"General," Eryxiel spoke the moment he appeared inside Michael's private suite.
Michael stood at the floor-to-ceiling glass window, gazing down at the glittering New York streets from the 35th floor of Primo Albergo dell'Angelo... the only hotel in the city owned by the Heavensblade clan.
"What did you find out?" Michael asked without turning around.
"I couldn't hear the thoughts of the boy, Casadin, when he came to fetch you at the hospital lobby," Eryxiel admitted. "But more than that... I couldn't enter the room you went into."
That made Michael finally turn to face him, his brow furrowing. "Are you sure?"
The warrior angel nodded firmly. "At first, I thought it was because Casadin's mind was simply calm. It happens sometimes with humans... when they're focused or detached. But even when he began speaking and joking around with the others, his mind remained... silent. And I'm certain it's not because he wasn't thinking. It's as if…"
"As if you needed permission to access his mind," Michael finished for him.
"Yes," Eryxiel confirmed. "But that's not supposed to happen, right? There are rare cases where we can't hear human thoughts, but those are usually temporary. This… this was different. And requiring permission to hear a soul's thoughts... that's something only higher beings, like us, are capable of invoking."
"Are you saying Casadin might be an angel?" Michael asked, narrowing his eyes.
"Forgive me, General," Eryxiel said with a bow of his head. "But I don't know. I sensed no angelic presence in him. Not a trace. That's why I'm confused."
"And the room... the VIP suite?" Michael pressed.
"There's a force surrounding it," Eryxiel explained. "The same kind of force a warrior angel feels when we approach a sealed space containing an Archangel."
Michael's expression darkened, brow creased in thought. If he weren't bound to his human vessel, he would have sensed it himself. But in this form, his powers were dulled... his awareness as limited as any mortal's.
He turned back to the window, eyes drifting toward the night sky, watching the stars shimmer around the moon.
"Any word from Gabriel?" he asked after a long pause.
"Not yet, General," Eryxiel replied. "And the Herald has not been seen in human form since your last meeting. He's been gone for two weeks."
Michael didn't respond. He remained still, contemplative.
"There's something else," Eryxiel added.
Michael waited silently.
"I found out that the girl... Evadne... died that night," Eryxiel said. "But then she came back. I searched through the Hallway of the Celestials and spoke with several angels of death. None of them had any record of her passing. No soul transit. No tether disturbance. Nothing. It's as if she never died at all."
"And her guardian?" Michael asked sharply.
"She has none," Eryxiel answered.
Michael turned once more, visibly startled. "A human soul without a guardian?"
That shouldn't be possible.
Contrary to human belief, a guardian angel doesn't stand beside every person like a personal bodyguard. If that were true, there would need to be billions of angels for billions of people.
The truth is more complex.
When a soul is born... or reborn... it becomes tethered to both a guardian and death angel. These angels don't watch every step, but they are linked to the soul. One guardian might be connected to hundreds, even thousands of human lives. The guardian's role is to guide through intuition, to whisper through the invisible string that binds them... a nudge toward the right decision, an echo of hope during despair. But ultimately, free will belongs to the human.
The Death Angels, on the other hand, come only at the end. When a person's time nears, they whisper too... an echo at the back of the mind urging closure, peace, preparation. Even so-called accidents are often woven into life's greater design. Nothing happens without purpose. All is orchestrated by the Creator.
Even though angels may each be tethered to thousands of souls, no human walks the Earth without a tether.
Until now.
Until Evadne.
"She has no tether," Eryxiel said again, quieter this time. "It's like she was never assigned one. Or like… she was never meant to be found."
Michael turned his gaze back on the moon beyond the glass, but his thoughts had long drifted away from the glittering skyline beneath him. Something about that girl... something about Evadne Monteverde... felt profoundly wrong.
Or perhaps not wrong.
Different.
Could this be the reason he felt that undeniable, unexplainable pull toward her?
From the very first moment they met, she had refused to leave his mind. Even when he closed his eyes to sleep, she lingered there. For months he had been haunted by dreams of Seraphadneel... visions vivid enough to shake even an Archangel's composure. But those dreams had stopped.
Now, his sleep was filled with Evadne instead.
And unlike the tormenting dreams of Seraphadneel, the ones about Evadne were peaceful. Quiet. Almost… sacred.
When Francois informed him that she would be celebrating her nineteenth birthday... the same day his human vessel turned twenty... Michael had canceled the elaborate gathering his human parents had prepared in California without hesitation.
Instead, he had purchased the rare red diamond from the Cavendish Group.
Not only had he paid an astronomical sum for it, he had given them something far more valuable... a favor card. A single request redeemable from the Head of the Heavensblade clan, so long as it did not harm the clan itself. Such a card was never given lightly.
He had the diamond crafted into a one-of-a-kind necklace.
For her.
At the time, he had not understood why he was doing it.
This was the first time he had ever felt such a connection to a human... whether in his human vessel or in his true celestial form. It unsettled him. It intrigued him.
And now, perhaps he understood.
Evadne was not ordinary.
He was no longer even certain she was fully human.
Perhaps she was the reason he had chosen to inhabit a human vessel at all.
"Call for Seraphyne and tell her I require her presence by my side," Michael said after a moment, his voice calm but firm.
Eryxiel straightened immediately.
"And you," Michael continued, "I want you to watch Evadne closely. Learn everything you can about her. If there is anything unusual... anything beyond what we already know... you will report to me at once."
He paused, thinking.
"And have someone observe Casadin Sinclair and Hades Falcon as well. I want every piece of information available on them... especially Casadin. That is all for now."
"As you command, General," Eryxiel replied before dissolving into light.
Michael turned back to the sky.
If only He would speak.
If only He would say something.
Michael would have asked about Evadne... about the purpose behind creating a human soul without tethering it to a guardian angel.
But as Gabriel had once told him, the Father had not spoken in a very long time.
So long, in fact, that even before Michael descended into his newest human vessel... when he still stood in his true celestial form... whispers of doubt had begun to circulate among the Lightbearers.
Some questioned their purpose.
The warrior angels most of all.
Guardian angels and death angels had clarity. As long as humanity existed, so would their duty. They would never lack purpose. Eternity would not weigh as heavily upon them.
But the Archangels…
And especially the warrior angels... those created to defend the Gates of the Celestials from the Blackhearts... were beginning to feel something far more dangerous than boredom.
They were losing faith.
The Blackhearts... those cast into Hell alongside Lucifer... no longer stormed the Gates. They did not wage open war.
Instead, they walked among humans.
They whispered.
Chaos. Greed. Envy. Destruction.
Earth was neutral ground between Lightbearer and Blackheart. And in that neutrality, human free will became a battlefield.
The more a human listened to a whisper, the stronger that whisperer became.
And humans were far more inclined toward darkness than light.
Every act of cruelty, every betrayal, every selfish desire fed the Blackhearts.
"Are You ever going to reveal Yourself to us again, Father?" Michael asked quietly into the empty night.
"I am not doubting Your plans. But how am I to act when I understand nothing of them? How do You expect obedience when You give no command?"
His reflection in the glass stared back at him... human, but not.
"Why have You erased parts of our memory? What is Your design for Evadne? Give me even a single word… a sign. I do not know how to serve You in this."
Silence answered him.
"Are You testing us, as You tested Samael?" Michael continued, voice tightening. "Are You waiting for us to turn our backs on You? Is that the trial?"
He closed his eyes briefly.
"What is Your plan?"
Michael drew in a slow, steady breath, forcing the storm inside him to quiet.
"I will always await Your command, Father. Just speak one word," he said once more into the silence before turning away from the window.
There was no answer.
He left the bedroom and stepped into the spacious living room of the suite, already knowing that Francois would still be there. The old butler stood near the temporary desk Michael had been using, meticulously arranging documents and wiping the polished surface clean.
Francois immediately paused when Michael came out of his room.
"Would you like me to prepare something for you to eat, Young Master?" the butler asked respectfully as Michael approached.
Michael stopped in front of the desk. His gaze fell on the velvet jewelry box resting there.
The necklace.
The gift he had commissioned for Evadne.
She had never even touched it.
The chaos of her birthday had swallowed the moment before it could exist.
Michael lifted the box, his fingers brushing over its smooth surface.
"Would you like me to send that to the Monteverde Estate?" Francois asked gently, noticing the way his master held it.
This was the first time the old man had seen Michael like this... distracted, contemplative, visibly affected by a woman. Even Hailey, his fiancée, had never commanded such silent intensity from him.
"No need," Michael said after a brief pause. "I will give it to her personally."
He looked up at Francois.
"But I require something else from you."
Francois straightened. "Of course, Young Master."
"Enroll me at NYE. I will remain in New York for an indefinite period. There is something I must attend to here."
"NYE, Young Master?" Francois blinked, clearly startled. "That is a high school. You are already enrolled in Harvard."
"I do not require physical attendance at Harvard," Michael replied calmly. "Make the necessary arrangements with the headmaster and the board. Inform them this is my decision."
His tone left no room for refusal.
"And at NYE," he continued, "ensure that I am placed in the same class as Evadne Monteverde."
Francois hesitated only for a second before nodding. "I will arrange it, Young Master."
"If you intend to stay in New York long-term," the butler added carefully, "shall we acquire an estate or villa for your residence? Or would you prefer to remain here at the hotel?"
Michael thought for a moment.
The Primo Albergo dell'Angelo was secure. Private. Convenient.
But not close enough.
"Acquire a villa near the Monteverde estate," Michael said at last.
"Yes, Young Master."
"And have Flynn Drilon relocate to live with me," Michael added. "It is time he becomes useful. He remains a member of the Heavensblade clan, whether he embraces it or not."
Francois gave a subtle bow. "Understood."
Once everything had been set in motion, Michael returned to his room.
It was only ten in the evening.
Far too early for sleep by human standards.
But he lay down anyway.
He closed his eyes not because he was tired...
...but because he wanted to dream.
He wanted to see her again.
In his dreams, she was calm.
In his dreams, she belonged nowhere else but within his reach.