Angel Of Solace Read Online Free PDF Page A

him he had known it would be about her, but that didn’t make it any easier. And if they had really found her…then this was the news he had been dreading for six months.
    Because it meant he was going to kill her. 
    “We always suspected she was there,” Avrick replied matter-of-factly, doing his best to keep his feelings in check. 
    Vaelen eyed him carefully for several long seconds before finally turning away and nodding. “Now we have proof. She’s working with the Asurans and seems to have befriended their leader.”
    Avrick searched his memory. “The doctor, Samuel Kronn?”
    “Yes. He’s been cautious since we killed his predecessor a year ago, but over the past month they have grown aggressive again. Just last week, they attacked several of our agents and released at least two Demons.”
    “And you think she was involved?”
    “There’s no way to be sure, but we do know she is aiding them.” Vaelen tapped the console on his right, and it projected a translucent hologram onto his desk. It appeared to be a still capture of a busy city street, but it didn’t take Avrick long to locate what he was looking for. Hidden beneath the folds of a hooded jacket was a pale-skinned woman with impossibly black eyes.
    Sariel.
    “That’s her,” he murmured.
    “The man next to her is Kronn,” Vaelen pointed out. The doctor was a bit past middle age with dark skin and a graying beard. A still holo like this didn’t really tell them much beyond confirming their presence, but that was all they needed.
    “When was this taken?”
    “Three days ago. We haven’t picked up anything since, but our agents know where the Asurans are working. Our people put together some bait, and they’re going to make a move soon.”
    Avrick pressed his lips together. “So what are we going to do?”
    “We’re going to Solace,” Vaelen told him. “Tonight.”
    “I see.”
    The older man grunted. “I know it’s not what you were expecting, and maybe not even what you wanted, but it has to be done.”
    It was, Avrick knew, something of a test. He had known Sariel since they were both brought to the temple when they were six. She had been trained as a priestess and he as a Chosen. It was no secret that they had been close, and Vaelen doubted whether his pupil was up to the task of hunting her down and doing what was necessary. 
    His doubts were reasonable. Avrick had plenty of them himself.
    “I can’t…” he started, biting his lip. “I just can’t see her as corrupt. I didn’t believe it when the priests told us, and I’m not sure I do now.”
    “That will only make her more dangerous.”
    Avrick closed his eyes and pressed his fingers against them. When the Covenant had branded her an outcast and a traitor six months ago, he had been in Fauress on missionary work. He was a man who could endure eight rounds of the pain ritual, yet he had spent most of that first night weeping in his tent like a small child. He couldn’t understand what had happened. He still didn’t.
    It would have been one thing if she were still just a priestess—bad enough, certainly, but not nearly on the same level as a fallen Angel. She had been selected for the Bonding when she turned eighteen, and they had both expected the ritual to change her like it had the others. And really, how could it not? The ritual called down a holy spirit to possess her, transforming her into an Angel, a direct servant of God and a leader of the Covenant. Most priests who underwent the Bonding became entirely different people—aloof, distant, and reserved. Sariel had not.
    “Since the Descent, only two other Angels have fallen,” Vaelen said gravely. “And none have ever left the mainland. She has turned her back on us and on God, Avrick. She has taken his divine gift and used it for evil.”
    “I know,” he murmured. “That doesn’t make it any easier.”
    “Betrayal is never easy. And when it is personal, it’s often impossible.”
    Betrayal . The word