Chapter 148: Heavy is the Head That Reads the Horniest Scripture

With an archangel-ordered rest to take, Grace decided to catch up on her literature. Specifically, she wondered if there were any other bits of information she could glean about Azrael or the Veil if she went and looked for them.

So, with nothing better to do, Grace went back to the Archive to get her hands on the Eternal Codex again.

She sat down atop a plush golden couch and mentally prepared herself for whatever horse or dragon-related smut she’d be waterboarded with this time.

[… “thus, Eternia laid her hand upon her steed’s sheath, intending to-“ Okay, Eternia, okay. Geez, don’t you have any other hobbies besides creating things and having sex?]

She flipped through a few pages and eventually stopped as she noticed Azrael’s name popping up. Sure enough, these subsequent tales told of the early days of the Veil’s leader. The time immediately following Azrael’s creation.

Grace sat up straighter.

[Hm…]

There were a few paragraphs dedicated to Azrael’s actual creation. The perfect administrator, the perfect organizer, the perfect supervisor. The order to Eternia’s chaos, and the cold pragmatism to Eternia’s eternal optimism. That was what Eternia had intended from her.

[Literally built herself the ultimate girlfriend. That’s either romantic or deeply narcissistic.]

“’And lo, Azrael’s tongue did find purchase in places most divine, bringing forth sounds from the Goddess that shook the very foundations of—’ NOPE.”

She kept going.

Grace found a passage that made her sit up straighter:

“On this day, Azrael came before me with eyes aflame with discovery. ’My love,’ said she, ’I have found the source. The demons spring not from external evil, but from mortal sin itself. And if sin creates them, then perhaps sin can destroy them.’

I forbade her these studies. Some knowledge carries too high a cost.”

The next few pages detailed their arguments. Azrael pushing for permission to explore Sin-based power. Eternia refusing. The fights getting worse.

Then came the passage Grace had been looking for:

“Azrael stood before me, her form already showing signs of change. The silver in her hair spread like frost. Her eyes, once warm as summer sky, had gone cold as winter steel.

’You would keep us weak,’ she accused. ’You would let mortals suffer rather than embrace what could save them.’

’I would keep you whole,’ I replied. ’The Sins will consume you.’

’Then let them. If that is the price of the power I need to save humanity, save us, I pay it gladly.’

She left that night. Half my heart went with her.”

Grace closed the book gently.

The information given matched up with what Grace knew, though not too much with the visions she’d seen. In those visions, Grace saw Eternia casting Azrael out. This book portrayed that same dynamic in the inverse, with Azrael abandoning Eternia on her own.

The way Azrael had looked at Grace after the Root incident, sensing Eternia’s presence. Like seeing a ghost.

Or worse… seeing your ex’s new girlfriend.

Grace gulped.

[No wonder she wanted to kill me.]

“Heavy reading?”

Grace jumped. Archivist Mina stood behind her, those violet eyes way too knowing.

“Just trying to understand the players better.”

“Hmm.” Mina glanced at the volume number. “The break-up Chapters. Painful stuff.”

“You’ve read them?”

“Child, I’ve read everything in here at least twice. Occupational hazard.” Mina settled into the chair across from Grace. “Find what you were looking for?”

Grace took a moment to think about her answer to that question.

Indeed, knowing how Sins were slowly corrupting the Veil could also help her understand the effects the remaining Pillars were going through, but in truth, their situation was… more specific.

[Eternia dumped all those negative emotions in them. Did she have to do that? Did she do it just to remove an annoyance from herself or out of necessity?]

She didn’t know.

“Maybe,” she finally replied.

—

Grace made it back to the rookie quarters as sunset painted the Dominion gold. She expected to find the usual chaos. Diana blowing someone’s back out, a red-faced Petriel hiding behind a book, Alia and Zephyr doing things that would make even Venus blush.

Instead, she found Alia and Zephyr making out on the couch. Just the two of them, fully clothed (by angelic standards), kissing with the lazy intensity of people who truly had nothing better to do.

[Huh. That’s almost… tame?]

“Oh. Hey.” Grace tried not to stare. Failed immediately. “Where is everyone?”

“Mm?” Alia didn’t break the kiss. Her hand was buried in Zephyr’s white hair.

“Diana’s on patrol,” Zephyr managed between kisses. “Petriel’s—mph—at the healing halls.”

“Cool. Cool cool cool.”

Grace walked to the kitchen, grabbed a glass of water, walked back, and sat on the opposite end of the couch. They were still kissing.

She cleared her throat. Nothing.

“So I’ve been reading about Azrael.”

“Uh huh.” Slurp.

“She and Eternia had a pretty messy break-up.”

“Mm.” Smack.

“Like, cosmically messy. The kind where one of them might murder me for wearing the other’s face.”

“Yeah, uh—” Zephyr gasped as Alia bit her lip. “—sounds rough.”

Grace took a long sip of water.

[This is fine. This is totally normal. Just having a casual conversation while my roommates exchange saliva two feet away.]

“Also the Void apparently eats people. Like, metaphysically digests their souls or something.”

“Mmhmm.” Alia had migrated to Zephyr’s neck.

“And I might die horribly in a few days.”

“That’s nice.” Zephyr’s eyes had glazed over.

“I’m thinking of shaving my head and joining a demon cult.”

“Good for you.” Pop.

Grace set down her glass harder than necessary.

“Are you two even listening?”

Alia finally pulled back, lips shiny and swollen.

“What? Yes. Azrael. Break-up. Very sad.”

“I said I might die.”

“We all might die.” Zephyr’s hand had found its way under Alia’s shirt. “That’s why we’re making the most of—ooh!”

Alia had just discovered that spot behind Zephyr’s ear.

[Great. I’m having an existential crisis and they’re conducting a thorough exploration of each other’s erogenous zones.]

Grace grabbed a throw pillow and hugged it to her chest.

“I’m just saying, maybe we should be preparing? Training? Literally anything other than—”

Zephyr moaned.

“—that.”

“We are preparing.” Alia’s words came out muffled against Zephyr’s throat. “Building morale.”

“Whose morale?”

“Mine.” Zephyr gasped. “Definitely mine.”

Grace watched Alia’s hand disappear entirely under Zephyr’s waistband.

“You know what?” Grace stood abruptly. “I’m going to go… be literally anywhere else.”

“Aha?” Alia, cheek-to-cheek with Zephyr, smiled back at Grace. “So, you don’t want to stick around?”

“Why? So I can provide commentary while you two—”

Zephyr sighed dramatically.

“Of course, she’d rather keep spiraling.”

Grace paused.

“I’m not spiraling.”

“You’re totally spiraling.” Zephyr’s voice was breathier than usual. “You get this little crease right here—” She reached out to tap between Grace’s eyebrows.

“I do not have a crease.”

“It’s adorable.” Alia grinned. “Very ’I’m going to save the world but first let me panic’.”

“I don’t panic.”

Both of them stared at her.

“I don’t!”

They were both grinning now. Grace was rapidly losing patience.

[Dammit.]

“You know, all this spiraling and panicking cannot be good for you. Want us to help make you feel better?”

Grace deflated.

“… Maybe.”

“Good. Now come here.”

“That’s right… Grace.” Zephyr’s voice dropped into that register that made Grace’s brain stutter. “Come. Here.”

[Oh man. The rest of my day is so doomed.]

Grace’s feet moved without her permission. Before she could form a proper objection, Alia had yanked her down between them.

“See? Better.”

“This is the opposite of better. This is—mmph!”

Alia’s mouth on hers cut off whatever protest she’d been forming.

[Okay. Okay, we’re doing this.]

The kiss was different from their usual quick pecks. Slower. Alia tasted sweet, and her tongue was doing something that made Grace’s thoughts scatter.

“Breathing might help,” Zephyr murmured in her ear.

Grace pulled back, gasping.

“I was breathing!”

“Through your nose?”

“I—shut up.”

Alia giggled.

“She’s blushing.”

“I’m not blushing.”

“Your whole face is pink. And here I thought you’d gotten braver in bed~”

“It’s the lighting!”

Zephyr’s fingers threaded through Grace’s hair, turning her head gently.

“My turn.”

[My turn? What does she mean my tur—oh.]

Zephyr kissed differently than Alia. Where Alia was enthusiasm and sweetness, Zephyr was precision and heat. She kissed Grace and somehow made it feel inevitable.

At this moment, Grace herself understood how wrong Alia had been a moment just now.

She had changed. And she knew that because all she wanted suddenly was to push Zephyr down.

Alia’s mouth found Grace’s neck.

“Still worried about the Void?”

“The what now?”

“Exactly.”

Grace felt Zephyr smile against her lips.

“This is—” Grace pulled back slightly. “This is definitely stress relief, right? We’re being therapeutic?”

“So therapeutic.” Alia’s breath was warm against her throat.

“The most therapeutic.” Zephyr’s thumb traced Grace’s jawline.

“Good. Good. Just wanted to… establish that.”

“Grace?”

“Yeah?”

“Stop talking.”

[Fair point.]

The Void? The Bloom? Azrael’s probable murder plot? All of that seemed very far away compared to the immediate reality of Alia’s fingers tracing patterns on her thigh and Zephyr’s mouth doing frankly criminal things to her ear.

It was very important therapeutic work, truly.

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