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we can simply go in and take it. You’re going to have to sway her into giving it to you.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Woo her, do something. I already know you want her. Use that.”
    Anger coursed through him. “You want me to use that woman? Who are you?”
    Ambrose’s expression turned to stone. “I’m someone who lost everything in the last wars, and I don’t plan to let anyone else lose their everything. Don’t you understand? We don’t know what she knows. We don’t know who else has the results, or even if she has the results at all. The thing is, the dust won’t just come up as an unknown substance. It’ll be worse. It’s not of this world. The lack of anything normal at all will raise a red flag. We don’t have the luxury of letting that happen. Plus, the lore of our dust has always been entwined with the ability for humans to see magic. I don’t know if that’s true, but it’s something that we can’t risk. We don’t know how the council knows about the dust. All of this reeks of something underhanded. So, use her. Find out what you can, and I will find out what the council knows because something is going on under the surface of this, and I need your head in the game.”
    Shade just stood there. “I know something’s off about this assignment. I don’t think I can use a human like that.”
    “You just think she has a pretty face.”
    “You’re a cold, unemotional ass.”
    “I became what I had to when Ilianya died and I lost everything.”
    Shade flinched at the sound of his dead sister’s name; a name that neither of them spoke aloud very often. Angels may not age, but they could die. Painfully. They could heal most wounds…but not all. “Don’t push me, Shade. This isn’t a time for hurt feelings. You need to make nice with that woman and find out what you need to. This is bigger than her, bigger than us.”
    “I’ll find out what I have to and get my dust. I won’t use her unless I have to. I don’t want to hurt her.” He hadn’t even spoken to her, but he already felt a connection with this Lily. Damned if he knew why.
    His friend let out a breath that sounded as old as Ambrose. “I know you hate this. I do, too, but it’s our job. We must protect our secrets no matter what.”
    Shade shook his head and finished his beer. “It doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
    “Sometimes I wish all of our problems could be fixed with a sharp blade rather than a lie.” As a weapons enthusiast, that was a saying the older angel loved.
    “Come on, let’s get some sleep if you’re staying here. I have a guest room. In the morning, we can get to work on the council and Lily, and maybe find out what the hell that weird energy was.”
    “Sounds like a plan.”
    They walked to their rooms, and Shade sighed. Yeah, it was a plan, but in his heart, he knew it was the wrong one. He just couldn’t think of a better solution without revealing who—and what—he was. That bugged him to no end because, frankly, he really wanted to get to know Lily and make her, as Ambrose put it, his Lily.

 
     
    Chapter 4
     
     
    Lily’s head ached, and her eyelids felt heavy. Her body still pulsated and tingled, and energy fluctuated through her limbs, shocking them before weighing them down like heavy sandbags. As she tried to move, her body revolted and shuddered. It was too hard to think. Her mind fizzed as if she’d had too much to drink. No, that wasn’t right.
    Memories from before she closed her eyes came to the front of her mind. A flash of light. A gust of wind. A scream.
    Lightning.
    Oh, God.
    She shifted and her hand caught on something. A sharp sting shot up her arm. A trickle of warm, wet liquid trailed down her arm. Blood. Sensations slowly seeped into her body as the tingling numbness ebbed away. Her body ached as if she’d worked out too hard then thrown herself against a wall. Twice. With a groan, she wiggled her toes. Good. Not paralyzed then. She did the same to her fingers and