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was a long pause as Giselle studied him, looking for deceit, or lies, or souls begging for release. But the longer she looked, the more she, shockingly, believed him. Samantha was the one to break the silence. “I’m not sure what Armand’s going to be like when he wakes up,” Samantha said, facing ahead into the lush green. “He’ll definitely wake, but I’ve never done such a thing on an Angel before.”
    “You’ve done it before at all?” Giselle pressed. “What was it like then?”
    “A few mortals caught in the crossfire,” Samantha murmured, “as far as I know they didn’t even remember Cyrene holding them hostage.”
    Giselle swallowed. “He might not remember the fight?” Maybe that was a good thing, maybe not. All in all she didn’t think it mattered so long as she had Armand back.
    Samantha took a breath. “I have no idea. Angels aren’t anything like the Damned and I have a hell of a lot more experience with them. Your souls are rigid but incredibly powerful. You’re young, right? And you stood up to Cyrene for a whole minute. Granted she was toying with you, but you still survived.” Samantha shook her head.
    Giselle caught her breath. Wasn’t Samantha only twenty five, maybe twenty six? How dare she talk to an Angel as if Giselle were the age her skin suggested? According to reports, she was older than Eli. “If you’re such an expert on the Damned, why get caught by Cyrene again?” she snapped.
    Samantha turned around and frowned at her. “Whoever ordered you to follow us was an idiot. Or trying to get one or both of you killed. Or they didn’t give a shit, they just wanted to see what would happen, whether we’d leave you for dead, or if Cyrene would eat you. Either way, Eli’s right, you weren’t sent with good intentions. Not only were you clearly not able to track us very well, you couldn’t stand up to Cyrene when she came along.” Samantha reached back, brushing Armand’s cheek. “But Cyrene is cruel, and I’ve been on the receiving end of her cruelty far too often to just let another bear the brunt of it.”
    Giselle gulped for air through her rage and indignation. How dare they imply the Fore had wanted this to happen, had sent them in with the intention of this happening. “You’re wrong,” she spat out. “It was our fault. We shouldn’t have followed you as closely as we did, and we should have taken better precautions.”
    Samantha turned. “If you say so. Eli, pull over at this rest stop so Armand can wake up comfortably.”
    “And not in a moving car driven by a Damned and an Inbetweener,” Eli confirmed cheerfully. “Great idea, babe.”
    Thankfully no one but a few crows and a squirrel was at the small stop. Eli laid Armand on one of the worn picnic tables. Samantha examined him for a moment, as Giselle tried her best not to hover. She tried not to glare at the Inbetweener woman, how could she not? There was no way her Fore would betray them like that. Sure, he’d never agreed with Gabriel’s decision to ascend them as a pair or showed much care for Armand but still trained them, practically raised them.
    Still, the possibility irked at her. If the Fore had truly sent them on this mission as a way to kill of one of them, they’d done it to get rid of Armand. There was no questioning that–it would always be Armand! She’d never lost her head enough to wade into a losing battle. She was lucky to be alive, lucky Samantha and Eli had interfered, lucky they had cared enough to get Armand back for her.
    She shook her head and reached up to push back her hair. “Armand, you idiot,” she whispered, swallowing. “Letting her get a hold of you.”
    Armand took a deep breath and turned his head, an arm slowly stretching up and back. Giselle jumped up, spreading her wings to shield his face from the sun. “Armand! Please wake up. Armand, please?”
    “M’wake,” he muttered, free arm rubbing at his eyes. Slowly his eyes opened, bright as ever, and