Angels of Darkness
dinner?â
âIâll ask him to attend.â It was difficult to think of sweet, absentminded Exeter wanting to cause her harm. âI cannot suspect him, but then, I cannot suspect any of them.â
âAt present, thereâs nothing that points to any one of them beyond the others, so no one can be eliminated.â Arms folded, he turned to face her. âAugustusâtell me about him.â
âThereâs nothing to tell.â Snapping her wings shut, she rose to her feet. âHe is a friend who thinks he needs to be more, that I need him to be more. It has been handled.â
Noel could see that Nimra wasnât used to being questioned or pushed. âI donât think Augustus believes it has been handled.â
A cold-eyed smile. âAs we discussed earlier,â she said, âsuch things are not in your purview.â
âOn the contrary.â Closing the distance between them, he braced his hands on his hips. âFrustrated men do stupid and sometimes deadly things.â
A hint of a frown as she reached up to brush away a tiny white blossom that had fallen on her shoulder. âNot Augustus. He has always been a friend first.â
âNo matter what you choose to believe, his feelings arenât those of a friend.â Noel had glimpsed untrammeled rage on the big angelâs face when Augustus had first realized what Noel apparently was to Nimra.
White lines bracketed Nimraâs mouth. âThe point is moot. Augustus visits, but he wasnât here when the Midnight was put into my tea.â
âYou said certain servants are trusted with your food,â Noel pointed out, an exquisite, enticing scent twining through his veins, one that had nothing to do with the gardens. âYet your focus is clearly on your inner court in the hunt for the traitor. Why?â
âThe servants are human. Why would they chance the lethal punishment?â she asked with what appeared to be genuine puzzlement. âTheir lives are already so short.â
âYouâd be surprised what mortals will chance.â He thrust a hand through his hair to quell the urge to reach out, twist a blue-black curl around his finger. It continued to disquiet him, how easily she drew him when nothing had penetrated the numbness inside him for monthsâespecially when he had yet to glimpse the nature of the power that was at the root of her reputation. âHow many servants do I have to take into account?â
âThree,â Nimra informed him. âViolet, Sammi, and Richard.â
He made a mental note of the names, then asked, âWhat will you do today?â
Obviously still annoyed at him for daring to disagree with her, she shot him a look that was pure regal arrogance. âAgain, itâs nothing you need to know.â
He was âonlyâ two hundred and twenty-one years old, but heâd spent that time in the ranks of an archangelâs men, the past hundred years in the guard just below the Seven. He had his own arrogance. âIt might not be,â he said, stepping close enough that she had to tip back her head to meet his gaze, something he knew she would not appreciate, âbut I was being polite and civilized, trying to make conversation.â
Nimraâs eyes narrowed a fraction. âI think you have never been polite and civilized. Stop making the effortâitâs ridiculous.â
The statement startled a laugh out of him, the sound rough and unused, his chest muscles stretching in a way they hadnât done for a long time.
Nimra found herself taken aback by the impact of Noelâs laugh, by the way it transformed his face, lit up the blue of his eyes. It was a glimpse of who heâd been before the events at the Refugeâa man with a hint of wicked in his eyes and the ability to laugh at himself. So when he angled an elbow in invitation, she slipped her hand into the crook of it.
His body heat seeped through the thin fabric of the shirt he wore rolled up to his elbows, to touch her skin, his muscles fluid under her fingers as they walked. For a moment, she forgot that she was an angel four hundred years his senior, an angel someone wanted dead, and simply became a woman taking a walk with a handsome man who was beginning to fascinate her, rough edges and all.
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T hree days later, Noel had a very good idea of how the court functioned. Nimra was its undisputed center, but she was no prima
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