It took Astrid a while to remember where she was when she woke up the next day. A faint scent of incense seemed to linger in the blackness that filled the small room around her, the perfume which seemed to follow her everywhere, like a ghost, since the witch trial.

Unwilling to break its magic, to shatter the feeling the scent brought with it, enjoying the way her heart started to beat faster whenever she caught it in the air, Astrid closed her eyes again, smiling at the images of the dark angel which, pulled from her memory by the perfume, played against her eyelids.

A sudden flutter of wings disturbed her reverie, making her turn her head in the direction of the window, its outline a faint halo in the near-perfect darkness reigning around her. She stood up and walked towards it, curious to see the view of Rigel's town, realising at the last moment that she couldn't. It was the Black Night day, which meant that no one was allowed to open that window, or any other, or put as much as a toe outside the house.

Sighing, regretting for the first time in her life that she couldn't go out, that she would waste the entire day closed indoors, Astrid retraced her steps back towards the bed, and switched on the oil lamp, marvelling at the box of matches Rigel had given her the previous night. Some inventions were simple and marvellous, making life so much easier, she mused as she washed her face and put on her dress, then brushed her hair. She needed to ask Andromeda for warm water to wash properly, and her travelling clothes needed to be washed again, too.

Carrying her lamp, Astrid exited the room and descended the rickety wooden staircase, guided by a warm, flickering light of fire towards the room they had eaten in last night.

"Here you are, at last," Orion said, walking towards her from the table where he had been sitting with the other two men, on hearing the wooden steps creaking under her feet. "It's midday, I was about to wake you up for lunch."

Astrid only smiled in response, wrapping her arms around his waist as he kissed her, feeling a blush flooding her cheeks when she noticed Regulus observing them curiously.

"Well, I'm here now. Good morning, everyone." She smiled at Rigel and his father as she reached the table and sat down next to Orion. "What's... going on outside?" she asked, nodding towards the shuttered window.

"Nothing." Regulus returned her smile, shaking his head.

"We've just been consulting a map," Rigel said, raising his eyes from the said map and looking at Astrid, "trying to find the safest and fastest way to Land's End. But before we decide which road to choose, I'll take you to see a friend tomorrow. It's a shame we can't go out today..."

"At least you all rest properly before setting out on the road again," Andromeda spoke from the doorway. "Now if you move that thing," she scowled, pointing at the map, "we can eat."

Azrael left Astrid's room mere seconds before she woke up. He treasured the nights spent with her, he loved the way her arms closed around him the moment he lay down next to her as if in her sleep she entered a parallel world in which they belonged together. Unfortunately, her demon didn't leave her alone often, or maybe it was fortunate. Azrael knew that by spending the nights with her, he wasn't doing himself any favour. The girl didn't belong to him, and he needed to remember that.

He settled on the roof of the cottage above her window, looking around, squinting against the cold rain drizzling from the leaden sky. None of the fallen angels was here yet, but he knew that they would come-- the girl and her fiancé were too tempting, and easy targets for those who were desperate to get their wings back fast, and there were many of those. Pulling the hood of his cloak lower over his eyes, he resolved to wait. It would be a long day, but he wouldn't leave. She needed his protection. Laughing silently at himself, Azrael wondered if meeting this girl was a part of his punishment.

As if losing his wings wasn't enough, he thought, scowling at the waterlogged clouds.

Astrid was happy that Orion was behaving so well.

She had noticed how he and Rigel seemed to have overcome some of their dislike and distrust of each other during the last week, settling into their own sort of friendliness. Now, Astrid was glad to see that Orion extended that feeling to his parents. She could still sense carefulness around the three men who surrounded her, conversing politely about all sorts of things while they ate, but she could put up with that.

Once the meal was over, Astrid followed Andromeda into the kitchen and helped her with the dishes while replying to the woman's curious questions about her life in the castle.

Once all was done, Andromeda showed Astrid a tiny bathroom containing a metal bathtub, in which water could be kept warm by the same oil lamps they used for illumination. Astrid ran to her room to gather all the things she needed to bathe while Andromeda helped her heat enough water over the large fire burning in the grate, then returned to the kitchen to start washing their clothes.

When Astrid returned to the room where she had left the men nearly an hour later, she noticed that the group had broken up-- Rigel was poring over the map again, Orion was dozing off in an armchair placed by the fireplace, and Regulus sat, reading, by an enormous bookcase filling one entire wall of the room, which Astrid hadn't noticed before as it had been hidden behind a curtain.

She gasped, walking towards the long, wooden shelves packed tightly with books as if she was under a spell, making both Rigel and Regulus chuckle.

"Do you like books, Lady Astrid?" Regulus asked.

She only managed to nod, her fingers caressing the spines of the books reverently before Rigel beat her to her answer.

"She is crazy about books, Father. She practically lives in her uncle's library. If it were up to her, she would never leave it." He laughed, making Astrid realise that he knew her much better than she had thought.

"Rigel, this is not a way to speak to or about your princess," Regulus scolded him.

But Astrid laughed, too, pulling out a battered copy of Wuthering Heights she had just discovered. "He is right though," she said, sitting in an armchair next to Regulus.

A soft thud, the sound of something falling on the roof of the cottage, made Astrid and Regulus freeze. Rigel did not seem to hear anything, and Orion didn't stir, but Astrid's heart beat in a crazy rhythm as she followed Regulus's look towards the ceiling.

Strange scratching followed, wood and metal being dragged across the roof tiles, and then the thud was repeated on the ground beyond the window as if something jumped, or fell off the roof...

Astrid leapt to her feet, rushing towards the closed shutters, reaching out... She could hear... thunder, and voices reaching her from a great distance... angry, challenging voices calling one name... Azrael...

"Don't!" Regulus' voice warned, and she spun around, scared and confused, finding the man staring at her. "Can you hear them, my lady? The angels?"

She nodded even as the voices faded into the whistling of the increasing wind brushing against the walls of the cottage and the sound of heavy raindrops hitting the roof.

"Can you?" Astrid asked, walking back towards her armchair on shaking legs.

Rigel pulled a chair close to her and sat down even as Regulus looked at Orion, and feeling assured that he was still asleep, replied, "I can. I can also see them."

"I... can see them, too."

Without waiting for an invitation to speak, Astrid whispered to them about the Black Night Ball where she had spoken to the angel for the first time, such a long time ago that it felt like a dream. She told them about the witch trial where she had seen him again, and the scent of the burning incense following her around, realising only now that she had been longing to confess to someone who would understand. She needed answers.

"What does it mean?" Astrid asked when Regulus stayed quiet for too long after she stopped speaking.

"It seems that you made yourself a very strong guardian." Regulus smiled. "I was hoping that the fallen angels wouldn't find out about your presence here today, but, apparently, they did. And without your mysterious guardian..."

Astrid shivered; it wasn't difficult to guess the words Regulus chose not to pronounce. "Rigel said that they only kill the nobles," she said.

"No, not only. Mostly."

"Why? Why do they kill people?" Astrid shivered again, looking towards the window. She didn't understand the angels; she disliked them for what they were doing, but she was worried for her angel now...

"I'm not entirely sure, and I don't want to mislead you with my theories. Rigel will take you to a friend of ours tomorrow. Hopefully, he will be able to tell you more."

Astrid nodded. She opened the book on a random page even as Orion woke up, and Rigel walked back to the table where he had left the map.

Hours dragged towards dinner. The sounds of the wind and rain coming from outside were distracting Astrid from reading; she imagined hearing whispers beyond the shutters, which were no longer there. After Andromeda served a simple dinner, Astrid replaced Regulus' book where it had been and retired for the night, hoping that it was late enough to go to bed without appearing impolite.

Azrael wasn't surprised to see Ramiel landing on the roof next to him, but he didn't expect to see another four fallen angels appearing in his wake.

"What's all this nonsense?" An angel whom Azrael had never seen landed too close to him, giving his shoulder a shove that made him precipitate off the roof.

The angel followed him down onto the wet ground, making mud splash around them in all directions, but this time Azrael was ready, his palms connecting with the other's chest with such force that it made him fly towards the copse. On hearing a distant thunder, Azrael spread his arms in front of him, igniting a tree in a safe distance behind the angel, his anger making it explode in flames.

Ramiel jumped in front of him, in a manner that was half protective and half preventing Azrael to attack the other three angels who now surrounded them, circling the two friends carefully, unsure of what to do, their hands on their bows.

"We don't want to fight you," one of them said, and Azrael recognized the voice reaching him from under the black hood. Camael. "But the girl is fair game. And so is the other demon."

"She. Is. Not." Azrael hissed, the tone of his voice resembling the sound of the flames burning in the rain, even as the fourth angel reached his companions, looking ruffled and furious.

"Who says that?" he asked, the question carrying a threat.

"I do," Azrael said, staring into the other angel's eyes unflinchingly, the distant fire reflecting in his orbs reminding the others of his powers.

"Me too," Ramiel chimed in calmly.

"Just because you two have been around here longer than any of us..."

"It doesn't give you the right, Azrael..."

Hot fury flooded Azrael. He could feel anger boil within him. No one would touch her, or he would reduce them into dust; they knew it, he was stronger than them. But he couldn't let anger cloud his reason. They deserved to know and make their own decisions.

"The girl is not like her uncle. I don't understand how it is possible, knowing who her parents were, but she is part angel. No, she doesn't know yet, but she starts to assume some things," he replied to their thoughts before they could form them into words. "She is here to find us and make a new treaty."

"And you, Azrael..."

"I'm watching her. I need to know more, see what she does when she finds out that her fiancé is looking for a reason to declare war on us."

"You have until the next Black Night," Camael said, his words an empty warning.

They could never defeat him... But there would not be another occasion to fight; he would drag the girl back to her safe castle himself, should the need be, before the following Black Night.

Suppressing a smirk, Azrael said, "Fine. Now leave. And tell the others not to come here tonight."

They glared at him but said nothing more as they vanished into the rainy greyness of the late afternoon, their cloaks billowing, whistling in the wind.

"Thank you, Ramiel, I owe you. If it wasn't for you... " Azrael said over his shoulder, picking up the arrow that had fallen out of his quiver as he fell off the roof. He let Ramiel read the rest of his sentence in his mind as he headed for the copse to hide from the thickening rain.

Ramiel chuckled softly, shaking his head as he replied, "Your arrogance, Azrael, is invincible."

Azrael smiled, watching his friend vanish into thin air. Shaking some water from his hair, he pulled the hood of his cloak up, becoming indistinguishable from the darkness pooling under the trees.

Astrid dreamed of dark-clad, wingless angels that night, of roofless churches where the incense burned in the falling rain, of voices whispering one name... Azrael...