“Tris, can you hear me?”, Daniel asked. He rubbed his thumbs over my eyelids and gently blew into them. “Daniel”, my voice was hoarse after the choking and hurt when I tried to speak. Jinyoung was lying on the ground, face down, after what looked like Daniel had thrown him off of me. The two covens had shown up with new faces; who were untying Guanlin and Daehwi. Once Daehwi was free, he ran up to me. It felt so good to embrace him again. “You were amazing”, he said, “I love you”. “I love you too. I’m so sorry I kept all of this from you”, I coughed after every few words. “Why didn’t you tell me?”, he asked.

I could barely tell Ash and Lala, who were not even a part of this world. How was I going to tell my little brother that the bad angels want to kill everyone who is like him? “I know”, he said, reading my expression, “Guan told me everything”. Daehwi hugged me again, “Thank you for protecting me tonight. Even though I have him now, you know that you have always been my guardian angel right?”, I smiled with my tear filled eyes and held him tighter. I didn’t think I was going to be able to let go again.

“Tris, where are Tae and Davz?”, Yongguk asked. I didn’t understand this question. Did the covens not show up because of Taehyun and Davina? “Forest”, I reached for my throat. It hurt even more now, “He’s badly wounded”. Before I knew it, Daniel had left my side and had Jinyoung in a choking position, “How dare you touch her”, he said through gritted teeth. Jinyoung began gasping for air until he passed out. “Dan…”, Jaehwan said. “Don’t start with me Jae”, Daniel retorted, “I don’t follow those rules anymore. I can do inflict all the harm I want to onto him”.

“I didn’t mean that”, Jaehwan clarified, “We need him alive. He could provide us with info that could help Tris. So do what you want with him; just make sure he’s still breathing when you’re done”. I had never heard Jaehwan speak that harshly before. Angels were only allowed to fight with fallen angels in self-defense. It was clear that Jaehwan didn’t agree with that rule either. Daniel threw Jinyoung to the ground and he and the rest of Jaehwan’s coven surrounded him. “Go find Tae”, Jaehwan said to Seongwoo’s coven, “We will handle things here”. “Let’s go”, Sanggyun instructed and they spread out into the forest.

Sejeong was still on the ground trying to wake Seongwoo up. “Seonho”, Daniel spoke to a boy I didn’t recognize. He looked as young as Guanlin and I realized these boys were Guanlin’s coven, “You guys search the route we took to get here and make sure it’s safe. We need to get them out of here. Seong and Guanlin’s poisoning isn’t going to wear off fully until they are away from the angelic block”. Seonho nodded and he and the other 5 boys ran off as well. “Sej, once they return, get Tris, Seong and the kids out of here”, Daniel instructed. He seemed to be purposely not looking at me anymore. “No”, I said. Daniel finally looked at me, but anger filled his eyes instead of the sweetness I saw a moment ago. “I don’t want to go without you”, I said wearily. Daniel walked up to me, grabbed my hand and led me away from the crowd.  

“Are you mad at me?”, I asked. It was pretty obvious what the answer was by Daniel's behaviour. “Are you seriously asking me that question right now?”, this was not the happy reunion I had been picturing the whole night”. “I only lied to protect you”, I said. “Protect me!!!”, Daniel seemed flabbergasted, “What makes you think you have to protect me???”. “Because that’s what you do for someone you love”, I responded. “So what does that make me Tris? If you wouldn’t even let me know that you were in trouble. Do you not believe that I love you? You just walked into this blindly. What did you think was going to happen?”. “I didn’t think”, I said quietly, “I just wanted to save my brother”. “Do you hear your voice right now? He did that to you. Who knows what else he would have done”, he scolded, “How did it feel? When you found out they had Daehwi; how did you feel?”. I didn’t know how to put into words what I felt. “Don’t worry… you don’t have to say anything… because I already know… its exactly how I felt when I found out they had you”, he said harshly, “But worse because they didn’t just take you. Oh no, you willingly gave yourself up. What is it going to take for you to trust me enough to protect you? Do I need to paint my wings white?”.

“I do trust you to protect me”, my tone rose, making my voice hoarser, “That’s exactly what I’m afraid of. One day, you are going to protect me and I’m going to lo