Raguel waited at the back of the Judgment Hall to hear the verdict passed on the boy’s soul: Heaven. He nodded as he registered the word, but without rejoicing as he should have. Based on the expressions of the other witnesses, neither was anyone else. Half the angels in the room watched the boy as he leaped in delight and hugged the angel at his side, but the larger number studied the angel who stood at the back of the hall, Tabris.
Tabris had not reacted to the echoing verdict. Staring only at the chains binding his wrists and securing him to the floor, he stood like a horse at a hitching post. Only once did Raguel see him look up, struggling to get a glimpse the boy before the other angels crowded into his line of sight, but then they’d taken the boy away, and Tabris said not a word.
Two Archangel guards flanked Tabris, one wearing a thousand-mile stare and the other struggling against grief. Everything about their posture read duty to Raguel, broadcast without words in their alert stance, the readiness of their weapons, and their raised chins. Between them, Tabris seemed smaller, slumped, his two-toned wings touching the floor. With a shudder, Raguel realized at least one of the guards had probably been his friend.
They had no idea how to act. And rightly so. Angels didn’t usually take one of their own into custody.
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You’ve now seen the first 250 words of The Wrong Enemy. You can preorder it here (remember, $1 per preorder goes to Heifer.org, and it’s 20% off right now) and it’s got a Goodreads page here.
So excited.
Thanks!
I’m pretty much going to clear and weekend and do nothing but read this book. Sooo excited!!
Clear *a* weekend. 🙂
It’s looking like the weekend of October 5th. 🙂 Thank you!