Part 27 (2/2)
Adryel turned to Michael, tears running down her cheeks. ”I am your prisoner, Lord Michael, but I need to know, I need for Ramael to tell me.”
”She cannot talk her way out of this,” Dariel screamed as he tore around the table, his hands stretched out toward her.
”Dariel, halt,” Michael commanded.
Ramael stepped between Dariel and Adryel, lowering his shoulder and plowing into him. Dariel crumpled to the floor and looked up to find Ramael standing over him, his sword drawn.
”Lord Michael said to halt,” Ramael growled through clenched teeth.
”You're a traitor, Ramael.” Dariel glared at him, fury spread across his face. His arm shook as he pointed his finger accusingly. ”You've known her whereabouts all along, haven't you? You've conspired to hide her from me. You've led me astray, you've. . .”
As Ramael raised his sword, one of the guards looked up and turned his head, seeming to hear a noise. ”Adonai.”
All in the room fell to the floor, their foreheads pressed against the cool marble. In the silence that followed Adryel lifted her head and peered through half-open eyes. Wisps of cloud floated through the door and swirled about, moving across the room in her direction. She closed her eyes and lowered her head. After several moments, she looked again.
The brilliant cloud, s.h.i.+ning with a light of pure white, had entered the room and rested directly before her. Six seraphim hovered behind the cloud, chanting quietly. It was just as she remembered. The cloud rotated slowly and thousands of tiny lights, like strings of diamonds...o...b..ted the cloud, without beginning and without end.
Everything but the cloud seemed frozen in place, as though time itself had stopped.
”Adryel, why have you come?”
As before, there was no sound, but she clearly heard Adonai speaking.
”She wants her pair to know she loves him.” Dariel's sarcastic voice rang out, breaking the silence before she could answer.
The cloud slowed, almost ceasing to turn. ”Truly? You love him?”
She bowed her head. ”I thought he was dead. I. . .I never would have gone. . .I never could have left. . .” She could not continue and, finally, she simply nodded.
The tiny lights began to move more rapidly, and the cloud seemed to turn to face Ramael now. ”Do you love her?”
Adryel dropped her eyes and shook her head. She knew the answer would be no.
Ramael raised himself to his knees. He tipped her head back, and looked into her eyes. She tried to avoid him, ashamed of what she had become, knowing what he had to say, but his gaze held hers, and it seemed as if he stared into her very heart, recalling their life together, all of what she had once meant to him.
Finally, he nodded. ”I do. . .Yes. . .I can't help myself. . .I love her.”
Adryel placed one hand over her mouth as she stifled a cry. She'd not even allowed herself to think this might be true. With her other hand, she reached out and caressed his face.
Suddenly realizing what she was doing, she dropped her hand to her side.
Adryel sensed that Adonai was smiling.
”I love her too,” he said.
The cloud seemed to glow even brighter than it had before, and Adryel began to cry.
You will find that love never ends, he had told her so.
”And she wants to be forgiven,” Dariel screeched. ”After all that she has done? She is evil. Forgiveness only goes so far. She must-”
A low rumble came from the cloud causing Dariel to stop in mid-sentence.
”You ask forgiveness, Adryel?”
She tried to speak, but again the words would not come. She dropped her eyes and swallowed hard. ”I. . .I was wrong. I was lied to, and I was misled, but the decisions. . .they were all mine. What I did was my fault, my own shameful fault. . .and I'm sorry. I. . .I wish I could turn back time and. . .I renounce Lord Lucifer and all. . .all of his works and plans and schemes.” Adryel's voice began to shake and she gave in to tears. ”But I'm not worthy of forgiveness. I asked it of Ramael.” She shook her head. ”I dare not ask it of anyone else.”
Even the seraphim ceased their chant. Adryel imagined the silence could not have been greater when Adonai had existed alone, before the angels or any of the host of heaven.
After a moment, Adonai spoke, his voice both booming and non-existent at the same time. ”Michael, can you forgive her?”
Michael nodded, a smile playing around his lips. ”I can.”
Dariel rose to his knees. ”No,” he wailed. ”No forgiveness. No forgiveness.”
He sprang to his feet and rushed toward Adryel, poised as though he would attack. She held her breath and braced herself, but Michael sprang up, reaching out to seize him.
”Dariel, stop!”
”Restrain him,” Gabriel shouted.
One of the guards seized Dariel's arm and wrestled him to the floor. The other one leaped forward and together they grasped his arms and legs, lifting him off his feet. Dariel struggled against them, twisting in their arms, kicking, striking out. As they carted him from the room, he screamed for help. He cursed Adryel.
As the sound of Dariel's cries died away, Adonai's cloud drew nearer, finally resting so close that Adryel could reach out and touch it, had she dared.
All of creation seemed to pause and wait.
”You, Ramael, can you forgive her?”
Adryel's body tensed. She needed his forgiveness. After that. . .
”Can one forgive the Mistress of h.e.l.l?” Ramael searched the faces of those near him, a look of confusion on his face.
Adryel felt her cheeks burning. Of all she had done, becoming Lucifer's mistress was how she had betrayed her pair.
Every face turned toward Ramael.
In the silence that followed, Lord Michael placed his hand on Ramael's shoulder as though encouraging him to say what he truly felt.
Ramael looked to Michael, then to Adryel. Tears forming in his eyes, he again faced Adonai and nodded his head. ”I can.”
Tears filled Adryel's eyes now-tears of happiness.
”I do,” he added in a voice so quiet that Adryel was not certain she'd actually heard it. She gazed up at one of the seraphim, who seemed to be whispering to Adonai. The lights that circled the cloud began to emit an iridescent glow.
”I forgive her, too.” As Adonai spoke, the seraphim smiled.
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