All the Queen's Angels

Ch. 34: Loving You

Ambrose's POV:

I don't know how long I've been unconscious for, but I know at this moment I'm finally dying.

Salt water assaults my lungs as the chains slice into my arms and chest. Pain stabs through me at all angles. I look down and realize Amaryllis's harpoon is lodged in my chest. The salt burns my eyes, the gashes across my body, the mutilations on my back. I can't tell if I'm crying or breathing anymore. I cannot see or hear. I can only feel.

I'm dissolving into salt and sea foam.

When I Fell, I did not repent. If the Heavens wanted me to bow on my knees, they would have had to cut me down.

I Fell for my sins. It was the first time I had ever loved anything: the blasphemous deed crafted and executed so artfully by my hand. My passion turned reality. My vengeance turned law.

It was my First Death. They promised me an eternity of suffering. But when I Fell, all I felt was power. I was Fallen...and free.

Free to feel. Free to think. Free to revel in the havoc of my doing.

But not free enough.

I was now bound by new chains: mortality. I was dying of my own damned creation. The only cure was her.

As she died...I would live. It was so easy. She was supposed to die after all. I just had to make sure no one ruined the divine plan, and the Heavens would grant me immortality. I just had to be with her.

But somewhere along the way...I had to be with her. Suddenly every breath I took...I took from her. Suddenly, when I envisioned my future, all I saw was hell.

I wanted to rip the mortality from my bones and drain the blood from my heart into hers. I wanted to break down the divine gates and rain hell down upon the skies. I wanted to stop the anguish that seeped into my veins every time she was near.

Instead, I Fell again. I Fell for her.

For the first time, I fell to my knees and prayed. Every night I begged for mercy, for understanding. I prayed to silent gods for forgiveness.

They promised me I would suffer. I did not believe them then. But now, as I'm dragged to the ocean floor, I receive my Final Death.

And it hurts—it hurts so bad.

I feel the last fibers of life fray within me, and I think of Evangeline. I hope that as I die, she will live.

Curse be damned.

From the encroaching darkness, I hear her voice: et iterum ego pro vobis

...

Malcolm's POV:

Fucking hell.

In the middle of my epic slaughter-fest, Evangeline decides to scale the damn cliffs and become a human dartboard for Amaryllis.

I can't save her ass from here. As I cut down Forsythian soldiers, I keep an eye on her distant form. Although I'm making progress, Amaryllis's army won't let me get far enough down the beach to the cliffs.

Shit.

I'm closer to the carriage at least. Making sure that Evangeline is looking okay, I change my plans and dive into the sea. The carriage has sunk deep but I can still make it and screw up Amaryllis's plans.

An Angel gets to me first. She divebombs into the ocean, taking me with her as she wraps her hands around my neck. Twisting around, I sink my sword into her shoulder.

Locked around each other, we begin to sink as blood seeps into the water and clouds around us. Gathering all my strength, I harness the shadows from the Deep. They writhe in my grip as I absorb them into my veins and burn the Angel. Wrestling myself from her grip, I break away and swim to the surface for a breath. She emerges moments after, but pauses as something on the cliffs catches her eye.

Evangeline. Something flickers in the Angel's eyes. A revelation.

"Time out," I gasp. "Fucking—stop for a second."

Slowly, her gaze lands on me again.

"Do you love her?," the Angel asks.

"What?".

"If you love her, I will save her. But I cannot swim with these wings. So if I save her, you must free Ambrose," she says.

I watch Evangeline's hand slip, the cliff debris raining down on her.

"Save her," I rasp. I don't wait for her response before diving again. Harnessing the unstable shadows from the deep, I grab the carriage chains and corrode them into dust. As the carriage crumbles and falls away to the deep, I wait for a sign of Ambrose.

Instead, all I see is Leander's coffin. Made of indestructible stone, it is the only thing that remains, and the last thing to disappear into the sea.

Fuck.

I swim to the surface as fast as I can, my blood thundering in my ears.

"Evangeline!," I roar as I resurface and scan the battlefield.

The Angels are gone.

The Infernal Army has captured Amaryllis. She kneels in the sand, cuffed and blindfolded.

But Evangeline is gone.

I step into the shore, the ocean vaporizing around me, and raze the beach to ash.

As the infernal flames climb higher and consume the battlefield, I approach Amaryllis. Grabbing her handcuffs, I let my veins fill with shadow.

The fallen queen raises her head as the metal cuffs fall to the sand with a clink.

"They have betrayed us both, it seems," she smiles beneath the blindfold.

So it seems.

Evangeline's POV:

The screams of a battlefield echo in the distance, rousing me from unconsciousness. Brushing my hair from my face, I turn and stare up into the billowing walls of a tent. The burnt orange rays of the setting sun filter through gaps in the fabric, dappling the dirt ground in gold.

As I try to sit up, it feels as though I'm moving through water, or a dream. A hand suddenly stops me, gently but firmly pulling me back against his chest. Strong hands grab my jaw.

"Sleep, Angel."

His lips meet mine and smoke fills the air between us. As he breathes into me, my head spins. I fall back into his lap and stare up through the rays of sun giving his hair a golden halo.

Before long, the gold fades to black.

...
A/N: any guesses to what Ambrose did to become a Fallen Angel?