Read Online Duncan's Descent by Marie Harte - Free Book Online Page A

the lower realm reveled in sloth. To them, laziness was a virtue. Yet Duncan hadn’t been the least bit sluggish today. He’d helped her sway her first soul, when he could have taken the bastard to hell himself.
    She sighed and snuggled next to his muscular forearm, an uncomfortable yet soothing pillow. Sapphira had ultimately made the decision to send Nathan to hell today. And she still didn’t feel bad about it. What did that make her? Was Duncan right? Was she an angel on the verge of Descending?
    If only she had someone to ask. But she’d never been close to her mother that way. Sure, lessons and etiquette, her schooling, all had been done under her mother’s watchful eye. Though Sapphira knew that deep down her mother loved her, there always seemed to be a condition attached. Sapphira had to be the smartest, the strongest, the best. For years she’d struggled to earn Charmeine’s attention, as the Virtue was constantly busy keeping the spheres in touch. Yes, her mother could provide harmony to the first sphere whenever they asked, but she couldn’t provide the comfort an uneasy, doubting daughter often needed.
    For that, Sapphira had the third sphere, her fellow angels. A group who summarily dismissed her as a misfit and troublemaker. Uriel was less than useless, in her opinion. And Sarah a pain in the ass. Sapphira had often wondered why sex with demons and humans was considered so sinful when the angels went at it with each other like bunnies in heat. But heaven forbid Sapphira indulge. The few times she had, she’d been found out by her mother. And wow, Charmeine had thrown a fit of biblical proportions. How much worse would it be if Charmeine knew a demon was involved?
    Sapphira sighed. She’d been around angelic love her entire life, but never had she sensed the sheer power of the emotion. Then again, what if she wasn’t feeling love for Duncan? Perhaps it was the newness of it all. Being able to be herself was heady indeed. With Duncan she didn’t have to pretend. And he despised Uriel as much as she did, heck, even more. Sex with him was perfect. Incredible.
    He murmured under his breath and hugged her tighter. A firm ridge prodded her backside, sliding between her cheeks, and she stifled the urge to chuckle. Even in sleep he wanted her—an angel on the verge of turning demon, who’d made her very first sway today.
    She should have felt prouder. But sending a soul to hell, no matter how deserving, felt like a betrayal. She’d let one slip to the lower realm. And yet, what should she have done? Interfered in the soul’s natural progression, even knowing his end rightfully deserved hell? Why should she send an undeserving soul to heaven? To salve Uriel’s pride? To give the angels home-field advantage when the angels and demons next faced off? She couldn’t see her mother signing off on that. Sapphira was young, yes, but she had more sense than that.
    So the question begged, now what? Did she meekly accept her demise as an angel and succumb to the darkness even now pulling at her spirit? Should she continue to follow her heart and go against Uriel’s wishes, despite the torturous result surely awaiting her fate? Sapphira sighed. Did she even want to return to the upper realm and face all those snotty angels looking down on the Ordinary and the lower realm?
    But not all of them were snotty, her conscience begged her to remember. The whole of your life isn’t terrible. There’s Raphael and Seir. They cared about the real Sapphira. But they had moved to the first choir, the top of the heap. Now her friends were Principalities channeling positive energy and protecting…human cities. Curious that she hadn’t thought to seek them out before. Perhaps a Calling in the morning would tell her where to find her friends. Though she felt embarrassed broaching the subject of Descension, they might at least be able to shed some much-needed