Her Demon Prince (Forbidden Fantasy) (29 page)

Daniel stood.
"Don't worry. Keep him quiet for a few days. He'll need to sleep off the
bad mood."

Phoebe couldn't
believe what she was hearing. "You call turning into a wall of flame a bad
mood?"

"Actually,
I'm talking about the one he'll be in when he wakes up," Daniel said.

Phoebe took a
great gulp of healing water before dripping it into Agrat's open lips.
"Great," she said wearily.

"Daniel? I
need your help," Cassiel called.

Phoebe watched
Daniel race over to where Cassiel was standing at the doorway. In his arms he
held Galaden's upright body. The angel was rigid, his limbs already stone, his
chest rising up and down as he struggled to take in breath. His normally
crystal-blue eyes had turned to ice and his face was masked with dread as death
approached.

"Is it too
late?" Daniel asked Cassiel.

"I don't
know," Cassiel said, hugging Galaden, supporting his father with the whole
of his body.

"Phoebe, we
need you," Rachael said. She stood next to Galaden and her arms went
around the angel, too. "Galaden did you a terrible wrong when he ordered
Envy to kidnap you. I know Galaden terrorized you. You thought he was going to
kill you, but I'm going to ask you to do something, because I love him so much and
I know you love me."

Phoebe saw the
pleading look on the face of her best friend, the desperation in Cassiel's
eyes, and the horror in Galaden's. "What can I do?"

"I want you
to save Galaden," Rachael said.

Chapter 17

Phoebe looked back at Agrat.
His eyes had opened and she breathed in a deep sigh of relief. She didn't want
to leave his side, not when she should be giving him the healing water to
drink. "My darling. You're awake. Can you hear me?"

His gaze fixed
onto her. Gone was the look of fury in his face. He seemed calm and somewhat
subdued. "Not even a wall of flames could block you when you want
something," Agrat said, his voice rasping. "I heard every word you
said."

"Good."
She bent and put the bottle to his lips. "Drink this."

Agrat's hands closed
over hers as he drank.

"I thought
I'd lost you to the demon side. I was frightened and scared and lost without
you. Thank you."

Agrat drained
the bottle dry in a few gulps. He pushed himself into a sitting position,
wincing as if in pain, yet his gaze bloomed with love for her. "You said
you want marriage and children."

A wave of love
rushed through her. "I do."

Agrat's face
softened as he stared at her.

"Phoebe,
please," Rachael said, rushing over to her. "I need your help.
There's no time. I'm desperate."

"Help the
Healer," Agrat said.

Phoebe turned
from the prince, relieved that he seemed stable. Rachael needed her and
Rachael, who gave so much, rarely asked anything of her. "What do you
need?"

"Galaden is
turning to stone. I want you to order him to stop." Rachael turned, waved
her hand at Cassiel who stood at the doorway to the studio. The young angel
picked up his father and carried him into the middle of the room. The older
angel's torso, arms and legs had turned to stone. He no longer seemed to breathe,
but terror stayed in his eyes as if he could feel every inch of the hideous
creeping death.

Confusion hit
Phoebe. "But how will it stop the curse?"

"You are
Galaden's maker," Rachael said.

"The maker
is his father, the king," Agrat said.

"Not in this
lifetime," Daniel said.

"No matter,
the maker must be male,"
Agrat
said.

"The maker
can be female too," Phoebe said. At least she hoped it could.

"That
appears to have changed in this time. I find my princess hot-headed and
demanding," Agrat said.

Phoebe smiled.
"You'd better believe it."

"In this
lifetime you created Galaden from stone. You are his maker," Cassiel said.

"Please.
There's no time," Rachael said.

Phoebe strode
over to Galaden. "I forbid you to turn to stone. I carved you. I made you.
You are to follow my orders. You are to return to flesh and you are to love
your brother."

Agrat stood and
put his arm around Phoebe. "Tell him I will find the love I once had for
him if he is good to you."

"You are
never to harm me," Phoebe ordered.

A final gasp of
breath left Galaden's lips and the ice in his eyes died leaving only stone.

"It hasn't
worked," Rachael cried, flinging her arms around Galaden. "My love,
my husband. I can't bear to lose you." Huge sobs overtook her and her
shoulders heaved as she cried.

"It should
have worked," Daniel said, distressed.

"Rachael
tried it with me," Cassiel said. "Rachael, as my mother, was my maker
too, in her past life. Galaden ordered me to take Rachael home from the
hospital, but she wanted to come here. Her order overrode his. I could obey
her."

"You’re
Rachael's flesh and blood," Daniel said to Cassiel, staring sadly at
Galaden. "Perhaps that’s why it worked."

Phoebe turned to
Agrat. "I want to thank you. You didn't kill Galaden. You found
forgiveness. You don't have his blood on your hands."

The prince bent
and kissed her. "Only for you could I do it.
Always for
you.
You, who I love, have taught me so much about love. You bring me
great joy."

She kissed him
back, so glad to have him close, but Rachel's cries ripped through her joy.
"I must look after Rachael."

Phoebe moved
closer to Rachael and Galaden. The angel's expression resonated with misery as
he stared down at her. She rubbed her friend's back. Rachael would never
recover from loving Galaden, not if she felt for Galaden what Phoebe felt for
Agrat.

She put her
other hand to Galaden's cheek. "His face is still warm." She touched
over the rest of his body. Cool. Like the stone she worked with. She looked up
again at the angel's face. A pinprick of light entered Galaden's eyes. Phoebe
stood on tiptoes to check she wasn't imagining it. The pinprick grew to a spot.
There was blue under the color. "Rachael. Look. He's coming back to
you."

Rachael pulled
her face back from the chest of the sculpture. "Galaden?"

Cassiel and
Daniel stood behind the women. "It's true. Color is returning to Galaden's
eyes. Father, can you hear me?" Cassiel cried.

Rachel threw
herself at the statue, crying, touching,
stroking
his
face. "His skin is softening."

The angel drew
in a deep shuddering breath as his
life-force
returned. With stiff limbs, he hugged Rachael to him.

Tears rolled
down Rachael's face and her mouth wobbled as if she couldn't speak.

"Thank
you," Galaden rasped to Phoebe. "I do not deserve your gift of
life."

"You're welcome.
Look after my best friend," she said. "I did it for her."

Phoebe felt
Agrat's arms encircle her from behind.

Galaden looked
at the prince. "I have done you a great wrong. You are a good man. Forgive
me, brother?"

Agrat's face was
stern and serious, his frown clamped on his brow. "You have given me great
heartache for centuries, but Phoebe is right. I do not want your blood on my
hands. You protected Phoebe when I was turned to stone and now you know what it
is to lose the ones you love and become stone. You have suffered too. I forgive
you, brother," Agrat said.

Phoebe turned
around in his arms. "Daniel said elementals are in a bad mood after they
come back from a wall of fire."

"I
am," he said.

"You don't
seem to be," Phoebe said.

"A bad mood
can be alleviated by the love of a good woman," Agrat said with a quirk of
a smile.

Phoebe cocked
her head. "Don't tell me, the cop says that?"

Agrat laughed, a
sound Phoebe rarely heard from him. "No. That was all mine."