Prologue
Sebastian
"I'mgoingtokillthe Dark King," I said, stomping around the sparse room before glancing out of the window.
The declining sun caused worry to kindle my gut, time was closing in on what had to be done. Because as much as I wanted to kill the Dark King, that day wasn’t today. But one day I would stop him, one day I would find a way. Hopefully, in the next life, I would find him and destroy him for doing this to us. Because eventually, he had to make himself known. He couldn’t hide himself forever and once he revealed himself, I would take his life.
The trouble was there was only one way to kill him, and that was the only way she died, too. And that was because Aurora and Dark King were gods, but Kanael, Lakael and I were only angels. Angels that weren’t supposed to fall in love with the Goddess that they protected. Not supposed to take her from her betrothed.
“I love you, Aurora, and I’m sorry we couldn’t make this life work.” I cupped her cheeks and kissed her lips because she was mine, not his.
My mouth lowered to her jaw, her neck, wanting to remember the feel of her skin on my lips. Needing to remember her floral scent, she truly was a goddess.
“It’s not your place to be sorry,” she whispered, her golden gaze holding mine as I went to kiss her again. She stopped me with a finger on my lips. “But is there no other way? We said this time would be different.”
I shook my head. This time seemed so much painful than the others. But each life got harder for us, it also got tougher for the Dark King, but he still manipulated her life, our lives.
Would next time be harder again?
“Do this again and you will pay for the crime.”I knew the voice that boomed around us—Raphael, the chief of all the angels. But I was already paying for my first crime. The first time I took her life and again the second time; each time my wings got darker.
They banished Aurora and me from the upper realm, expelled from the higher ground to this place called earth. We tried to live a peaceful life among the humans and the secret paranormals that hid among them.
The humans didn’t see what we could; vampires that killed indiscriminately; faes that shifted into animals; dragons that flew at night when they thought no one cared. There were also people I thought were humans at first, but since watching them, I realised they were more. They had magical abilities, but they weren’t dark. There was nothing but light auras around these people.
“I will make you forget what she is to you. You'll forget how much you love her,”Raphael roared, almost splitting my ear drums.“I will bring other men in her life, more than you, Lakael and Kanael.”
The threat didn’t worry me. He brought Lakael into this life, joining Kanael and me, and we made it work. Aurora would always be ours, and she loved us. That could never change. We were her protectors, her angels, provided by the Gods and Raphael couldn’t change that.
“She won’t remember you in her next life. She won’t remember anything until it is too late. You’ll have to work harder to find her, to gain her love again,”Raphael said.
Aurora’s eyes were wide as she stared at me. “What if he is telling the truth?”
I shook my head. “The Gods won’t allow it. You’re their goddess and have to be protected.”
“But not by you,”Raph’s voice bellowed in the air.“I’ll speak to the Gods if you do this.”
“We need to leave now,” I said, glancing at the sun again. We were running out of time as the sun lowered to mark the end of the day. She stared at me, and I knew why. Lakael and Kanael hadn’t returned from the market. “This has to be done before the sun disappears and we are running out of time. The Dark King will enter your dream again tonight.”
“I need to tell Kanael and Lakael that I love them. You know I can’t leave without seeing them one last time,” she said, as tears laced her sparkling golden eyes.
“I’ll tell them,” I said. “We don’t have the time. The Dark King is getting ready to claim you when you sleep, and that could be tonight.”
“I need to be awake to enact a binding, and I know he wants that,” she said.
“Aurora, he is the Dark King, and he can manipulate the world around him, and he can certainly manipulate you in your sleep. That is why I asked you not to bind with anyone until we understand it more, including your angels. Remember, that is what he wants from you. He wants you to enact the mate bond. Try to remember that in your next life, don’t bind with anyone. Not until the Gods give you a sign.”
“What if I don’t remember? What if he succeeds in the next life?”
“I won’t let him,” I said.
Aurora chewed her lip and her fists clenched the material of her cream and gold dress. Finally, she nodded. “I need all my angels with me. When I die, I need to touch the three of you. We know that’s the only way I’ll know you are mine in the next life,” she whispered as tears fell down her cheeks. Her eyes pierced mine, her look so sad. “Otherwise, how will I know?”
“They didn’t want to go through it again,” I lied. This conversation was eating into our time and I couldn’t take the chance of her sleeping one more night, and having the Dark King invade her dreams again.
“If you agree to this Aurora, you won’t know who your fated are in the next life. I will make sure that happens. The gods agree with me,”Raph said.
Aurora gasped, pushing away the stream of tears from her cheeks. I held her in my arms, pulling her to my chest and holding her.