Page 37 of Azriel

“Mm. I didn’t tell Vali before, but his Father said some angels were quite terrible, and that was partly why he left that realm. He never told me why, but I thought he meant angels in general.”

He fiddled with the cuff of his sleeve. “Some of them really are. It’s partly why I left.”

“What makes them bad?”

He couldn’t tell her the details, and his stomach clenched as he struggled to think of a way to word things. “There are certain magic and protection spells, but you have to hurt another. They don’t care because it’s for the greater good. I left because of that too.”

“Ohhh…To fight the demons?”

“Yeah…” Partly.

“You can sit.” She gestured at the chair across from her. “I guess Vali’s Father couldn’t go along with that. I’m sorry. I guess it’s the higher-ups that do that and make the rules to allow it?”

“Yeah.” He’d seen the Queen once, and she must have known why a child was living at the place where Red studied and did all of his “work.” Red had given her a black pearl to eat.

“What do you plan to do here?”

“Vali said we could go to the fairy realm, and they won’t all run and scream when they see me, so I can get a job.”

“All right…I guess he wants to go soon.”

“I’m not entirely sure.”

“Well, while you’re staying here, I expect you to wash your hands before dinner.”

He blinked at her. “I don’t eat.”

“You can still sit at the table and stop hiding in Vali’s room. You probably miss him, so you can go back upstairs with him now. We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

She must have thought Azriel had been tucked in there while Vali went to do the quick job with the wagon. He was halfway up the stairs when she called to him.

“If you break my son’s heart, I’ll pluck out each of your feathers one by one, and I don’t care what fancy magic you’ve got.”

“I won’t!”

Upstairs, he found Vali looking at his doodle, and he held it up. “That’s pretty cute.”

“I don’t know how to draw cats.”

“But it’s cute that they’re stick figures. Er, why do they have extra tails?”

“Because cats have more than one.”

“Ah. Well, they don’t here, but I guess animals would be different elsewhere. Mother’s okay with you now?"

“I think so. She said if I break your heart, she’ll pluck out all of my feathers.”

Vali snorted. “She probably would.”

“Are we together like that?”

Vali paused. “I guess you’re more than a friend if we play with our dicks together.”

“Not a lot.”

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a lot.”

“So you’re gay for me?”