Iniquity (The Premonition Series Book 5) by Amy A. Bartol Read Free Book Online Page A

when I was taken back.”
    “Like what?” I whisper. “What did I need to learn?”
    “Survival.” He drops his chin as he confesses, “I sent you Jim...in the cave in Houghton—when Brennus nearly killed you. I thought your uncle would help. Did he?” Instantly, my eyes brighten with tears. I fight them and manage not to shed any, but I’m only capable of responding with a nod. Xavier looks away from me, out the window at some distant memory. “I didn’t know what to do. Your dying meant your soul would come back to me...but then we’d never be allowed to be together. Whatever your mission is, you have to win it no matter what. If you don’t, you and I will be separated. I will no longer be your guardian angel.
    “I became too emotional after that. From then on, they cut me out of most of the intel on you. Tau was the only one who’d tell me what was happening with you, but they weren’t giving out much information to him either.”
    “Why kill the other half-breed angel—”
    His eyes snap back to mine. “I told you, he’s not a half-breed angel. He’s a demon—spawned from a fallen angel with a thoroughly damned soul.”
    “How am I supposed to find him?”
    “I’ll find him.”
    I shiver. “Why does he have to die? He could’ve so easily been me. There was a time when I thought that I was an evil demon half-breed, X,” I whisper my confession, looking at my hands in my lap before glancing at him.
    Sadness shows in his eyes. “How could you think that, Evie? There’s nothing evil about you.”
    I force a shrug as I say in a small voice, “I just did.”
    With quiet rage, Xavier says, “If I’d been here, you’d never have thought that. Not for one moment.”
    “But you weren’t here—it was Reed who helped me see who I am. He’s been here for me. I can’t let you close again. It’s too late.”
    “I’m not letting you go.” Xavier’s gravelly voice bleeds with despair. “I’ll challenge him for you.”
    I find it hard to breathe as I warn, “Xavier, if you hurt Reed, I’ll kill you.”
    “You’re the one who’ll hurt him if you don’t let him go. You’re in a brutal world here, Evie, and he can’t dig you out of it. It’ll bury him. YOU will bury him. You’ve built this family around you that you can’t possibly protect. When the spawn finds them, and he will, he’ll use them against you. Why do you think Russell was supposed to die? He would’ve been a liability to you as a human. You wanted it that way—you insisted that he be taken out of this mission early—so that he wouldn’t suffer—so there’d be no chance of his damnation.”
    “Why didn’t I just insist he stay in Heaven?”
    “He was bent on coming when he learned you accepted a mission.”
    “So Russell was always supposed to die and go back to Anya? He was never supposed to be a part of this?”
    “He and Anya were allowed to be together because of the deal you made—the deal you would never fully explain to any of us. You pushed your soul mate away. You had them cut the tie that bound you to him. I thought you did it solely for me, but now I believe you did it for this mission. You only told us pieces of what you have to do, but never the goal of the mission—that you said you were prohibited from discussing. You were adamant that Russell was to leave this life when you began to evolve angelic abilities. You wanted all ties to your soul mate to be severed from you. I think you did it to protect him, a just-in-case measure.”
    “In case of what?”
    “In case you fall from grace.”
    I blanch. “You mean, in case my soul becomes the property of Sheol?”
    “Yes.”
    “Oh.” I feel nauseated.
    “It’s not even a possibility, Evie. I’ve been with you in your lifetimes. They’ll never turn you. You’ll destroy them.”
    “What else do you know?”
    “After you made this deal to return for another life, Russell and Anya fell in love with one another. They’ve been together since