Echoes and Embers (Rebel Angels) Read Free Page A

I’m uncomfortable with your tone and your—”
    “Unfortunately, I’m not in a position to consider your comfort. If you prefer, I’ll not stay in the hall, I’ll sleep in the barracks with the guards.”
    “I prefer you gather your belongings and get off this land.” She spoke with tight-lipped control.
    He inclined his head. “I understand your preference, but that’s not an option.”
    “Oh, I assure you it’s an option. I’ll have your horse readied and—”
    “Alyssa.” Lailah preempted the remainder of her words.
    “What?” She glared at her friend.
    “Let Sariel go to his chamber. We need to talk.”
    “Sariel isn’t going anywhere so long as he persists in this belief that he—”
    “Is a messenger sent from God?”
    The authority in his deep voice drove Alyssa back a step. He hadn’t spoken loudly, but the question reverberated through her entire body. She pressed her hand over her pounding heart. Wings. Angel’s wings. But this fierce man couldn’t possibly be an angel. He was too…savage!
    “I’ll return in a moment,” Lailah said as she led the tall stranger away.
    Alyssa watched their retreat, conflicted and confused. The fire warmed her back while cool autumn air seeped through her clothing, compounding her uncertainty. Why did she feel so muddled? Thoughts danced around her, taunting her, just out of reach.
    What was wrong with her?
    Shifting her feet on the woven rush mat, she turned to face the fire. Bright tapestries covered the stone walls and expensive glass enclosed the narrow windows, and still Alyssa shivered.
    You must remember what you are.
    Lailah’s words echoed through her mind and another violent shiver shook her slender frame. What, not who. She needed to remember what she was.
    She heard a shuffling behind her and turned around. Lailah had returned, alone, her dark eyes filled with frustration and fear. Alyssa had no doubt she’d caused the frustration, but why was Lailah afraid?
    “Am I…” Alyssa’s mouth was so dry she couldn’t form the words. She took a deep breath and tried again. “Am I an angel?”

Chapter Two
     
     
    “What do you remember clearly?” Lailah dragged a bench closer to the fire and sat as Alyssa considered the question.
    Pushing her fingers through her hair, Alyssa combed the curling strands out of her eyes. “I remember Naomi.”
    “Aye. She was the answer to Sariel’s question. It was to Naomi you gave your vow.”
    “But Naomi of Monthamn lived over two hundred years ago.”
    “True.” Lailah glanced into the fire. Its wavering light cast eerie shadows across her delicate features. “What else do you remember?”
    “I was alive two hundred years ago?” Her heart pounded. Deep in her being she already knew the answer, had always known.
    “Aye. And two hundred years before that. Do you remember Gideon?”
    Eyes like molten gold and a smile that made her stomach flutter. Gideon. His image solidified within the haze. Dark, brooding Gideon. “I remember.”
    “What do you remember?”
    She licked her lips, frustrated by the ever-swirling mists within her mind. “He was there that day. So were you. We were all there when…”
    “When what? What happened? Tell me what you remember.”
    A vision hovered on the edge of her consciousness. She sensed its importance, the rippling effects of that one event. Everything had changed that day. Her very nature had evolved.
    Michael .
    With angelic illumination so bright it stung the eyes, the archangel’s image flashed within Alyssa’s mind.
    “No,” she cried as the vision flickered and dispersed.
    Disheartened by her failure, Alyssa focused on a more recent happening, a memory she could remember clearly. “When Naomi passed away. Gideon was heartbroken. They had lived long, full lives, but still his anguish was unbearable.”
    Lailah shook her head, disappointment clear in her dark gaze. “Nay. Go back farther, much farther, before Gideon met Naomi.”
    “Why do you not