Seals by Kim Richardson

This
causes a problem for our deal .”
    Kara winced. The infamous deal.
    She hadn’t forgotten about it, but she
hadn’t really thought it was relevant any more. Metatron had agreed
not to torture David because he wanted to get information from her.
He had offered her a deal in exchange for David’s safety, and she
had taken it. She had never told anyone, not even to David. She had
hoped that the archangel had forgotten about it. Cleary he
hadn’t.
    But did he just say that there was a
problem?
    Kara couldn’t stand this any longer. If he
hadn’t been the overall legion commander, and if she hadn’t been
linked to him because of the deal they had made, she would have
punched him.
    “ Yes,
our deal,” he purred. “ You do remember our deal, don’t you?”
    Kara
clenched her jaw. She wanted to scream. This was insufferable.
    “I could have overlooked the wings,” he
continued. He took a long drag from his cigar, “But I can’t have
you looking like that around me.”
    Gray smoke billowed from his lips. “It would
make my girls uncomfortable.”
    Kara looked over to his entourage. They
leered at her. Their red, bulbous lips were turned up in smiles
that were not friendly.
    “So…regrettably…and I mean it in the most
sincere way because you were quiet beautiful…”
    Kara leaned forward. She was going to punch
him.
    Metatron tapped his cigar. “The deal’s
off.”
    Kara felt relief, anger, and ultimately,
excitement. This couldn’t have happened at a better time.
    It was odd. She thought she heard
resignation in his voice. Did he regret his decision? Was there
something else? Despite herself, she felt a tingle of hope.
    “We’ll be in touch.” Metatron turned on his
heel and disappeared down the corridor with his entourage.
    Kara stared after them in a cloud of cigar
smoke.
    She felt like someone had given her the
moon.
    She smiled wickedly.
     
     

Chapter
9
Revelations
     
     
     
    M r. Patterson
stared at Kara’s face, his eyes wide with alarm.
    “Dear souls! It is worse than I feared.”
    David, Peter, Jenny, and Ashley lingered
behind Kara, but she could feel their fear for what was happening
to her. The thought that they felt sorry for her made it worse. She
didn’t want anyone’s pity. She just wanted to confirm her
suspicions that she might have some kind of link with the knights
and that the connection might enable her to break her dreaded
curse.
    If she was right.
    “What does it mean?” Kara pulled her hood
back over her head.
    The oracle fumbled with his crystal ball
nervously. “I’m not sure. It seems the mutation has progressed more
rapidly than I had hoped. It’s almost as though something triggered it.”
    Kara knew what had triggered it. She
had.
    “Do you think there’s more to come?” David
stepped in beside Kara.
    He had taken the words right out of her
mouth. But she could barely look at him for fear of what the oracle
was about to say.
    Mr. Patterson blinked the sadness from his
eyes and looked back to Kara. “It’s hard to say. Hold this.”
    He handed his crystal ball to David who took
it carefully, surprised that the oracle trusted him to hold one of
his precious crystals.
    Then Mr. Patterson reached out and took her
hand. He brushed his fingers over the black veins carefully,
inspecting them. His fingers were soft and warm on her skin.
    “Have more marks developed since the last
outbreak? Since they last appeared on your face?”
    The oracle inspected her hands closely.
“Have you noticed if they keep progressing, is what I mean”
    “I…I don’t think so.”
    Kara stared at the bulging veins on her
hands and tried not to make a face. They disgusted her. She
disgusted herself.
    “It’s not like I’m keeping count, but they
look the same. I mean, I don’t think there’s more. I think it
stopped.”
    “Hmmm.” Mr. Patterson watched her silently.
“Or maybe just slowed down.”
    “Slowed down?” asked David, his brows
furrowed. “So you don’t