Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 40759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 204(@200wpm)___ 163(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 204(@200wpm)___ 163(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
Ryan grabbed his shoulder hard, nodding, smiling through his tears. “Thank you. Yes, I knew that. I just… I knew that.”
“Well, then”—Julian smiled wide—“I guess I better take some medical leave and get out my camping stuff.”
“There is another option,” Raphael apprised them as I joined him, putting my hand on the small of his back when he stood up.
Ryan was staring at him. “Tell me.”
Raphael seemed hesitant for a moment, like he was thinking better of whatever he was going to say, but then he cleared his throat. “Anahel, the angel of the third heaven, is in my debt. His villa is… It would be an honor for him to host a warder and his hearth.”
“I don’t understand—third heaven?” Julian questioned him.
“I never got this either,” Ryan told him. “I hated all the lore we had to read along with learning how to fight. But this, the angel stuff, was the worst. Third heaven, sixth heaven, what even is that?”
Raphael was squinting at him.
“I’d like to hear as well,” Marcus admitted, looking at my mate.
“I, of course, know all the histories,” Jael chimed in. “But it’s abstract at best. If you could better explain, I would love to hear.”
Raphael glanced at me.
“Explain the universe to us,” I teased Raphael, and he scowled at me. “Oh, c’mon,” I whispered, bumping him with my shoulder.
He exhaled sharply. “So, heaven is vast. It’s a plane, just as hell is, but in hell, each area or place has its own name—Purgatory, Limbo, Gehenna, Kur, Irkalla, and so on.”
No one said a word, all of us listening.
“In contrast, heaven is split into numbered provinces—sixth heaven, twelfth heaven—each protected by a member of the Seraphim. It is infinite, as is hell.” He waited a moment, letting us take in the information. Once he was certain we were following, he continued. “In each heaven, under its Seraphim, are the Thrones.”
“But between Seraphim and Thrones are Cherubim,” Dylan spoke up. “I think you forgot about them.”
Everyone looked at him.
“What? You have to read the Bible when you take philosophy and history classes in college to know what all the references are about.”
Joe chuckled. “Yes, you do,” he agreed. “What about the Cherubim, Raph?”
“Cherubim form the army of the individual Seraphim. They’re quartered in each heaven, they have a commanding officer, and are there for the protection of that particular realm.”
“Okay, this is making more sense,” Julian told Raphael. “A hierarchy makes sense, and so does a standing army.”
Raphael smiled at him. “So each heaven is inhabited by…” He thought a moment. “I dunno, souls? People? Whatever you want to call them. Citizens is the word I use, but basically, when they have an issue or a complaint, they take their problems to the Thrones. They’re the ones doing the day-to-day ruling.”
“Basically the Thrones deal with people issues, domestic issues, and the Cherubim deal with threats that are more military, like, I’m assuming, since it’s heaven, demons or something,” I summed up. “Yes?”
“Yes,” Raphael agreed, grinning at me. “And if there’s an issue that escalates on either side, that’s when the Seraphim, the angel who oversees and rules that heaven, steps in.”
“This is very helpful,” Deidre assured him.
“Thank you,” he said with an exhale. “So the Thrones hear issues and resolve them in their halls, and there are many in each heaven. So, for example, Duena, a Throne I know well, she rules the sixth hall of the seventh heaven. The entire seventh heaven is governed by Adriel, a mighty Seraphim, and because that heaven is near one of the entrances to hell, Michael put her there because she’s a great warrior.”
“Angels and demons aren’t still fighting, are they?” Jael asked him.
“Of course they are. That won’t ever end. It began when Lucifer led the rebellion, and it hasn’t stopped since.”
“But demons can’t get out of hell and into heaven?” I asked him.
“They can if the Seraphim aren’t vigilant. But as I said, every part of heaven has its own angel and those beneath them, and so the concern has never been that the demons rise up and punch through into heaven, but instead that they push through into the human realm and get a foothold here, hence you warders. You stand between the demonic hoard and humans. It’s why every major city in the world has its own clutch of warders.”
“No pressure,” I teased him.
“None at all,” he said, chuckling.
“So your friend Anahel,” I began, “he’s a Seraphim, not a Throne, and he rules the third heaven in heaven.”
“That’s correct.”
“And he owes you?”
Raphael nodded, turning to look at Deidre. “You’re an angel scholar. Have you heard of Anahel?”
“How did you know I was a—”
“Have you?” he prodded.
“Yes,” she said, taking a breath. “Yes, I have. He’s the one who gave refuge to the angel Sariel and his love, and in so doing received the sigil of the path of the moon.”