The Fallen 03 - Warrior Read Online Free PDF Page B

reluctantly and saw a small group of people approaching us. The most beautiful men I had ever seen in my life—and, apart from my three years of semicloistered freedom, I was used to movie-star handsome. These creatures were like the one who had brought me here, almost eerily exquisite. There were three or four women as well, but they were ordinary women, not ethereal beauties. I racked my brain for an explanation, but none was forthcoming. The closer they got, the more glorious the men seemed, though none of them were quiteas beautiful as the crazy man who’d kidnapped me. Surely these people would help me.
    “Get up,” the supposed Archangel Michael snapped in an angry whisper.
    I would have, but I wasn’t sure my shaking legs would hold me. Best to stay on my knees rather than topple over on my face in front of them.
    I managed to look up hopefully as they stopped before me, and the gorgeous man in front, presumably the leader, with a soft, slightly rounded woman by his side, smiled at me.
    “Victoria Bellona, Goddess of War,” he said, “welcome to Sheol, the home of the fallen angels, and to your life as consort to the Archangel Michael.”
    I promptly threw up again.

CHAPTER
FIVE
     
    M ICHAEL LOOKED DOWN AT his bride for a moment, then met Raziel’s steely gaze. “I told you this wasn’t a good idea.”
    Allie was already kneeling by Victoria Bellona, holding his consort’s black hair away from her face and murmuring to her. The girl was definitely not happy, and if he were the sort to feel guilt, he might let a trace of it bother him. He could have warned her. Could even have done things to mitigate the unpleasant effects flight often had on humans. The goddess of war wasn’t exactly human, but right now her body was most definitely a frail, human vessel, and speed and altitude had had their expected effects.
    “You should have warned her.” Allie looked at up him with disapproval. The Source wasn’t the type to mince words, and she’d been against this idea fromthe very beginning, which should have made them allies. But she’d caved first, and he hadn’t been able to hold out against both her and her husband. Not when he knew they were right.
    “She will be facing too many things to warn her about all of them,” he replied coolly. “Are we ready for the ritual?”
    The girl’s head shot up. “What?”
    Raziel gave him a fiercely disapproving look before approaching her. “Welcome to Sheol, Victoria Bellona,” he said with great formality. “Welcome to the home of the Fallen, to membership in our family, to alliance in our war against the Armies of Heaven, to marriage with our brother Michael.”
    “Oh, hell, no,” said his blushing bride, stumbling to her feet with Allie’s help. “Nobody asked me whether I wanted to sign up for all this. I’m leaving.”
    Raziel didn’t blink. “And where exactly do you wish to go?”
    “Anywhere but here.”
    “Unfortunately, here is your only option. Sheol, or back with your mother and guardian for the few days remaining until you are twenty-five, at which point she will have you terminated.”
    “Pedersen is dead. She can’t very well toss me over the cliff herself,” the girl snapped.
    “There is more than one way to kill you. The contessa likes ritual and enjoys the cliff, but she can just as effectively shoot you and have the servants dispose of your corpse.”
    She glared at Raziel, taking some of the onus off Michael. Now that she was here in Sheol, he had no choice but to accept the unpleasant circumstance that Martha’s vision had saddled him with, and he had never been a man to waste time fighting the inevitable. There were more important battles in his future.
    “I am ready,” he said. “Though I believe the goddess must agree to this.”
    “What goddess?” the girl said.
    “He’s talking about you,” Allie said soothingly. “Victoria Bellona, incarnation of the ancient Roman goddess of war.”
    Victoria Bellona was