ll be, right?’‘Jezelle?’I nod.‘She’s already made a petition to the court and, once the voting members agree, all Jez will need is Thane’s approval.That’s what this secret first part of his mission is about, to work out what he’s gonna do.’‘You mean, decide whether to dump me for Jezelle?’‘I’m sorry to be the one to tell you, but Gabe didn’t have the guts.’‘That’s why he was so vague and secretive,’ she considers aloud.‘Don’t tell him I told you.Ebony, you have to promise you won’t mention any of this to him.You saw how angry he can get with me.’She waves a hand in the air.‘Sure.I won’t say a word.’ She then looks down into her lap at fingers clutched together so tightly they’re white to the bone.When she lifts her head, she stares straight ahead.Her silence and stillness is unnerving, like the instant before a grenade explodes.Seeing her torn up like this is hard to take, especially knowing I’m responsible.I hate myself more than ever.But Ebony is gonna live forever.She’ll get over this.Mum is mortal; her time will run out.All the way to school Ebony stares at the road, hardly moving a muscle.And I can’t do anything but watch because today I’ve done my job.When I meet Skinner in my next free period, I can report not just on how well yesterday’s meeting with Mr Zee went, but also on my new plan to break the lovebirds up, and how quickly it’s taking effect.22EbonyIt’s two in the morning and I wake from another dream, gasping for breath and clutching my chest.It’s been three weeks since Jordan told me the real reason behind Nathaneal’s mission.At first it shook me to my core, but I’m not going to believe it until Nathaneal tells me himself.To keep from thinking about him with the beautiful angel Jezelle, I keep busy with riding, school and training in the downstairs gym.But it’s at night that I struggle most.My dreams are becoming more realistic and vivid.Like the one that just woke me.Prince Luca took me to his world again, this time showing me decrepit factories with broken windows.The workers were shivering human souls overlorded by dark angels and grotesque whip-wielding demons.My thoughts go straight to Mum and Dad, wondering if they could still be alive after so much time, and if they’re right now in one of those factories.With a groan, I slide my arms into my warm white dressing gown and head downstairs to make a hot chocolate.I become aware of Gabriel’s heart beating too late to turn back.Though he’s still staring out of the kitchen’s glass wall when I walk in, he knows I’m here, so I continue walking in and pretend his presence doesn’t affect me.He turns slowly.‘Can’t sleep either, my lady?’‘I had a bad dream.’He nods, and I fill the electric kettle with water.Only the low light over the hob is on, casting eerie shadows into the room.I take a breath.‘Have you heard anything, Gabriel?’ Not a word in three weeks is hard to take.As I wait for him to answer, the uneasy feeling in my chest sharpens to a knife point.‘I have nothing new for you, Ebony.I’m sorry.’His eyes don’t quite meet mine.Since I’m supposed to be able to tell when someone is lying, or avoiding or twisting the truth, by their eyes, I can only assume Gabriel’s heard something.It might not be new, but there is definitely something he’s avoiding telling me.‘Whatever it is, Gabriel, please tell me.Not knowing anything is driving me crazy.’He studies my face as if he’s deciding what and how much I deserve to know.His mouth opens as he draws in a small puff of air.‘He’s travelling to Skade’s darker, colder side to descend into an underground world that exists deep beneath Skade’s highest mountain.’I definitely did not want to hear that news.‘How will he get through the mountain? Are there roads leading down to this underground world?’He laughs, but not to mock me.‘Ebony, like most of Skade’s disagreeable landscape, this particular elevation was once a volcano.My brother and his team will find a way down through vents, pipes and tunnels carved by lava and cooled many centuries ago.’‘Sounds terribly dangerous.But I want to know –’‘It is dangerous, and we should leave it at that, my lady,’ he says, cutting me off in the rude style to which I’ve become somewhat accustomed.‘Nathaneal is young but it’s as if his soul is as old as our angelic beginnings, as if he has been watching, learning, preparing for his time on this Earth.’‘That’s all very nice, Gabriel, but it’s not telling me what I need to know.’He takes just two strides to reach me and lean down into my face.‘What is it you want to hear? How much my brother is willing to risk so one day you may grace us with your presence on Avena?’He begins to walk away so I grab his arm.‘You’ve hardly told me anything.I’ve heard more from Jordan.’‘Such as?’‘Please, just tell me what he’s doing there.’He says nothing, doesn’t even glance at me.‘Why did the court sanction such a dangerous expedition? Why, Gabriel?’‘Because he convinced them that should his mission succeed you would be more willing to return home with him – that’s home to Avena, my lady.’Why would Nathaneal say that? ‘And if I don’t return to Avena with him?’‘His penance will be deemed a failure, and he will spend the next two hundred years regenerating the Rievre Forest.’‘What does this mission have to do with me? Why did Nathaneal risk a dangerous mission on the chance I would be ready to leave Earth on his return?’He tilts his head and his eyes bore into mine.‘Do you really need to ask? You know he’s besotted with you
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