The next morning arrived far too early or at least, that was Anaqielle’s opinion when pillow slammed into her face.
Anaqielle groaned.
Before long another pillow followed.
This one hit her head hard enough to knock a few black feathers loose.
“Get up.”
Anaqielle pulled the blanket over her head and rolled over to the other side of the bed.
“No.”
Across the room, Isa crossed her arms.
“Your chance to return to heaven is waiting.”
“Tell heaven I’m sleeping,” she mumbled.
Isa stared at her.
Then she marched across the room and ripped the blanket away.
Cold air immediately attacked Anaqielle from all directions.
She hissed.
“Traitor.”
“I fell from heaven because of you, remember?” Isa said.
“The least you can do is get up, head out and corrupt one holy maiden so we can return home.”
Anaqielle buried her face into the mattress.
“I got the message just yesterday, Isa.”
“Exactly.” Isa pointed accusingly.
“And you’ve been staring at the ceiling all night.”
Anaqielle slowly looked up.
“Have you been watching me sleep?”
“Unfortunately.”
The fallen angel groaned again.
After several more minutes of arguing, Isa finally succeeded in dragging her out of bed.
An hour later, the two women were leaving the mansion.
Anaqielle wore a fitted black coat over a dark shirt, her silver hair tied loosely behind her neck.
Her ruined wings remained hidden by illusion magic.
Only a few black feathers escaped now and then.
Isa walked beside her, carrying a folded map.
Looking sharp and ready to perform heaven’s task and save Anaqielle from ruin.
“You know,” Isa said, “For someone who spent three hundred years wanting to go home, you’re remarkably unmotivated.”
Anaqielle adjusted her gloves.
“I’m motivated,” she let out, her frame still carrying a hint of sleep on her.
“You looked more excited about breakfast.”
“I was excited about breakfast,” Anaqielle admitted.
After three hundred years, she got used to mandane food as it helped her cope with the nightmare that was life as a fallen.
Isa sighed dramatically.
“You are impossible.”
The city gradually appeared beyond the hills.
Silver rooftops glimmered beneath the morning sun.
People filled the streets.
Merchants, men, women, children, workers, commoners and pilgrims.
The streets were full of life.
Anaqielle rarely spent time among crowds anymore.
Mortals changed too quickly, she learnt bitterly.
She learns someone’s name then, they die and someone else comes along.
Three centuries taught her not to get attached.
Every soul in that street will age and die and she’ll remain young, beautiful and eternal.
Forming a bond with a human was a cruel punishment no matter how one framed it.
Because after a thousand years, she’ll still be ageless with a broken heart while the human they got close to would be dead and gone, reincarnated even.
Isa suddenly stopped walking.
“Huh?”
Anaqielle glanced over.
“What?”
“The sanctum,” she pointed ahead.
Anaqielle followed her gaze.
The towering white sanctum stood in the distance but something felt off.
Far fewer attendants were entering than expected.
It seemed emptier than usual with less holy maidens and less Luminars too.
Isa frowned and unfolded her map.
“That’s strange. According to this, your holy maiden isn’t here.”
“Whose holy maiden?” Anaqielle’s face twisted into a nasty expression.
“Don’t get it twisted, Isa. She’s heaven’s chosen task for me. She’s not mine.”
“Regardless, we need to find the holy maiden.”
A passing woman overheard them.
She figured that they were their for the summon.
“The Lord of Radiance isn’t there today.”
Anaqielle looked at her.
The woman smiled warmly as though understanding their confusion.
“The Lord of Radiance is performing charity work at the temple of lanterns and almost all the holy maidens are helping him there.”
The moment she said the name, several nearby people smiled.
One elderly man even placed a hand over his heart.
“Such a kind soul the lord is.”
“Holy maiden Laliya too,” another elder chipped in.
“Yes, she visits every other week.”
“Never misses it.”
“Radiance bless her.”
Anaqielle exchanged a look with Isa.
Her face was half-smile and half-frown.
She was happy they leant Laliya’s location but on the other hand, she loathed the praises Laliya was receiving.
Yes, she’s holy…
We get it.
She rolled her eyes in displeasure.
Isa grinned.
“Looks like we’re going to a temple.”
The Temple of Lanterns sat near the poorest district in the city.
Unlike the grand sanctums, it was simple, warm and felt more alive than most places ruled by the laws of Radiance.
The courtyard overflowed with people; homeless families, orphans, elderly workers and travelers.
Rows of tables held food, blankets, and water.
Laughter echoed through the air.
Children chased one another between stone pathways.
Anaqielle paused at the entrance.
That wasn’t what she expected.
Most holy maidens spent their days isolated in prayer halls.
They rarely left the sanctum to mingle among ordinary people.
“I already dislike this holy maiden,” she said, stepping inside.
Immediately,her eyes found Laliya.
She stood near a fountain, sleeves rolled up despite the elegant white robes she wore.
Her dark hair had been tied back carelessly, and a small child clung to her side while she handed bread to an elderly woman.
She was smiling.
It was not the polite smile Anaqielle had seen in the sanctum.
This one felt real.
It was bright, warm and human like her heart had finally started working and the emotions connected with her body.
For a moment, Anaqielle simply watched.
Laliya crouched to speak with a little girl whose shoes were nearly falling apart.
The girl pointed excitedly at something and it made Laliya laughed.
The sound carried across the courtyard like a soft melody.
Something strange twisted inside Anaqielle’s chest.
Isa immediately noticed.
“Oh, no.”
Anaqielle didn’t look away.
“What?”
“You have that look.”
“What look?”
Isa groaned.
“The one that gets people exiled,” she said, knowing fully well that they were doomed if Anaqielle continued to stare at Laliya like the maiden was made of her answered prayers.
That finally earned her a glare.
Anaqielle hated the reminder of her banishment.
It was the darkest moment in her life and her deepest shame.
Isa pointed toward Laliya.
“Remember the mission?”
“I remember.”
“You are here to corrupt her. Not to fall in love with her,” she reminded sternly.
“I know.”
“You do not stand around admiring her either.”
Anaqielle rolled her eyes.
Then her gaze drifted back toward the holy maiden.
At that exact moment, Laliya looked up.
Their eyes met across the crowded courtyard.
Blue-grey eyes locked tightly onto the golden eyes.
For a single heartbeat, the noise around them disappeared.
Recognition flashed across Laliya’s face.
She remembered Anaqielle, not only from their conversation in the sanctum, but in the repeated dreams she had all night.
Dreams about the golden eyes, silver hair and blackened wings.
More of the Seren that was created with all those features who could sit on the Radiance altar without suffering any consequences.
Anaqielle smiled slowly.
Dangerously.
And across the courtyard, Laliya immediately forgot what she had been saying to the child.
Her fascination with the Seren deepened.
She clutched her prayer beads tightly, her heart beat racing.
Before the feeling could grow.
Laliya masked her emotions with a practised cold indifference and snapped her gaze away in pure defiance.
Anaqielle scoffed.
“How rude,” she said.
“And to think I made an effort and woke up early for her,” she added scornfully.
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