Angel of the lake

Chapter Fifty-Four

In a crowd, Meg's new wings were proving to be highly effective. The people around her stared with a mix of awe and recognition. Thankfully, there was no outward fear—but it did mean people kept their distance. No one wanted an accidental brush with the end of Meg's talons. No one wanted a hellfire wound.

As if that's how it works.

Meg had to will the hellfire to the surface. Otherwise, those wing tips were completely harmless.

Still, she appreciated the added space in the vast crowd she stood in.

A gasp came from her side.

"Oh my Gods." She turned to a grinning guy with big brown eyes. "Can I get your autograph?"

Something about him felt familiar, but Meg knew she'd never seen this man before.

"Sorry? Who are you?"

"Does it matter?" He, for one, looked like he was having the time of his life. "I know who you are. I've heard a lot about you. And let me tell you something Megan, words do not do you justice. I mean those wings. Fuck me now. Let me ask you something. If you were to peg a man, do you think you could thrust from the sheer force of flapping your wings? Or is that not a thing?"

Her mouth opened and closed. Her big, surly demon boyfriend returned before she could reply.

Decked out in his usual armour, he slid a hand around her waist, saying, "I hate this place."

The stranger continued, explaining, "I don't have any paper for you to sign. But you could always sign my face, my arm or my di—"

"Megan, this is Seth the Tracker," Claudio said, cutting him off. "A good friend of Evie's. Seth, my mate, Megan."

She'd heard that name before.

"Your mate," The tracker repeated.

"There'll be no appendage signing today."

"Seth the tracker?" Meg asked.

He ducked into a comical bow. "At your service ma'am. And it's nice to meet you. Very nice. Extremely—" A glance to Claudio."—appropriately nice. You too, Claudio."

Claudio held Meg tighter, but he didn't seem threatened by the overly friendly man, not even with the myriads of sexual innuendos.

"Seth grew up with Evie. He's like her little brother."

"I'm older than her, first of all. And secondly, let it be known that nothing about me is little."

So, this was a friend of Evie's.

Interesting.

Right now, she and Claudio were waiting in line to see that very witch. It had been a week since the world blew up. They'd cleaned up the heavens, fixed their wounds, and now Megan wanted answers.

According to Claudio, Evie had known everything that happened in the heavens a year prior. Which meant that if anyone were going to know what'd happened to Rosa, it was bound to be her.

"I heard about what you did in the heavens," Seth said casually. "Congratulations on freeing them from the whole enemy lines thing. Seriously, I'm a big fan."

She kept having to remind herself that what she'd done was enormous. Sure, things had gone wrong—devastatingly wrong—and Nadine had gotten away, but the Valkyries had been freed from her terror. That had been the goal all along.

Like Claudio said, I've got to stop beating myself up.

"Your tracking abilities," Meg started.