Echoes and Embers (Rebel Angels) Read Online Free PDF

grandmother had been an angel, did that make Rosalind a Nephilim ? She couldn’t remember the rules. She couldn’t remember anything.

Chapter Three
     
     
    “Tell me about the Grigori.”
    “What is affecting your memory? Why would I need to tell you about the Order of Grigori?” Sariel regretted the hasty words as soon as they left his lips. Tears filled her eyes again, shimmering in the moonlight. But with several rapid blinks, she kept them from passing beyond her long lashes.
    “If I could recall what was affecting my memory, would the people in the village think me mad?” She raised her chin and squared her shoulders as if to shove aside her vulnerability. “My memory ebbs and flows like the tide. The harder I try, the denser the fog becomes.”
    Cool night air curled around them, heavy with the scent of chimney smoke and harvest. They hadn’t gone far from Mae’s cottage. The trees were thick, the trail secluded. He took a step closer and reached for her before he realized what he was doing. Clutching his mantle to his chest instead, he glared at Alyssa through the gloom. What was it about this woman that stirred his protective instincts—not to mention the dark desires he had banished long ago?
    “What exactly do you remember about yourself?”
    “I know what I am not.” She lowered her head, hiding her face with the fall of her hair. “I am not human. But how can I be an angel? I have done things no angel would do.”
    Again the need to protect her, to comfort her, surged through Sariel. He’d never experienced such an instantaneous reaction to another being. Who was she? He must learn more about her.
    He cupped her chin with his hand and raised her face to the moonlight, needing to see her expression, her eyes. “I have no answers for you. Those of us who did not Fall were commanded to remain separate. I know little of the other angelic orders.”
    Moving her face from side to side, she turned his light touch into a caress. Heat spiraled deep into his body. Sariel snatched his hand away. Why did she continue to tempt him? By word or deed . Had she not believed his threat, or did she want to be ravished?
    “Those of you who did not Fall?” Her voice sounded distant, speculative. He tried to focus on anything other than his throbbing cock. “We’re back at the beginning. Tell me about the Grigori.”
    It didn’t matter if she wanted him or not. He would not jeopardize his position. The ban under which he fell was specific to the Daughters of Man, but that was only because other angels did not feel lust. At least no other angel he had encountered before now.
    Thankful for the distraction, he continued along the rutted trail. “The Grigori were the first angelic order. We are more like humans than the angels created after us. We were intended to interact with mankind, to teach them, to instruct them in the ways of earth and God’s will.”
    “But some of the Grigori taught humans far more than they were ever meant to know.”
    He paused and looked at her, but her curly hair hid her expression. “Are you supposing? Or do you remember?”
    “I remember stories whispered in the night.” Tossing back her hair, she glanced up through her lashes. “I remember being saddened by the tales, by the suffering that followed.”
    He set his jaw, searching her face with his gaze. Did she mean the suffering of his fellow Grigori or the humans who had interacted with them? How clearly did she remember what had transpired?
    It didn’t matter. It all happened long ago.
    “Some members of my order taught the humans about magic and astrology. They were shown the wonder of fire and the destructive power of weapons. Humans were quick to learn and the Grigori able teachers.”
    “And for this your order was made to Fall ?” She sounded incredulous. Sariel smiled, pleased by her disapproval. Perhaps her tender feelings had been for his kind.
    “It was far more complicated than unsanctioned information.” He