Violet Eden Chapters 04 - Endless

but I saw it. The darkness around his eyes, the desperation that I’d sensed in the tunnels. I felt his weariness.
    He put his hands palm down on the table, considering his words carefully. ‘I don’t have a solution. I can only confirm that it is likely we will all die very soon. Nothing I can do will change that but unlike some …’ His eyes bored into mine, ‘I’m not ready to confess all my sins and be absolved.’
    ‘As if absolution would ever be yours!’ Lincoln snarled.
    ‘True,’ Phoenix agreed.
    I gnawed on the inside of my cheek. This wasn’t going well.
    ‘Then what are you here for?’ Lincoln pushed. I could see one of his hands fisted on his thigh. I could only imagine how angry he was going to be with me after we got Phoenix out of here.
    Phoenix shrugged and leaned back in his seat. But his apparent openness wasn’t fooling me. He was highly strung. ‘I don’t kill kids. I’m here to help you save them. And make the agreement that we either destroy the Scripture or return it to you afterwards, whichever opportunity presents itself first.’
    ‘You meanthe Scripture Lilith wouldn’t even have if it wasn’t for you!’ Lincoln raged. ‘This reeks of a set-up and you know it.’
    Phoenix tilted his head. ‘Think what you will but I never told her about the Scripture. Not my fault every damn exile out there knew about it. I gave you lot a chance to get it back and you forced me into a corner.’ His voice had lifted in a rare display of anger. ‘Lilith found out about the Scripture within hours of her arrival. I hid it for as long as I could, but I couldn’t very well withhold it forever!’
    Lincoln half laughed and not in a nice way. ‘Of course not! That would’ve required you actually doing the right thing.’
    ‘Why do you work with every “damn” exile, as you say, when you clearly hate them all so much?’ I asked, trying to understand.
    Phoenix’s jaw locked. ‘We are what we are,’ was all he said.
    At that, my heart broke a little.
    He pointed a menacing finger. ‘Oh, spare me.’
    I tried to pull in my emotions. ‘What are you suggesting?’ I asked.
    ‘Two things,’ Phoenix said. ‘One, Lilith wants you as her guests tomorrow night. That’s when I’m supposed to find you and bring you to her. She has Evelyn …’ His eyes softened on me for a moment and Lincoln stirred beside me.
    ‘She’s still alive.’ Phoenix swallowed and took a deep breath. ‘Lilith is offering you the chance to surrender. She has condemned you both to death but in return for your submission she has offered to reward you with the lives of as many of the children as you can manage to save.’
    My mouthwent dry. A million thoughts were running through my mind and yet, somehow, it was completely and utterly blank at the same time.
    ‘And how is it decided how many children we can save?’ I asked.
    That’s me, Miss Practicality.
    Phoenix’s mask fell away to reveal the true pale horror of what was to come. ‘Like me, Lilith hates the Cherubim.’ His smile was wry. ‘It’s the only hobby we ever shared. But whereas I just like to destroy them, she fancies herself as being more creative, using modern-day representations of their rank – of which the Cherubim despise – to disrespect and send her twisted messages to them.’
    I had to know, once and for all, why he hated the Cherubim so much, so I asked.
    ‘They kept her locked out of Eden after she fled. They drew their flaming swords and guarded the place so she could never return. Angels might be many things, but forgiving is not often one of them. I actually suspect Lilith loved Adam – as much as she was capable of loving anyone. I never understood how love and hate could be so strong all at once. Not until recently.’
    His words stung.
    He kept going. ‘When the Seraphim decided I wasn’t angel enough and branded me one of the abyss – to have no home, no purpose – they took everything I was and stepped on it like I was no more than a piece of dirt beneath their mighty feet. The Cherubim were there, both light and dark. They cast me from the realm and locked me out with the seal of their given power. They hated me out of instinct because of Lilith.’
    I couldfeel the pain in his words. He’d told me other versions of the same casting out, how he’d been rejected over and over in his life. The first rejection coming from Lilith herself.
    Had I really been so awful? Had I made him come full circle, back to the