A Book of Dust and Breath

Chapter Twenty

Max waited until Lily was asleep. In part, he was waiting to see if Daniel would show up. The angel knew more than Max about what was happening. He knew more about the game being played and the nature of the players. He viewed the universe from a perspective outside of time. Max caught glimpses of that lofty aspect but, in the great scheme of things, Max was earthbound. Daniel would know if he was over-reacting. He could tell him if he needed to stop jumping at shadows.

But Daniel didn't come and Max's gut told him his wife was in danger.

He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and slid away into the void.

Harriet peered over her spectacles at him. "Well, well, aren't we just picking and choosing when we want to visit these days?"

"I missed one reap, Harriet. Are you ever going to let me live it down?"

"I keep track of things, Metit. It's what I do."

Max rolled his eyes. "I need to talk to Michael."

"No problem," she drawled. "Let me just summon up the head of angel armies because a reaper wants to chat. I'm sure he has nothing better to do that visit with you."

Max gritted his teeth. He'd expected this from Harriet and knew he needed to keep his head. "Have I asked so much in all these lifetimes, Harriet? I wouldn't ask now if it weren't important."

A deep baritone voice spoke from behind Max. "I have come, reaper."

Max spun to face the towering warrior. His wings sprawled behind him, a rainbow swirl of color. His bronze skin glowed with Heavenly light making it painful to look straight at him.

Max trembled in the presence of this most powerful of angels and he was helpless to stop it. He bowed his head. "Thank you for coming."

The angel addressed his words to Harriet. "Ours is not a mission of keeping track of transgressions. Our God responds to those who ask in humility."

Harriet said nothing which struck Max as being as astonishing as an apology.

Michael folded his hands in front of him. The motion rattled the sword on his hip and the sound of it--the sharp, clarity of perfect justice--brought hot tears to Max's eyes. "Why do you call, Son of Azrael?"

Max forced himself to meet the angel's fiery golden eyes. "I have taken a wife."

"I am aware."

"I'm afraid she's in danger."

The angel cocked his head. "Go on."

"She tells me she hears noises, sees shadows. Yellow eyes watch her from the darkness and when she looks again they're gone."

"And what do you see, reaper?"

Max shook his head, dropped his gaze. "Nothing."

"Humans have separated themselves from Light and now dwell in darkness. They are frightened of the dark and they possess the ability to imagine and create as our Creator does."

"This is different," Max insisted.

"She is a human," Michael reminded him as though he could have forgotten.

Max looked up again, silently praying to be heard and understood. "She is the wife of a reaper. Is there no creature in Hell who would use her to get to me? To my father?"

Michael stared at him, his gaze penetrating beyond the form he had grown familiar with in his current life and seeing the truth of what lies beneath. "What would you ask of the angel armies, Maximus? She is just one girl."

Oh, how he longed to rail against that. Lily was different. Special. Extraordinary. Set-apart. But then... did not every human say such things when petitioning Heaven for special favors on behalf of their loved ones? The angel had heard it before. He would not be moved by such testimony. Max swallowed his protests and asked, "Will you send a companion? Just one. Someone to watch over her. If she's seeing something real, if Corzor's devils are in my house..." he held his arms wide. "I am not strong enough to protect her against such as them, if they become emboldened enough to attack. If there is even a chance of an imbalance... my wife is not safe."

"If there is an imbalance, no one is safe," Michael answered.

Max ignored the tears on his face. There was no shame in weeping in the presence of angels. He held his chin high. "Please. Help her."

The angel's gaze moved past Max. "Harriet. Assign a companion to the reaper's wife. Be sure she is one who is competent and tested."

Max's knees threatened to buckle. "Thank you." The words drifted out on an exhale, but already the angel was gone.

He couldn't muster the will to deal with Harriet. He returned to himself, lying curled against his wife's strong, warm body. "Thank you," he whispered into the darkness.