A Fractured Light (Beautiful Dark)

had a soul. All of the Guardians did. No wonder their eyes always looked so full of emotion but their faces remained stoic. They couldn’t—weren’t allowed to—express any of it. It made so much sense.
    “You did?” he said quietly.
    “Yes, Devin, I did. I would keep my archnemesis from dying, just to keep you from pain. I would defy every order I’ve ever been given just so you wouldn’t have to live the rest of your life with the guilt of killing someone you love. But it’s too bad,” she said, her voice taking on a terrifying edge, “that I won’t be so lucky.”
    “What?” Devin said.
    “No!” I yelled. “Stop!”
    But it was too late. Raven’s wings had unfurled in the blink of an eye, and before anyone could stop her, she’d plucked a single white feather from them. As she held it in her hands, I watched in awe as it grew longer, shinier, sleeker, and before I knew it she was holding a sword. An angelic sword.
    She rushed at him as Devin produced his own sword.
    “Raven, don’t do it!” I screamed. “Don’t kill him!”
    But she swung violently. I heard the sickening slice of metal against skin, and suddenly all I could see was blood. I fell to my knees, sobbing. “No,” I choked. “No!”
    “Oh, stop it,” Raven said, her voice heaving in ragged gasps. “Don’t waste your tears.”
    I looked up. And that’s when I knew something had changed; something strange had shifted around us. It had only just been early afternoon, but now, under the darkening evening, the first stars were beginning to blink on through the canopy of trees, casting menacing shadows over everything. I noticed Raven first, crumpled on the ground. The twilight and shadows were playing tricks on my eyes, and at first I thought they had cast an awkward angle on her wings, making them look broken, oddly twisted. Then, with horror, it dawned on me. Raven’s gorgeous white wings were no longer attached to her body. They’d been cut from her back. Now they lay next to her, ragged, mangled, and streaked with red.
    As my eyes adjusted to the image, Devin’s hulking figure came into focus. He stood above her, looking down, breathing hard. His sword was raised above his head, where it glinted in the starlight. Blood ran down the blade, dripping onto the ground.
    Raven shuddered. “Well, who could have predicted that?” She smirked ruefully, wincing a little and holding her hand to her side. “You’ve cast me out! Cut off my wings, banished me to Earth forever. Don’t you see what you did? The Order won’t take me back like this.”
    “He sees,” Ardith said from the edge of the clearing. “He’s never going to stop, Skye. It’s how he was programmed. He’s a machine. He’s just a pawn.”
    Ardith marched over to me and picked me up off the ground. I shook my head, sobbing. “He’ll never change,” she said. “He’ll always do their bidding. Always. He’ll keep feeling bad about it and keep the pain hidden away deep inside where no one can see it. But he’ll keep doing it all the same.”
    “I don’t believe you!” I cried. “We can save him!”
    “No, we can’t,” Asher said. His voice was colder, sharper than I’d ever heard it before. I hadn’t even seen him approach.
    He extended his blade, the edge of it dangerously close to Devin’s throat. “But we can stop it from happening again.”

Chapter 30
    “A sher!” I yelled. “What are you doing?”
    “It’s better this way,” he said. “Trust me. I swore I would protect you. I made a promise to them that I would. With Devin gone, you’ll be happier. Safer. You won’t have to worry about him anymore.”
    “You made a promise to them?” I repeated, and it took a full second for the meaning of his words to sink in. “To the Rebellion? This was just another mission to you? Protect me—and kill Devin? And you kept it from me?”
    “You know it’s always been more than that for me.” I remembered what he and Ardith had said that day in the cabin, when I’d first woken up. Passion is our way, but love can drive an angel mad, Asher. It can disrupt the heavens, change the outcome of a war. Ardith had been warning him not to let love interfere with his mission. This mission.
    “How can you ever separate duty and love?” Asher asked now. “How can you ever make that distinction? How can you choose? I protect you for both of those reasons and more.” I opened my mouth to say something, but he said, “Don’t call me a