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"Gabriel He&039;s a vessel So, are you here alone?"

"You are not a cherub," I said, willing to be polite, but not made a fool of I casually stepped to the side, to put a little space between us

His leer got a bit brighter as he leaned closer "Winged babies, right? In diapers, flitting around from cloud to cloud? Cupid and all that?"

"That is the standard ireed "I&039;m sure I don&039;t need to point out that you&039;re far frost theabout a bit of lint on my collar when I backed out of his reach "The truth about us is ree You are new here, aren&039;t you? Youhere for someone," I said as Gabriel the not-so-very-cherubic took my hand and tucked it into his ar It&039;s best to think of this incarnation of the Court as a giant wheel, with the main square here as the hub There are three areas on the outer edges of the town, all reachable fro my protest He waved a hand toward the people at the well "That&039;s the equivalent of the office water cooler Those are shops along the edges"

I had a bit of trouble co et my mind to overlook the trouble spots and n change the appearance of the Court often?"

Gabriel shrugged, and escorted me down one of the four cobbled streets that led away frouess Over here is the petitioner&039;s park, and through that archway is the library"

I caught a glireen open space as Gabriel whisked ive norance, but what exactly does a cherub do?"

"Coe of the Internet See that building? That&039;s the athonite Don&039;t go in there if you don&039;t want to be bored to death It&039;s full of her for hours on end"

"You are in charge of the Internet? In charge how?" I asked, little warning signals going off in o with the flow" intentions, and told myself I&039;d sort it all out later

"Oh, this and that It&039;s mostly automated now, so it doesn&039;t take tooLeavesa lovely lady around the Court"

"You&039;ve clearly devoted much time to flattery It&039;s second to none," I said with a s h a tunnel

"Why, thank you, sweet lady" He kissed h an arched doorway into the third area "Behold, the sanctuary"

"Is the sanctuary a, for lack of a better word, holy place?" I had tried to keep an eye on where ere going, h the town so I could findthat as soon as I realized there were frequent signposts like the one Theo had consulted

Gabriel laughed, and gavetheainst the desire to re to need sos work here Holy has noin the Court"

Portia? Where are you?

Shoot, I keep forgetting I can mind-talk to you I&039;ht there

I do not like to be kept waiting Where are you?

Keep your girdle on, I&039;ll be there in a couple ofme around

Who?

"And here we are The sanctuary is the area containing the offices and living quarters No tour is coestured toward a bridge leading to a square-turreted castle that, for so Beauty&039;s castle in Disneyland

"Hang on oneback to your apart I told you that I&039; forto return to the square Thank you for the tour - it was edifying in a nu "What&039;s your rush? Your friend ait My apartment is very special I think you will enjoy itandwhat I was hearing, but the lascivious look on his face leftbehind his double entendre "I have no intention of enjoying you"

Portia?

Co!

"Why not?" Gabriel winked at me "You could do a lot worse than a cherub, you know We&039;re known for our sexual skills"

"I wouldn&039;t be surprised to find out that you&039;re in charge of porn sites on the Internet," I said, snatchingon my heel to walk back the e&039;d come I&039; a ," Gabriel called after me as I stormed into the stone tunnel I stopped and looked back at hi smile on his face I wanted to slap it off

"How do you knoho I a himself off the post to saunter over to rew thick with static electricity "Word gets around The latest ruet rid of a virtue in order to pardon her boyfriend I have to adive in to tele before subers strokingbackith a startled look on his face when two thin snakes of lightning struck the ground immediately in front ofred as he backed up another couple of steps

"I&039;m sorry I don&039;t seem to have much control over my little storm cloud, but it should be clear to you now that I don&039;t intend to take you up on youreroffer" I mentally dismissed , the air losing its charged feeling

"Bitch! You will find that we are not as easy to fool as your lover The Court takes a di"

There was no reply I could uage, not toarea, so I siot lost twice despite the signposts and Theo&039;s mental threats to hunt me down, but finally arrived back at the square to confront the furiously scowling va like that - I didn&039;t leave willingly I was hauled off by a cherub to go on a tour of the Court"

His scowl turned blacker as his eyes lightened to a slate grey I followed as he started off in the opposite direction "Don&039;t you think you have enough trouble without getting involved with that randy lot? Cooing?"

"The library One of the reed to meet with you"

"Excellent I have lance at Theo, but his face was unreadable

"Are all the cherubs like the one I ainst his a couple of ti htened around ht have warned me, you know"

"Consider yourself warned: Stay away froroup"

"They certainly don&039;t fit into the idealized vision of angelic," I said, pondering that point for a few side a tall stone wall "You said this isn&039;t heaven, but I rather expected the people who hang out here to be ood If the cherubs are such bad nehy are they allowed to stay?"

Theo stood aside as I passed through a narroooden doorway Ahead of us, a building dolass Gothic s, and pointy spires that see looked more like a cathedral than a library "You have such a black-and-white view of the world, Portia You&039;re going to have to adjust that to include shades of grey"

"Meaning, everyone who resides in the Court is not good? I suppose it follows that everyone in Abaddon isn&039;t evil?"

"As you have had proof, having visited it just a few hours ago" Theo marched forward, to the marble steps that led to wide double doors

"Touch¨¦" It was cool inside the library, the sunlight bea azed around at shelves of books that seemed to be at least fifteen feet tall, I wondered if the climate was artificially controlled Some of the books that lay open on pedestals appeared to be old, and no doubt fragile There was a hushed atmosphere of subdued reverence that seehtly itchy feeling, and the propensity to whisper "Whereabouts is the mare?"

"This way" Theo&039;s voice was quieter than nor me feel a bit better about my own reaction He led me to the left, to an area that would have been a small chapel if this had been a cathedral We wound our way through the maze of books until we ca ladder that allowed patrons access to the upper shelves

Theo stopped before the door, fixing n does not enforce strict formality in the Court, mares are usually treated with a bit more circumstance than the rest of the officials They are referred to as &039;your grace&039; in conversation"

"I have no intention of being rude," I assured hi some amount of tact"

"You will needfirmly on the door

A voice bid us to enter Theo stood aside forto have second thoughts about the wisdoanization, but a re into the h,woman in her early twenties looked up from a laptop She looked like any other successful businessworeen suit with , yes?"

"Yes, I aainsther voice "Portia Harding, you are hereby charged with the murder of the virtue named Hope Bailiff! Take the prisoner into custody!"