"Thank you for coming to see me and answering my questions," Evadne said softly to Uriel.
Uriel looked at her and smiled, gentle but knowing.
"No worries. But are you sure that's all the questions you wanted to ask? I have a feeling you didn't ask the most important ones."
"I…" Evadne hesitated. She glanced at Casadin and Hades... both boys sitting in silence, their minds clearly drifting into dark places after everything they had just learned. She turned back to Uriel. "I don't think this is the right time. I believe the answers I need will come when they're meant to." She paused. "But I do have other questions, and it came up because of what you just revealed."
"Go on," Uriel said.
"How do I end their eternal punishment?" Evadne asked, looking at Casadin and Hades... her voice breaking slightly with the weight of it.
Uriel's expression softened with something close to sorrow.
"I'm sorry, Vee. I do not have the answer, except that the Father is the only one who can break and end it." She tilted her head thoughtfully. "But… if you want to hear what I believe... every action has a root... every betrayal has a reason. So maybe, if one day they discover or fulfill whatever caused their betrayal in the first place, their punishment will finally stop."
Evadne swallowed hard.
"Another question," she said... and this time she didn't wait for permission. "Are you here to harm me?"
Uriel blinked in surprise, then let out a small breath, almost amused.
"I do not have any quarrel with Lucifer, if that's what you fear. And no... I am not here to harm you." Her voice lowered, sincere and sharp. "I cannot promise the future. It changes. Choices change it. Circumstances change it. But right now? No. I have no reason to harm you. And if the time ever comes that I must…" Uriel's golden eyes glowed faintly, ancient and honest. "I will not scheme. I will not hide. I will appear before you in my true form, look you in the eye, and say... 'I am here to harm you.' That, Evadne, I promise."
Evadne actually smiled at that... small, grateful, almost amused.
"One last question," she said. "Do you lie?"
Uriel laughed softly and shook her head.
"You really are cautious. No, I cannot lie. I can bend truths... but even bent truths remain truths." She narrowed her eyes playfully. "Are you sure that's the last thing you want to ask?"
"That's all. Thank you for answering my questions... and for coming to see me," Evadne said with genuine warmth.
Uriel rose from her chair.
"No problem. After all, you're one of my few favorite crazy humans." She gave a conspiratorial smile. "I'll ask Michael what exactly he wants from you."
Evadne nodded and stood as well, Casadin and Hades rising beside her.
Uriel looked at the boys then... longer, deeper, with the gravity only an Archangel could have.
"As I told Evadne before... the past only hurts you if you let it. You may have been warrior angels, but that was the past. Your past lives do not necessarily define who you are now." Her gaze sharpened with meaning. "If you fear you will betray each other again, don't. What is written will happen regardless of how much you fight it. So instead of fearing it, be brave. Accept it."
The boys tensed, but Uriel continued gently.
"And when the moment comes... if it must come... look each other in the eye. Don't run from it. And don't forget... even if betrayal waits for you, there are hands around you now that will hold you through it. You are not alone in this life."
Casadin and Hades looked down, shaken to their cores.
"If there is nothing else, I will take my leave," Uriel said.
In a burst of silent light, she vanished.
The room fell into a heavy, suffocating silence.
Hades and Casadin looked utterly lost... young men carrying the weight of eternities they couldn't remember, destinies they didn't want, punishments they didn't understand.
Hades' chest tightened as a terrifying realization crept into him.
I've already betrayed him once…
He had taken Cieryl from Casadin. He stole the girl Casadin had loved, and they had fought. Hurt each other. Broken each other. They survived it, forgave it, moved on. But it did happen.
And I tried again, Hades thought bitterly. Trying to take Evadne from him… even if I told him first.
Was that his nature?
His curse?
His destiny?
His stomach twisted painfully.
Is betrayal already in my blood?
"Hey," Evadne said softly as she reached out and held both Casadin's and Hades's hands. "It's not going to happen."
She didn't need to read their minds... they were both spiraling into the fear of the eternal punishment Uriel had revealed.
"But you're wrong, Baby," Hades said. He sank back into his seat, shoulders slumped. "I already did. I betrayed our friendship before... because of Cieryl. And I tried to take you away from him too… If not for you..."
Evadne pressed a finger to his lips, silencing him.
"Exactly. If I didn't choose the both of you, then maybe you would have betrayed each other again. Yes, you betrayed each other before... because I wasn't in your lives yet. Even in your previous lives, I'm certain I wasn't there. I was in a different world entirely." She smiled gently at them. "Now that I'm here, it won't happen."
She glanced at Casadin. "And did you forget? I know how you betrayed each other."
"Princess, you do?" Casadin asked, confused.
Evadne rolled her eyes.
"Did you forget? Last year... about the dream where I saw the two of you as older, hotter, eight-pack abs angels?"
Her playful wink tugged a reluctant smile from Casadin before she continued, voice softening into seriousness.
"I don't think that was a normal dream. Just like my dreams of Solmara, which turned out to be memories of my past life. So I believe the dream where I saw you both as angels… wasn't a dream at all. It was a memory. And now that Uriel told us you were Blackhearts and twins, everything makes sense."
The boys listened, as Evadne continued...
"In my dream, you were both in a dark castle. I'm not even sure if it was Hell... because if it was, apparently it's cold, not hot. But I remember your wings clearly. You both had one black wing and one white wing. Cas, you had a black left wing and a pure white right wing. Hades, yours were opposite... black right wing, white left wing. If that's not a sign you were twins, I don't know what is."
She squeezed their hands.
"You did stab each other in the back literally, yes... but you were looking at each other's faces when you did it. As if you had decided it together. You even said you'd see each other again. You stabbed each other because you had to protect something important. It was a sacrifice... not greed, not envy, not malice."
Her voice grew steady, filled with conviction.
"So yes, maybe you're destined to stab each other again… but not to hurt each other. I know... with all my heart... that whatever happens, your actions will never come from hate."
Evadne lifted both their hands and pressed a kiss to their knuckles.
"So don't overthink it, okay? Like Uriel said... if it has to happen, it will, but you're not alone. I'm here. You can tell me anything you can't tell each other."
Casadin exhaled, some of the weight lifting from his shoulders. He pulled her into a hug and kissed her lips, then her forehead.
"I'm not worried that asshole will betray me, Princess," Casadin said, shooting Hades a glare. "As long as you're by my side, he can stab me in the back a dozen times and I'll stab him right back. Look at him... he looks way more guilty than I do."
He puffed his chest. "Honestly? The thing stressing me out is that if your dream was real... and I was a warrior angel... then I actually did have eight-pack abs." He poked his own stomach. "I really need to step up my workouts. And our sex-orcise."
"Aghhhh!" Evadne groaned and rolled her eyes.
"What the fuck!" Hades snapped. "Can you be serious even once?"
"Hey," Casadin shot back. "When I get serious, you cry. Remember when I seriously beat your ass after you stole a kiss from Vee last year? You knelt in front of me... almost kissed my feet! You begged me, 'Please give her to me, Cas. I need her. I need her to live.'"
Casadin dramatically mimicked Hades's voice, and Evadne's eyes widened in shock as she turned to Hades.
"You begged him? To have me?" she asked... flattered, astonished, and scandalized all at once.
"Baby… I…" Hades looked completely cornered, cheeks flushed in humiliation. "I was desperate."
"That desperate?" Evadne teased, lifting a brow at Hades.
"Yes!" Hades admitted without hesitation... though the faint pink on his cheeks betrayed the embarrassment he tried to hide. "I was that desperate."
"Ahhhh! You're so cute," Evadne said, unable to resist. She cupped his jaw and planted a kiss on his lips. "I should go easy on you from now on. Just a little bit."
"Baby, that doesn't sound reassuring at all," Hades muttered, grimacing.
Evadne only stuck her tongue out at him.
"Anyway," she continued, settling back into the sofa, "now that we're sure no angel can read your minds... as Uriel said... we can finally breathe a little easier. Even if angels keep following us, we just have to be careful with what we say out loud. Since you two can't see them, but I can, I'll give you a signal if I spot one around."
She lay down on the sofa, resting her head on Hades's lap. Casadin took the chair Uriel had occupied earlier and began massaging her calf with gentle, steady strokes.
"What signal?" Casadin asked.
"An action? Sign language?" Hades offered.
"Sign language would be too obvious, hubby," Evadne said, rolling her eyes.
"How about a phrase?" she suggested. "Something ordinary."
The three of them paused, thinking.
"Princess," Casadin said, brightening, "how about you tell me, 'Buy me matcha milk tea.' Since you hate matcha. That'll be obvious enough for us... but not to anyone else. Or you can just telepathy me."
"But wait," Hades suddenly said, startling both of them with the sharpness in his voice. "We forgot to ask Uriel if she can read your mind." His gaze sharpened with worry. "Vee, what if they can?"
"It's fine," Evadne said calmly. "I'm pretty sure they can't."
"Are you sure?" he insisted.
"Yes," she nodded. "Because when I saw that angel following me... and accidentally confronted him without knowing he was an angel... I was panicking in my head already. But he didn't react. His expression made it obvious he wasn't hearing my thoughts. He wasn't even sure if I had actually seen him."
She sat up slightly, her tone more thoughtful now.
"And also… I think they can't enter any room I'm in unless I allow it."
Casadin blinked. "How can you say that?"
"Well, first... every time Hades comes into my room, I don't see any angel following behind him. If that angel had been keeping an eye on me for a few daysnow, he should've entered too... especially since he believed I couldn't see him.
Second, earlier, when Hades and I stepped into the elevator, the angels didn't get in... even though they could've easily slipped inside."
She looked between the boys, expression sharpening with clarity.
"And lastly, Uriel. She still had to ask her human secretary to call me. She's an Archangel. I already told her where my room was. She could've just appeared in front of us. But no... she asked permission and even knocked on the door."
Evadne exhaled.
"Something is stopping them. Maybe that part of me that stayed in The Veil is the one blocking them. And maybe that's why she warned me not to let anyone know I know about her... because whoever is after me might figure out a way to break whatever is protecting me."
Both Hades and Casadin fell silent, letting her words settle.
Then Evadne smiled lightly and lifted her fingers toward Casadin.
"So yes... I can telepathy you if an angel is nearby," she said.
Then she tilted her face upward toward Hades. "But since we can't do that between us, I'll use the phrase for you. 'Buy me Matcha Milk Tea.' or anything along that line."
Both men nodded in agreement.
After that, the three of them continued discussing what they would do once they were discharged. For now, they decided they wouldn't panic about the angels keeping watch. If Evadne's hunch was correct, and those angels were truly sent by Michael, then perhaps they would retreat once Uriel spoke to him... as she had promised.