Chapter 10

When the bandits begin picking themselves off the forest floor, a few make a run for it immediately. Only a few remain in the end, one of whom is the creepy leader. Of course he wouldn’t just run away.

Shrugging nonchalantly, Yvo pushes some hair out of his eyes. “I warned you,” he says calmly, before making the smallest flick of his wrist, sending the shimmering feathers towards the three bandits.

One of them does a runner, whilst one dodges the feathers. Only the leader stands his ground, his expression furious as shards of light stab into him, and he quite literally turns to dust. The last bandit doesn’t hang around for long after that.

The three of us stand in silence for a moment, before Yvo collapses, his weird wing things disappearing. Picking the boy up, I glance around the area; luckily for us, the bandits didn’t actually move us, most likely they were going to kill us and take Kossiq away.

I shudder at the thought.

I don’t even know what they’d do to a Diviner like Yvo. Kossiq sits down heavily on the ground whilst I lay Yvo down on one of the horses. We’ll need to keep travelling tonight, I don’t think any of us will feel safe staying here.

Securing Yvo on top of the horse, I judge it safe to leave him alone for a moment whilst I check on Kossiq. Crouching down in front of him, I reach out to gently ruffle his hair. He glances up at me, smiling shakily.

“Are you ok?” I ask gently, about to remove my hand from his hair, before Kossiq beats me to it. Instead of letting my hand go like I’d assumed he would, he merely holds it instead. After a moment, he shakes his head, his soft white locks shifting gently.

Sighing, I sit down next to him against the tree, my hand still in his. “I’m sorry I let him touch you,” I practically whisper, feeling Kossiq’s grip on my hand tighten slightly.

“That’s not- he barely did, and there’s no way you could’ve stopped him anyway. That’s not the reason I’m…upset, I guess,” he says after a moment, glancing up at me. Turning my head slightly, I briefly check to make sure Yvo is still on the horse.

I’d been planning on getting Kossiq to the horses too, so that we could leave, but I think he needs a moment to digest everything that happened.

Hell, I think I need a moment.

“What is it then?” I ask quietly, peering into Kossiq’s pale eyes. He holds my gaze, before sighing. “I need to talk to Yvo too, about that whole thing there. I have my suspicions though,” he muses, resting his chin on his knees, which he has brought up to his chest.

I wait patiently to see if Kossiq will say anything else. When he doesn’t, I give his hand a small squeeze. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

He glances over at me, exhaling slowly. “No, I think- I think Yvo probably knows already, and I feel like I should tell you. The reason I became a fallen angel.”

That catches me off guard, and all I do is nod dumbly. He laughs wryly, using his free hand to comb through his hair. “Fun fact: the Archangel Yvo was possessed by- or at least, I think that’s what happened- anyway, that Archangel is the one who banished me.”

Now the recognition on his face makes sense. The whole thing must have thrown him off balance more than I thought.

Kossiq is silent for another moment, before suddenly blurting out “I’m a boy, right? Like, we’ve already established this, yeah?” I nod, raising an eyebrow at the angel. “Yeah, that’s been obvious since day one.”

He looks relieved to hear that, and nods, as if to convince himself. “Right. But I…I defied the Archangels, by saying I was something they didn’t put me as,” he continues, but I’m already confused.

Kossiq glances over, before sighing ay my confused expression. “In the heavens, there are no male angels. There are the Archangels, who have no gender, and there are regular angels, like me, who are all girls.”

I stare at him, before nodding. “Right, so the Archangels didn’t like that you are a boy. Why didn’t they do something when you were first…born, or however angels reproduce? Why wait until now?”

Kossiq looked relieved, like I was getting what he was talking about, before sighing, as he realises I’m not entirely sure what I’m saying.

“Angels aren’t born, the Archangels make all of us. And, they didn’t make me a boy,” he explains, glancing up at me. “Are you getting what I’m saying?” He asks, and I grimace. “Not really. Can you say it more simply?” I ask softly.

Kossiq sighs, running a hand through his hair again. “I spent the first 200 years of my life as an angel thinking I was a girl, because all the angels are girls, and then in the last 100 years I realised why that felt so wrong. I told the Archangels I wasn’t supposed to be a girl, and that they made a mistake. They kicked me out because I defied something fundamental about our world.”

I stare at him in awe, my jaw wanting to drop. “Wow. You’re 300 years old?” I ask, and Kossiq laughs gently after a moment. “Of course that’s the first thing you take away from all that.”

I continue looking at him, before resting my head back against the tree, glancing up at the sky. “What I understand, is that the Archangels kicked you out, threw you down to us, because they wouldn’t let you live true to yourself. That doesn’t sound fair to me,” I whisper.

“Right?! Like, surely they can accept having one guy angel, it’s not like it’d change anything! All I wanted was for people to call me ‘Kossiq’ and refer to me as a boy, but the Archangels made it sound like I’d fucking murdered someone, like I was some kind of monster.”

I flinch, automatically pulling my hand back from Kossiq’s. He glances over at me, biting his lip. “Sorry, I didn’t mean- I wasn’t talking about you, it’s just- I don’t think you’re a monster or anything,” he says gently, nudging my shoulder with his.

I stare at the forest floor, nodding like I’m convinced, but not believing him in the slightest.