"It's unlikely, but you're welcome to try."

Riley stepped into the cubicle and held the curtain aside for her. Alex steeled herself, then moved to the bedside. Jen lay against the pillow, her face pale and hair awry. A four-point restraint system was visible at the edges of the blanket covering her. Compa.s.sionate, beautiful, too-serious Jennifer . . . tied to a hospital bed. Reaching out, Alex brushed the hair back from her sister's face. Brown eyes stared up at the ceiling without flickering.

Alex blinked back tears. She cleared the thickening in her throat. "Hey, Jenny-girl."

No response.

She tried again, this time gently turning her sister's head toward her. "Jen? It's Alex. I came to see how you're doing."

Jen's gaze drifted past her, unfocused, uncaring.

Alex drew a shuddering breath. Christ. She stared down at the woman who had raised her after their parents had died, the woman she had once thought to be the strongest person she knew. If Jen had caved under the pressure, what chance did Alex stand?

Riley's hand covered hers on the bed rail. "It's not unusual for a person's mind to temporarily close off after a trauma. Give her time. It's possible this is just the effects of the sedative."

The sedative. Alex watched the even rise and fall of her sister's chest. For the second time that evening, she wondered what it might be like to be drugged, restrained, no longer able-or expected-to take part in the world's disintegration. The idea held such seductive allure, especially when compared with the alternative.

Alex's hand curled beneath Riley's. She withdrew it and stepped away from the bed. "If she saw what I think she saw, she might be better off staying where she is."

"You know what happened to your niece?"

She shoved her hands into her coat pockets. "Lucifer happened to her. The same way he happened to me. Except Nina's only-" she broke off. "Oh, G.o.d."

Riley pushed Alex into the chair beside the bed. "You look like you're going to pa.s.s out. Is it your head? Do you want a doctor?"

"What day is it?" Alex whispered. She hunched over, protecting herself from what the psychiatrist would tell her. What she already knew.

"Alex, if you're experiencing confusion-" Riley tipped up her chin with one hand and peered into her eyes.

"What day is it?"

"It's Friday."

"Christ. I missed it."

"Missed what? Look at this and follow it." Riley held up a finger. "Was there any blow to your head? It was hard to tell from that video. We should have you checked out, just in case."

Alex pushed away the psychiatrist's hand. "Her birthday, Riley. I missed Nina's birthday. It was yesterday, and I forgot it. She turned seventeen."

All those calls from Jen, all those texts she'd ignored because she hadn't wanted to deal with another confrontation-and all her sister had wanted to do was remind her. And now Nina was gone. Son of a b.i.t.c.h.

"Oh . . ." The word drew out into a sigh.

Alex braced herself for the words of comfort, the false rea.s.surance, but Riley merely reached out and stroked back her hair, as if she understood the enormity of the failure. Tears clawed at Alex's throat, burned behind her eyes. A phone call. She could have at least made a phone call, or sent an e-mail, or texted . . .

Happy birthday, Nina. I love you.

s.h.i.t.

A hundred recriminations stabbed at Alex's soul. She'd failed the two people who mattered most to her in the world. Opened them up to monsters beyond their understanding and then left them to fend for themselves. And three weeks from now, Nina would die giving birth to Lucifer's baby.

Sweet, sweet Nina, little more than a child herself.

Alex levered herself up from the chair. She motioned to her sister. "Will you stay?" she asked Riley. "Will you look after her for me?"

Riley rose to her feet. "Of course. You're going to look for Nina?"

"Not look, find," Alex said fiercely. "I might not be able to save her, but I'll be d.a.m.ned if I'll let her die alone."

Chapter 62.

"What do you mean, no?" Aramael towered over the desk, glaring down at the Archangel Mika'el.

Mika'el glowered back. "I mean," he enunciated between his teeth, "no. I need you here, and the Naphil doesn't need your protection anymore. You're done with her."

"And her niece? Are we done with her, too?"

"There are more than seven billion mortal souls on a planet that is about to implode. Do you really think we can drop everything and go running after a Naphil who is going to die whether we find her or not?"

"Protecting mortal souls from the Fallen is our job, Mika'el. It's what we do."

"No. What we do is stand between Earth and h.e.l.l so that mortals can live their lives independently, according to their own choices. We maintain balance, Aramael. That is our job."

"But she carries the child of Lucifer."

"Which changes nothing. With or without a leader born of the Light-bearer, the Nephilim are not our concern. You know this, Aramael."

Short, angry strides carried Aramael across the room. Mika'el was right. He did know it-had always known it. But somehow it had become muddled during his time with Alex. Less clear-cut. Infinitely more difficult. He spun to face Mika'el.

"This was easier when I was a Power," he growled.

"When you were a Power, you had no free will of your own. No reason to question your path."

"What about you? You left before the Cleanse. You didn't give up your free will when the rest of us did. Does that mean you've always lived with this level of conflict going on inside you?"

"Or worse," Mika'el agreed.

"So deciding to leave when you did . . ."

The Archangel's jaw flexed. "Wasn't easy. Just as this isn't easy for you. I get that. But I ask nothing of you or any of the others that I wouldn't do-that I haven't already done-myself. I need you here, Aramael. With us."

Hands shoved into his pockets, Aramael stalked over to the suit of armor, identical to his, standing in the corner. He scowled at it, his back to Mika'el. "You hold me to an awfully high standard."

"Because I know you're capable."

He thought of Alex, left alone to face her own impossible choices. How much more could she take? How long before Heaven's demands broke her? He closed his eyes as the ache in his chest spread to engulf his soul. And how long would he be able to stay away, knowing her pain?

Bleakly, he turned back to the other Archangel. "I hope you're right."

Alex pressed the lock b.u.t.ton on the key fob and then stood by her vehicle, staring up at the light shining from the apartment she shared with Seth. She didn't want to go up there. Didn't want to face him. Didn't want to do this. Especially not now, with Jennifer and Nina- She breathed in raggedly, exhaling a plume of steam. She didn't want to, but she had to. She'd already avoided it long enough, and he deserved better from her. h.e.l.l, she hadn't even called him after the explosion on the Hill this afternoon to rea.s.sure him she was all right, never mind let him know she'd come back to Toronto. It was time to stop being a coward.

She let herself into the building and crossed the foyer to the elevator, her boot heels thudding hollowly on the ceramic tiles. Her internal voice kept up a running monologue of instructions, without which she might not have moved. Push b.u.t.ton. Wait. Step inside. Stare at numbers. Press six. Lean against wall. Stare at ceiling.

Breathe.

She drew a lungful of air. For something that was supposed to be an autonomic body function, she'd had to remind herself to do that a lot since leaving the hospital. Several times in the car while she'd waited for Aramael, before admitting to herself he wasn't coming back after all. Several more times before she managed to insert the key into the ignition and get herself out of the parking lot. Many more on the way home. She closed her eyes.

Breathe.

She'd wanted him gone, and now he was. The Fallen hadn't been after her, and so there was no need for him to continue watching her. No reason for him to stay. He was gone, Nina was gone, Jen was as good as gone, and Alex had no choice but to send Seth away.

The elevator door slid open onto a hallway as empty as her world had become.

Breathe.

Chapter 63.

"Going somewhere?"

Seth looked up from throwing things into the overnight bag on the bed. Samael lounged in the doorway, his expression one of mild interest. Seth took a pair of socks from a drawer.

"Beat it," he said. "I'm not interested."

Ignoring him, Samael strolled into the room. "There's remarkably little personality to this abode. Have you noticed? None of the clutter mortals are so p.r.o.ne to collect. It has such an impermanent feel to it."

Seth clutched the edges of the overnight bag. He didn't want to answer, but the words were torn from him-much as a groan would be torn from a man whose open wound had just been poked with a hot knife. "She's been a little busy trying to stop your kind from destroying her world."

"Of course. I wasn't being critical, Appointed. Just making an observation."

"Yes, well you can take your observations straight back to h.e.l.l with you." Seth zipped up the bag. "Because I'm done. No more journals, no more innuendo. Not interested. Get out."

"So things are better between you two. I'm glad."

"Like h.e.l.l you are." Seth slung the bag over one shoulder, switched off the bedside lamp, and headed for the door.

Samael tagged along behind him. "I am, believe me. Still, that performance Aramael put on this afternoon must have irked just a little. Flaunting his connection to her that way."

Seth's fingers gripped the bag's strap a little harder. "He saved her life."

"Raising questions about how she survived in the process." Samael's tone took on a chiding note. "You and I both know no other angel would have done that. Not in a million years. His instinct to protect her goes far deeper than mere orders."

Seth doggedly continued his tour of the apartment, turning out lights.

Samael persisted. "The soulmate connection-"

Seth rounded on the Fallen One. "She chose me," he snarled. "Not him, me. That's all that matters."

"Is it? Then explain to me why you're heading out the door to go to her when she has already returned. It's all very sweet of you, of course, wanting to be certain of her well-being, but-"

"Alex is back?"

"She didn't call? How remiss of her. She returned hours ago-safely wrapped in Aramael's arms."

The breath in Seth's lungs turned thick. "You're lying. She would have let me know."

"One would think so, given the relationship you're supposed to have with her," Samael agreed. "But in this instance, one would be wrong."

The Fallen One circled behind him in the cramped hallway. Tutted. "Look around you, Appointed. See where you are, what you've become. You're the son of the two greatest powers in the universe, and yet you subject yourself to this, a few rooms shared with a mortal woman who has no appreciation for what you truly are? For what she has in you?"

"She loves me."

"Your mother loved your father, and look where it got him. This is like watching history repeat itself all over again. It's pathetic."

Seth scowled. "You're wrong. I've read the journals, and this is different. I'm not my father, Alex is nothing like my mother, and I'm not giving her up. What we have-"

Samael stopped in front of him, inches away, and returned his scowl. "What you have, Appointed, is a woman who devotes her time-her life-to a dying race rather than to the man who gave up everything for her."

"You're wrong," Seth repeated, but even to his own ears, the words lacked conviction. He reached inside himself for the confidence he'd woken up with that morning, the certainty he and Alex had at last found the connection that could see them through anything. Alex had told him she loved him and- "You keep telling yourself that. Let me know when you start believing it."

The rattle of keys outside the door drew both their gazes.

"The prodigal Naphil returns." Samael drew back into the living room. "My cue to go-for now. There's just one last thing."

"You haven't delivered enough poison already?"

The Fallen One shrugged. "Consider this an antidote. Because I'd hate to leave you thinking it has to be like this. Not when you could change everything if you take back your birthright."

"I told you, I'm not giving up Alex."

"But don't you see, Seth, son of Lucifer? Take back your powers, and you don't have to. Not ever."