“I think she may be fine,” Gwen said, bursting past me. That’s when I saw Sally. The healer knelt down beside Lucifer, her hands already glowing.
“I won’t have enough power to heal this. There’s too much corruption.” Sally looked from me to Gwen and back.
“Use me as a battery,” Gwen said, grabbing Sally’s arm. “And when I’m done, get one of the others. Use us all to save her.”
“To think, you’d all sacrifice yourselves for me.” Lucifer shook her head. “Better to not and save Michelle.”
“This isn’t either or,” Gwen snapped. “This time you’re all listening to me.” Purple fire flared out from her as she stood, wings unfurling. “Gabriella is going to be okay, Arthur. It’s why I sacrificed her. Now, everyone do your goddamned jobs. Sam, make the sword. Sally, heal the Princess of Darkness.”
“Okay!” Sally said, and as she spoke, Sam began moving back toward her shop.
“I’ll finish the sword, though I’m not sure how much it will help, I’ll be damned if I sit here and let that fucker win.” As Sam marched off indignantly, I turned my eyes to Gwen.
“How do you know Gabriella will be okay?” I asked, looking at Gwen and hoping she actually had an answer.
Only, before she could answer, Lucifer began to laugh. “You don’t get it do you.”
“What is so goddamned funny!” I snarled, my hands clenching into fists. “Because the way I see it—”
“Gabriella loves you, Arthur.” Gwen met my eyes, and I saw the truth in them. “She is the Archangel of Love and my Heavenly Counterpart.” Gwen looked down at herself. “Like how Michelle is Lucifer’s Heavenly counterpart.”
“You mean?” I swallowed hard, thinking back over our conversations. She’d said she’d loved me, but I’d always sort of blown it off as a mindless expression. Only I remembered how she had blushed when I complimented her. What if it was true? What did that mean? And why did I feel so conflicted about it? Gabriella had an endearing, fumbling sweetness that, well, was pure in a way I couldn’t explain. I couldn’t let that be sullied. Not by Dred, not by anyone.
“He gets it.” Lucifer pushed Sally away and came toward me. “As long as she loves you and not Dred, he will not be able to gain control of her Armament.” She pointed to Michelle. “And once you take hers, you will gain more legitimacy. It will allow you to better use Samael’s Mark, perhaps her armament as well.”
“But that means a woman who loves me is trapped with Dred, and who knows what he’ll do to her.” I turned toward the downed Archangel, and as I did, I knew Lucifer was right. I had to take this woman’s power whether or not she wanted me to have it, and I had to try to find more archangels. Enough to tip the scales in my favor.
“Thing is. Gabriella was made to fall in love. If Dred is smart, he’ll be nice to her, make her see his goodness, assuming he has any, and she’ll fall for him too. It’s what she was made to do.” Lucifer put her hand on my shoulder. “So anything we do must be done before that happens. I fear there won’t be as much time as your friend thinks.” She turned and pointed upward. “Either way, that leaves us with two choices, Builder. You take Heaven’s power one way or another and defeat that asshole, or you do not.”
THANK YOU FOR READING!
Curious about what happens to Arthur next?
Find out in The Builder’s Wrath, coming soon!
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Dear reader, if you REALLY want to read my next Builder novel- I’ve got a bit of bad news for you.
Unfortunately, Amazon will not tell you when the next comes out.
You’ll probably never know about my next books, and you’ll be left wondering what happened to Arthur, Gwen, and the gang. That’s rather terrible.
There is good news though! There are three ways you can find out when the next book is published:
1) You join my mailing list by clicking here.
2) You follow me on my Facebook page or join my Facebook Group. I always announce my new books in both those places as well as interact with fans.
3) You follow me on Amazon. You can do this by going to the store page (or clicking this link) and clicking on the Follow button that is under the author picture on the left side.
If you follow me, Amazon will send you an email when I publish a book. You’ll just have to make sure you check the emails they send.
Doing any of these, or all three for best results, will ensure you find out about my next book when it is published.
If you don’t, Amazon will never tell you about my next release. Please take a few seconds to do one of these so that you’ll be able to join Arthur, Gwen, and the gang on their next adventure.
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Table of Contents
Copyright
Table of Contents
Want to get this FREE?
Also by J A. Cipriano
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Thank You for reading!
Author’s Note
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