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  ‘You cannot be serious?’ I glared at the two angels, then noticed Jamie had stopped frowning at them and was now studying me. ‘Jamie, if you even think about leaving me chained up, I will never speak to you again. I mean it – never!’

  ‘Lucky, you have to understand—’

  ‘No,’ I interrupted, ‘no, I don’t. Jinx has done nothing wrong – he is the victim here. You’re all treating him as if he’s the villain – and now me by association? Honestly?’

  Jamie turned back to the bench and as he picked up a tool the second angel walked over. ‘Let me.’

  ‘You keep your feathery little arse away from me!’ I glowered at him.

  ‘Charles and Peter have your best interests at heart,’ Jamie started, but I was already shaking my head furiously.

  ‘Like fuck they do—’

  ‘Excuse me,’ a voice said, and Kerfuffle barged his way between the two angels and came trotting over to me. ‘Mistress, we’ve been so worried.’

  ‘I’m fine,’ I told him, ‘at least I will be, once someone takes these off.’ I lifted my wrists to show him the manacles.

  He waddled over to the bench and picked up a pair of cutters.

  ‘Ah, Kerfuffle is it?’ Charles took a step towards us, raising a hand.

  ‘Mr Kerfuffle to you,’ my diminutive guard grumbled without turning.

  ‘I think it had been decided that it would be for the best if the woman remained restrained for the time being—’

  Kerfuffle turned around, hands on hips. ‘Decided by whom?’

  ‘Ah—’ Charles glanced at Jamie, who put his hand over his mouth; I could see he was trying very hard not to laugh. I was glad he found it funny; I was about ready to kill someone.

  Kerfuffle obviously felt the same. ‘This lady is the Soulseer, and a royal princess. She is also my mistress and I am not about to leave her chained up on the say-so of a little dipshit like you.’

  ‘Well, I say,’ Charles said, ‘there’s no need to be so rude—’

  ‘Rude? I’ll give you rude,’ Kerfuffle started squaring up to them, and it was fortunate for all concerned that Shenanigans, the voice of reason amongst my guards, appeared at the door.

  ‘Mistress!’ His face lit up with a relieved, goofy grin as he hurried to my side. He tutted when he saw the manacles and took the cutters from Kerfuffle, who was still eyeing up Jamie’s pals. ‘Let’s get these off of you, Mistress.’

  ‘Thank you,’ I said, giving Charles and Peter a triumphant smile.

  ‘James?’ Peter said.

  ‘Keeping her chained up will make this situation even worse than it already is,’ Jamie told him. ‘Come …’ and he drew them outside the door. Their whispered conversation was doing nothing for my temper.

  Jamie returned, but fortunately, his feathered friends did not. I scowled at him.

  ‘They’re just being a bit over-enthusiastic,’ he said.

  ‘Over-enthusiastic? They wanted to keep me chained up! What was that all about?’

  Kerfuffle and Shenanigans exchanged glances, then kept their eyes down as they worked on getting those damned manacles off me.

  ‘They think you are more on Jinx’s side than ours.’

  ‘Jamie! This shouldn’t about sides – you know that! Jinx needs our help. You should see the state of him. He’s confused, doesn’t recognise me – he’s even forgotten his name.’

  ‘But Lucky, that’s the problem,’ Jamie tried to explain. ‘If he isn’t in control of himself, he’s a danger to humanity – and, dare I say it, to you and me and the rest of the Underlands.’

  ‘Jinx would never hurt me,’ I said as Shenanigans cut through the second manacle and carefully took it from my wrist.

  ‘Really?’ Jamie’s eyes narrowed as he clocked the bruises around my neck. ‘Then tell me how you got those.’

  Both Shenanigans and Kerfuffle looked at my throat and Kerfuffle sucked in a breath. ‘Not good, not good,’ he muttered.

  ‘Amaliel grabbed me—’

  ‘Maybe he did, but I can see old bruises beneath the red,’ Jamie interrupted. ‘Jinx did this to you.’

  I tried to make excuses, to explain: ‘He didn’t know what he was doing – as soon as he realised, he was distraught.’

  ‘Don’t you see?’ Jamie said. ‘This is exactly what we mean: if he was out of control enough to try and choke the life out of you, the woman he loves, do you think he’ll care what he does to a million strangers?’

  ‘He thought I was Persephone – and yes,’ I told him stubbornly, ‘yes, he will.’

  ‘You’re not fooling anyone. You know I’m right.’

  ‘Jamie, if you saw him – if you saw what they’ve done to him – you’d want to help him. You’d want to save him too; I know you would.’

  He reached out and ran his fingers down my cheek, indecision written all over his face, then gave a resigned sigh. ‘I want to save him, Lucky, but … what do you want me to do?’

  ‘Let me try and find him – let me try and bring him back.’

  ‘Can we go somewhere and talk about this?’

  This was better than I’d expected, but Shenanigans and Kerfuffle both looked worried.

  ‘Wouldn’t it be better if—?’ Shenanigans started, but Jamie silenced him with a gesture.

  ‘Come on,’ he said, and putting his arm around my shoulders, guided me out of the room and up the stairs.

  As we passed the fancy room where I’d first entered, I saw the Sicarii and their brown-robed disciples kneeling on the floor in a line, hands on their heads, while several angel-winged daemons pointed very un-angelic crossbows at them. I spotted Charles and Peter, in conversation with two others; all four gave Jamie and me pointed looks as we passed them.

  Jamie led me into a small anteroom and as soon as he’d pulled the door shut he tried to pull me into his arms – but I was having none of it. If it hadn’t been for Kerfuffle and Shenanigans, I wasn’t at all sure I wouldn’t still be chained up.

  I backed away, glaring at him. His shoulders slumped and I could see the very real regret in his eyes. ‘Amaliel has Kayla and my mother,’ I said.

  ‘Your mother?’ Jamie ran his hand through his curls. ‘Your mother’s been dead for twenty years or more …’

  ‘Dead, but not at peace.’ I explained about the crystals, and Amaliel’s thwarted plans for Baltheza and me.

  ‘Do you know where they’ve gone?’

  I shook my head. ‘But they’re planning something big; I know that much. Let me find them—’

  ‘You’ll never find them on your own.’

  ‘I have to try,’ I said, ‘and you either help me, or you don’t.’ Looking at Jamie’s troubled expression, I asked, ‘What is it?’

  ‘I have orders to take you back to the Underlands …’

  ‘Orders from whom?’ I asked and the image of the golden-haired woman sprang into my mind. ‘Who was the woman back at the other mansion?’

  ‘You saw her?’ he asked, sounding surprised.

  ‘Just before Jinx grabbed me.’

  ‘She is the Keeper. There are those who oversee both our lands; Jinx and I are their emissaries, either to correct the balance, or to police the interactions between the worlds.’

  I gave a nod. He’d told me that before.

  ‘Well, she is our conduit: she communicates their will, and we act on it.’

  ‘And she has told you these very important people,’ I said sarcastically, ‘have ordered you to bring me back?’

  He did have the good grace to look a little embarrassed about it. ‘I’m afraid so.’

  ‘Well, they can whistle,’ I told him. ‘I’m not theirs to command.’

  ‘You’re the Soulseer—’

  ‘And until a few months ago they knew nothing about me – or if they did, they chose to ignore me. So frankly, I don’t care what they say or what they want. I’m not going anywhere without Jinx and there’s nothing you or anyone else can do about it.’ The last of any warm, cuddly fe
elings I had for Jamie had drained away.

  ‘Lucky, I’m not the enemy,’ he said, reaching out to touch my face.

  I stepped away.

  ‘Lucky, listen to me. I said I would help you and I will … I know the three of us are meant to be. I know without Jinx, we’ll be broken, a piece of us missing. So I’ll do whatever it takes, even if it means—’ He broke off, pulled himself up very straight and forced his lips into a tight smile.

  ‘Means what?’

  ‘Nothing,’ he said, but before I could question him further, there was a rap on the door.

  ‘Guardian, a moment, if you will,’ someone called.

  Jamie took my hand and raised it to his lips. ‘Whatever I say and do out there, remember I love you, and I will keep my promise to you.’ He pressed his lips against my fingers. ‘Come on.’

  I wasn’t surprised to find Pinky and Perky waiting outside with those smug angelic expressions on their too-pretty faces.

  ‘One of the prisoners has told us something you should hear,’ Charlie-boy said.

  Jamie kept hold of my hand, obviously not caring one jot what they thought, and led me back into the room where they were keeping the Sicarii. My guard were standing beside the door, and it was clear from their body language that they were as pissed off as I was.

  Kerfuffle was glaring at the Sicarii or the angels, or maybe even both. Shenanigans’ thick lips were curled down in an uncharacteristic scowl. Vaybian was leaning against the wall, his arms crossed, gazing at both angels and Sicarii with arrogant distaste. Even Kubeck was frowning, and Pyrites was puffing dark smoke.

  I caught Shenanigans’ eye as we passed and mouthed, ‘What?’

  He glanced at an angel standing in front of one of the kneeling Sicarii; the two angels on either side had crossbows pointing at the Sicarii’s head.

  I wondered what on earth had been going on.

  As we approached, the angel facing the Sicarii said, ‘James, this one has told us something very interesting.’ He prodded his prisoner. ‘Tell the Guardian what you told me.’

  The Sicarii clutched his hands together. ‘I beg clemency.’

  Jamie’s thumb was caressing mine as though he never wanted to let me go, even at a time like this. ‘What mercy did you show any of your victims? What mercy did you show the humans back at the church?’

  ‘It was the woman Persephone – she sacrificed the girl, she had the humans murdered, not us – not the Sicarii.’

  ‘Tell me what you know, and I’ll relay your cooperation to those who will make the final decision.’

  The Sicarii looked over his shoulder at the other grey-robed daemons and they bowed their heads. He returned his attention to Jamie. ‘They are going to the capital, where the Deathbringer will bring forth the first of the Devastations: apocalyptic events of such monumental proportions that the entire human race will bend the knee to Amaliel and Persephone. Humans will see them as acts of their God or his nemesis, the Fallen One.’ The Sicarii laughed, a truly horrid sound. ‘Plague and pestilence will be followed by other natural and unnatural calamities, each one worse than the last.’

  ‘And the first will be?’ Jamie was gripping my hand tightly.

  The creature laughed again. ‘Do you think they would have left us behind if we had been privy to such information?’

  Jamie stared down at him.

  ‘James?’ the angel asked.

  ‘Take them back home for trial. We will continue the search for Amaliel and the Deathbringer.’

  ‘I will pass that news on.’

  ‘You do that, Pasqual,’ Jamie said, and the edge to his voice told me this daemon was no friend.

  ‘And the woman?’

  ‘The Soulseer will stay with me.’

  ‘Your orders were—’

  ‘I know very well what my orders are, but I must speak with her, as she too has information – disturbing information.’

  Pasqual didn’t bother to stop his lips twisting into a sneer. ‘And what “news” could be so important that you would not do as you have been bidden?’

  Pretty Peter and Charlie-boy gave little gasps of outrage behind me and one exclaimed, ‘Pasqual! You question the Guardian’s motives?’

  ‘She is not in chains. She holds his hand – and may I venture, his heart – in her very tight grip, so yes, I do.’

  ‘Bloody upstart,’ Kerfuffle muttered.

  ‘Think what you like,’ Jamie said, ‘but I will question her, and she will not return to the Underlands until I have.’

  Pasqual bobbed his head. ‘I will see this message is also passed on.’

  ‘You do that,’ Jamie said, and after giving my hand a final squeeze, he turned around and told Charlie-boy, ‘Take Lucky and her guards somewhere safe to wait for me. I’ll be there shortly.’

  Charlie-boy and Pretty Peter bowed in acquiescence and as they gestured for me to go with them, Jamie moved in close and whispered to me, ‘I trust them to keep you safe. They are my most loyal Guardians.’

  ‘Really? They wanted to leave me chained up—’

  He grinned. ‘I often have the same thought.’

  ‘I thought Jinx was the only one of you into bondage?’ I mumbled, slightly bewildered by this turn of events.

  ‘I hate to disillusion you, but Jinx and I have the same taste in many things, you being a case in point.’

  *

  Jamie’s angels led us to a large sitting room furnished with several leather couches and deep, wide armchairs, and a fire roaring in the grate. This room, unlike the last, was for living in. Even the landscape paintings on the walls were welcoming.

  Kerfuffle very pointedly pushed the door shut before Peter and Charles could follow us in, and I walked over to the far side of the room so we could talk without being overheard.

  ‘We have to get away from here,’ I told them.

  ‘It’s going to be difficult giving the Guardians the slip,’ Shenanigans said.

  ‘Jamie has promised to help us.’

  Kerfuffle’s marshmallow face creased into a frown so deep it looked like it must hurt and the room fell into an uncomfortable silence. Vaybian looked around, then snorted in disgust as no one spoke. ‘That could be very bad news for Jamie,’ he said.

  I remembered the sadness in Jamie’s eyes as he’d said he would help me … I knew there was something he wasn’t telling me. ‘Go on.’

  ‘He would not want you to know this, but you must: the Guardian answers to the Veteribus. If he fails in his duties to them – if he disobeys a direct order – they will take his wings.’

  Shit! The thought of Jamie losing his wings was so terrible that I was suddenly finding it hard to think straight. That he would risk himself in such a way for me and for Jinx? That meant he must love me more than I’d ever thought. He might have deceived me and manipulated me – but never for his own personal gain; I could see that now. But could I trust him, knowing that he could pull his mesmerising trick on me at any point?

  I looked up to find all eyes upon me.

  I would have to deal with one thing at a time. ‘So we’ll have to find a way for me to escape without Jamie being involved – and we need to make absolutely certain there’s no way he could possibly be blamed for my actions.’

  ‘It won’t be easy – those who wanted to keep you under lock and key will be as attentive as prison guards,’ Kubeck said.

  ‘Bloody Guardians,’ Kerfuffle mumbled. ‘They’ve always had a very high opinion of themselves.’

  Pyrites hopped up onto the couch next to me and laid his head on my lap.

  ‘Hush,’ said Shenanigans just as I was about to ask about the Keeper, and the door opened a crack and Charles popped his head around. ‘Apologies for the interruption, but James said you might want to come and see this.’

  In yet another sitting room we found six or seven more angels standing in a semi-circle, looking up at a huge plasma screen. As we walked in, a female news reporter was saying, ‘—scenes coming to you from acr
oss the river from the Palace of Westminster’ – and sure enough, there were shots of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. Then the cameraman focused on the Thames.

  ‘It’s begun,’ Vaybian said grimly.

  The images of the River Thames as it meandered through the city were shocking – I’d heard the Bible stories, of course, but to actually see it … This wasn’t a scene from a Hollywood movie depicting a river in a far-off land, this was the Thames. True, it still passed the same old landmarks – the Eye, the Houses of Parliament, London Bridge, the Tower – but today there was a striking difference. Today its waters were the colour of arterial blood. It was as if London was bleeding out from its very heart.

  Seventeen

  When the news report finished, we started back to our living room – but we had walked just a few steps when we heard raised voices, Pasqual’s the loudest.

  ‘What is it with him?’ I asked our escort.

  ‘He has ideas above his station,’ Peter replied.

  ‘He wants the Guardian’s position,’ Charles added, ‘and if he gets it, may the spirits help us all.’

  ‘He’s not very popular, then?’

  ‘He has his following,’ Peter said.

  ‘Most of us see the link between James, the Deathbringer and the Soulseer as a good thing; a positive force for the future. Some don’t.’

  ‘Oh,’ I said, still none the wiser.

  Peter fell in step beside me and moved closer. ‘It is rumoured that some of the Veteribus see the Trinity as a threat.’

  ‘That’s only speculation,’ Charles added.

  ‘Who exactly are the Veteribus?’ I asked.

  ‘It is they whom we serve,’ he said, leaning forward to open the door for me. ‘It is they who protect the three realms.’

  ‘Thanks,’ I said – and stopped dead. ‘Three realms?’

  ‘The Underlands, the Overlands, and the Hereafter.’

  He gestured for me to enter, and I went to stand by the fire while the rest of my guards trooped in. Once the door closed behind them, they clustered around me.

  ‘Peter just told me the Veteribus govern the three realms,’ I started. ‘Does anyone know who or what they actually are?’

  ‘They are—’ Kerfuffle began, but Shenanigans shushed him again.