“He isn’t yours to command!” I cried. “Will is my Guardian and he’s free to live his life.”

Michael’s lip curled. “He is not free. He is bound to the will of angels.”

“Honor binds me to her!” Will roared suddenly. “I will follow her to the edge of night and back. You’ve said yourself that I am hers.”

Michael drew his sword from its sheath and Will called his own in a flash of light and silver. “You will obey an archangel.”

Will poised his sword at Michael and his power surged around him, a violent clash of shadows and darkness. “I don’t obey you. I obey Gabriel, and I love her. That makes me stronger than everyone else, because I will never give up. There is nothing in existence that I hold more dear. She is everything to me. She is mine as I am hers, in every way. I will not yield to you, Michael, for you are not my master. I answer to Gabriel alone. Strike me down if you wish to, but I’m not giving her up without a fight, and I’ve been fighting for a very long time. I’ve still got plenty left in me.”

“Then you have chosen death,” Michael said icily.

I drew in a sharp breath of horror and threw myself between them. “No!” I cried to Michael. “If you kill him then it’s practically a death sentence for us all. Will has been my Guardian for five hundred years. No other Guardian has ever come close to protecting me that long. Why would you even consider killing the best soldier you’ve ever had when we’re so close to the end? How could you be angry about him and me?”

He gave me a blank look. “I am not angry. I feel nothing.”

“And that’s your weakness, Michael! You can’t feel anything! That means you don’t understand. But I do, Brother. I understand. I feel. I love. I love my Guardian. You gave him to me! God made me human! How many thousands of years have you watched humanity? What have they all done? They’ve all loved. How could God have made me human and you have given me my Guardian and have expected me not to love him?”

“Love is the illness that overtook Lucifer,” Michael replied. “It was what began the war.”

“No,” I said firmly. “His hatred and jealousy of humankind were stronger than his love for God and for our brothers and sisters. If the only emotion he felt was love, then he could’ve accepted that our Father was also devoted to His human creations. But Lucifer didn’t just love and you know that as well as I. Love had nothing to do with the evil Lucifer has done since his rebellion.”

“That may be true,” Michael said. “But love is just as dangerous as hate. I have stayed strong and true to God, because emotion does not cloud my mind. I must focus on my mission and so must the Guardian.”

“Michael, please,” I begged. “You have given me incredible wisdom before. Please hear my own wisdom for you. Will isn’t dangerous. He gives me something to fight for and he makes me happy. You can’t execute him.”

“He disobeyed. Disobedience warrants death.”

“I love him,” I said in a small voice, my lips trembling. “No love can ever warrant death. Why would you take that away from me?”

Michael grew silent, his gaze softening as he looked from me to Will, and a dim light of hope flickered in my heart. “You would mourn for him.”

“Yes,” I said. “I would mourn him forever with a broken heart. This human soul has given me so many blessings and curses. I’m the only one of our kind who has ever felt the most perfect happiness and the truest sorrow—because of this soul. My love for my Guardian is one of those blessings. It’s not a curse.”

“I want to trust your judgment, Sister.”

“You can,” I promised. “Please trust me. I need all the help I can get, and that includes yours. If you kill my Guardian, then I will never forgive you. I can’t be at war with you too. Please, please, Michael, my brother. Don’t kill him.”

I was sobbing now and the archangel stared at me with abject amazement. He glided toward me and bent down, peering into my face like I was some sideshow freak. I buried my face in my hands as I cried, wiping the tears from my cheeks and making an awful shuddering noise high in my throat. I hated the way Michael regarded me then, as astonishment leaked through his emotionless exterior. He lifted a finger to my cheek and caught a tear on his lucent skin that was made of golden light. He studied the drop and looked into my face.

“These are human tears,” he said, his disbelief clear.

I sniffed hard. “Yes. I am human. Why can’t you understand that?”

“I have never seen you cry before.”

The ridiculousness made me almost laugh. “I’m begging you not to kill the person I love. of course I’m going to get a little emotional.”

“I do not want you to cry,” he said. “It makes me afraid for you. You are not supposed to cry and I am not supposed to feel fear.”

“Do you hate me?” I asked him.

“Of course not,” he said gently.

A tear caught on the edge of my lips. “Do you love me as your sister?”

His mouth opened to reply, but nothing came out.

“It’s okay,” I whispered. “You’re worried about me, because you love me. Don’t be afraid of feeling anything. our Father made us this way. He wouldn’t make a mistake.”

“I…,” Michael said, and emotion spilled over his face. His brow furrowed with exhaustion and he seemed overwhelmed by what he felt. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again. “You are my sister, Gabriel.”