Rebel Angel: A Sainted Sinners Novel by Vivian Wood Page A

cloak.
    Feeling gentlemanly for the briefest moment, Ezra unclasped the single front hook and held it open for her. Aurora’s eyes flashed for a second, but then she turned and allowed Ezra to drape it over her shoulders. She shrugged off his touch immediately, moving away and pulling the hood up to cover her head.
    She closed the cloak about herself, hiding the scandalous outfit beneath and enclosing her whole body in layers of bright brocade fabric.
    A few wisps of copper hair escaped the hood to frame her face, and of course there was no disguising her beautiful face or those shining ocean-colored eyes. Ezra began to wonder if this ploy of passing her off as a flashy mistress might be a little too successful… and more dangerous than he’d anticipated.
    “What do you think? Am I well hidden?” she asked.
    Though he knew that she meant to ask if the cloak’s spell was working, Ezra only shook his head.
    “There’s no hiding you,” he said.
    Her astonished blush, the way her eyes went wide at the compliment…
    Ezra turned away from her again. “We should go.”
    Aurora trailed behind him, the cloak swishing softly as she moved.
    “How are we getting there?” she asked.
    “Normally we’d fly, but…” he paused, throwing a glance over his shoulder. “I had Mere Marie set up a jump point for us, so we can flash from here to a spot close by the entrance of Paradis.”
    Aurora took a big breath and blew it out. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
    Ezra took a small piece of black velvet out of his pocket, unfolding it to show her a gleaming silver key.
    “This is the jump point. I’m going to grab it and bring it along, so you have to touch it first.”
    “Okay.”
    He gave her one final, steadying glance. “On three. One, two, three—”
    Aurora’s fingers touched the key. Her whole body went pale, then she disintegrated as she was sucked into the key’s vortex. Ezra carefully grabbed the key with one hand, the velvet with the other. As he felt himself being tugged toward the key, his body growing light as air, he released the key and gripped it with the velvet cloth.
    He felt a few nauseating moments of freefall, the world around him flashing light and dark and light again. And then he was on the other side of it all, his feet suddenly heavy, Aurora stumbling against him and clutching his arm for balance.
    He steadied her, looking around. “Who puts a bolt-hole in a snowy forest?”
    Aurora pulled a face, tightening the cloak around her shoulders. They stood in a frigid clearing, snow falling on the trees all around them.
    “I don’t know, but I’m willing to bet that we’re not walking far,” she said. She nodded toward the other side of the clearing, where a bright ball of molten gold hovered above a white marble pedestal.
    “Tasteful,” Ezra joked.
    “I guess you don’t make the entrance to paradise an old boot or something, huh?” Aurora said, moving closer.
    She gave him an apprehensive glance.
    “Nervous?” he asked.
    “Nervous, yes… but I’m ready,” she said. “Besides, it’s cold here.”
    Ezra walked over to the golden orb, which appeared to be a small rotating sea of gold liquid, hanging in the air. Faintly, he could make out a few images in the surface. The outlines of a villa house, perhaps. The sun high above the water, like a beach almost.
    “So overdone,” Aurora murmured, echoing his thoughts.
    “Yes, well. Should we go on the count of three again?” he asked.
    She glanced up at him, her blue eyes wide and bright. “On three.”
    “Alright,” he said. “One, two, three—”
    They both reached out and stuck their hands into the warm gold. It sucked at Ezra’s fingers, splashing out and spreading across his skin.
    In a flash of gold, the snowy white world before them disappeared.

10
Ezra
    E ven before his feet hit the ground, Ezra had to shade his eyes against the blinding sunlight. He squinted as he checked to make sure Aurora had made the journey intact. She winced