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When Raziel finally sighed, it was as if his body deflated He lowered his hand, his shield disintegrating into golden dust as he did The suit of ar into the ethers
“Samyaza, your father – he was one of us, once Before he becaori, before he fell fro thatus if he hadn’t been so rebellious, if he’d only had soround “You are a different breed, Mason, unusual even compared to your own kind, and there are those ould think to corrupt you I thought that you could use a cos you needed to navigate the oddity of your life So you wouldn’t fall any farther than your father did So that you could take up his mantle with pride”
I bared my teeth at him “And then what? Serve heaven, ith the very people who threw my dad out, with the people ant me exterminated on principle?”
“I never said anything of the sort,” Raziel said, his hands stretched out “You must believe me I meant to show you what I knew, to teach you wh
at you needed Your path through the universe is yours alone to forge Have I not given you the freedom to choose, with every step of our friendship?”
My lips curled at the sound of the word Hah Friendship “You could have told me all of this froor, or Beelzebub You’re no better than the demons”
He flinched at that, his face creasing with hurt “I understand that you are furious with me now, Mason But know that I will come when you call for ain and again, and they may never stop”
“You said I was entitled to free will Then this is what I’” I picked up the sheet of bloodied paper, the one with the circle and Raziel’s name hastily scrawled onto it I cruo this alone”
Even then, when Raziel’s gaze dropped, I could have told you that I believed so very fervently that he was still deceivingHisin silence, disappearing in a fleeting pillar of light I blinked to clear the dazzle out of one
Raziel was gone
29
“That , right up there,” I told Florian, pointing at the outside wall of the retirement home “That’s Leonora’s room”
Quilliam frowned as he looked between the two of us, his face illuh his car’s windshield
“And you’re quite sure that you can handle this?” Quill said
“I’d trust Florian with my life,” I told Quill, very seriously I realized in that moment that I meant every word