Wingless ~Book Two of Winged~

No

Trinity

The back of my head aches as I begin to stir awake. I open my eyes and stare up at the high ceiling above me. This must be the palace. My eyes slowly close, and open again, before drifting over to the person leaning over me. Dominic. A smile slowly spreads on my face and I sit up, wrapping my arms around his neck. He lets out a short chuckle as he tightly hugs me back. He helps me to my feet and once standing his eyes look behind me at something. I turn and see Malachai staring at me. I show a small smile and he returns the smile.

"Thank you." I say and he nods, a look of sadness creeping into his eyes. My eyes linger on him before I look back up at Dominic.

"Is Etheriel okay?" I ask and Dominic lets out a breath of air.

"Yes, he's fine although he is pissed at me for sending you here." He shows a small smile as he stares down at me. I narrow my eyes at him slightly and lightly punch his chest.

"You sent me to purgatory!" He places a hand against where I punched and a guilty look creeps onto his face. His eyes flicker to Malachai.

"Who is that? I thought I told you to not trust anyone." Dominic changes the subject. I turn back to Malachai and he is interested in our conversation since he can't actually hear us. I walk away from Dominic and toward Malachai.

Now standing beside Malachai with him staring down at me, I introduce him, "This is Malachai." Dominic narrows his eyes at Malachai. He reaches out to me.

"Okay, come on we need to go." Dominic motions for me to come to him. I look up at Malachai, not sure how to thank him for all he did to help me get here and for leading me here. He stares down at me, his eyes filled with sadness and loneliness. I get a sudden idea and I turn back toward Dominic, taking a few steps forward. I look back at Malachai so he knows what I am going to say to Dominic.

"Can you bring Malachai with us to?" I say loudly for Dominic to hear. Malachai's eyes widen some and he quickly looks at Dominic behind me.

"What? No." I spin to face him.

"Why not? He's alone here fighting for his life. I don't want him to become one of the numerous bodies surrounding the walls of the palace." Dominic narrows his eyes.

"You know, he's here for a reason, right? He didn't just end up here. He was placed here because of something he did." Dominic takes a few steps closer to me. I look back at Malachai and he has his eyes narrowed at Dominic.

"He protected me all the way here, Dominic. He took care of me when you dumped me here!" I raise my voice slightly, not caring since Malachai can't hear me anyways.

"He is here for a reason!" Dominic approaches me. "He is crazy, just because he has been doing a good job hiding it, doesn't mean he isn't."

"He's nice, Dominic. It must have been a mistake. He's not crazy." Dominic shakes his head.

"No. No. No." He runs a hand through his hair.

"Then I am staying here with him." I spit out and Dominic freezes before slowing looking down at me. He closes the distance between us and he looks furious. He reaches out to grab my arm, but I stumble back away from his touch so he can't take me back. He reaches out toward me again, but before he gets anywhere near me, Malachai appears in between us, facing Dominic. And he is continuing to protect me.

"Let him come with us." I say and look around Malachai and at Dominic.

"Etheriel's going to be beyond pissed." Dominic mumbles and I smile walking around Malachai. I take Malachai's warm hand in mine and before I can reach for Dominic's head wraps an arm around my waist and pulls me to his chest. I look up and see Dominic glaring at Malachai. I look at Malachai and he looks calm although in his eyes I see that he is excited. I squeeze his hand and he smiles at me as flames begin to lick at our feet. I hold Malachai's hand tightly as the flames grow around us. When the flames die down, we are standing in a parking garage, but you can clearly hear rain pouring. Malachai looks around rapidly. He seems completely amazed. His wings slowly go into his back and a slight pained look fills his eyes.