Story of Kings

Chapter 23

Evelyn nearly kicked in Azmal's door as she entered his small library, the old man sitting calmly in his wooden chair as if he expected her arrival. He set a cup of tea down as she slammed the door shut. "You better have a damned good reason for sending me in there when you knew Kane's wife never made it back!"

"Sending you in there?" Azmal said back with mild concern. "I did no such thing. You asked for information, and I provided it."

Striding to stand before him Evelyn stared down at him with pure fury. "We are on the same side, you know. You knew what I was going in there for, why the hell wouldn't you tell me Kane's wife and Rahatiel weren't there? You had to have known they never made it back."

Azmal gave Evelyn a pointed look, then indicated for her to sit at a chair across from him. Still fuming but knowing that the old bastard wasn't going to continue until she obliged, Evelyn sat on the edge of the chair. "To be fair, I never saw them make it back," Azmal began. "You see, I lost track of them and believe it or not, my birds never picked them back up."

"Bulshit, the entire time I've known you, your intel has never been off, your people have never failed," Evelyn countered with, jumping to a stand in her accusation.

Azmal again signaled her to sit, not breaking eye contact with her the entire time she slowly lowered herself down. "I'm aware of that reputation and choosing to not tell you was a part in preserving that. I didn't tell you that Rahatiel hadn't made it back because I lost track of him and never found him again. As far as I knew, he got in and stayed there to extract information from Kane's wife. As for my birds, well, I feel sorry for them, admittedly. They never returned, either."

Evelyn was still ragging when she processed his words. His scouts had never made it back, too. "Wait," she said, shaking her head as if to clear the fact out. "Your scouts never made it back? That's never happened before, how were they caught? Did you have more check where they were positioned?"

"Unfortunately, the key to preserving those who work for me is preserving how they operate, where they go and what they do," he said with a tight smile. "For the first time my eyes were seemingly caught, and that's all I'll share about it."

"That's not good enough," Evelyn said, her fists clenching so hard her bones groaned. "If the threat was that intense then why the hell didn't you warn me? What if they're being tortured for information?"

Azmal took another sip from his tea. "Oh, I assure you they are not, they would die before that happened. And because the value of that operation was still great, who you brought back from that angel barracks was far more valuable than Kane's wife. As for why I thought you could do it whereas my birds couldn't, well, they aren't angels."

"You insensitive a-" Evelyn said before stopping dead in her tracks. "What did you say?" She asked in a whisper, more threat than concern in her tone.

"I have birds all over this city, young Evelyn," the old man said, speaking into his cup. "Did you really believe that my birds wouldn't notice when you stole a pair of angel clothes a few years back? Or the times when you strut around wearing those clothes, channeling divinity? I grant you, taking on the form of a Valkyrie highly alters your appearance, but they did recognize you, eventually."

"Shut the hell up," she hissed, rising to her feet as the heat rose within her. Heat, but a deadly, icy cold. "When did you know?" How many people knew?

Azmal shrugged. "Hard to say if my birds noticed right away or not. You were with us maybe a year or two before I became aware that you were an angel. You've done very well in masking it."

"Will you just shut up already?!" As a Valkyrie, Evelyn's senses were nearly unmatched and every time she had gone out as an angel, she had made sure no one had been following or keeping track of her, she had never scented anything to indicate someone had known who she was. Who were Azmal's damned 'birds?' Were they actually birds?!? But then something he said finally reached her, who she had brought back was more valuable than Kane's wife. "Wait, you knew Amelia was in there, that's why you let me go in there without knowing if Cas was there?" It felt weird to Evelyn, saying Kane's wife's name, sent shivers along her skin. Someone she had never met, yet everything seemed to be hinging around her, around Kane.