Free Avenging Enjel by Viola Grace

Prologue
     
     
    “Myrik, you have a guest.”
    Myrik looked up and fought a chuckle. Brother Ekharian’s grey feathers were ruffled, so it must be a woman.
    He got to his feet and watched as the brother adjusted his wings and took over the class on meditation. When the class shifted its focus to their new instructor, Myrik headed for the entry hall.
    The visitor who waited for him was standing in a cloak and obviously female. She also did not have wings so that let out any of his family members.
    The woman turned as he approached, and he froze in place.
    “Miranda.”
    “Hello, Myrik. You are looking…taller.”
    He chuckled weakly and smiled. “You look amazing.”
    She inclined her head. “Thank you. Life with Osias is not always smooth but we are happy together.”
    “Is he here?”
    “No, I took a private skimmer. He might not approve, and I wanted to see you before you left.”
    He blinked, “You heard about my departure?”
    “Of course. I kept you warm for many nights, Myrik. I always have had your wellbeing in my thoughts.” She paused and put her hand on his arm. “I have worried about you.”
    Myrik straightened as heat raced up his arm and pooled in his spine, working its way up to his wings. “I do not deserve your worry.”
    “What happened was a lack of knowledge on my part and supervision on Osias’s. He knew you were close to your maturation. All three of us were to be held accountable, and he should not have broken your wing.” She tightened her grip.
    He fell to his knees, and she kept her grip on his arm while he fought a scream. His wing had been broken, useless and twisted as part of his punishment for violating the woman in front of him. His own guilt and his sentence here at the temple of Teness had been his constant reminders of his crime.
    When he felt the wing snap back into place and the blood surge into cells long deprived, he screamed. After the pain, a wave of warmth eased the nerves burned by psychic healing.
    “I am sorry for the pain. My talent changed after my third child.” She smiled brightly at him and helped him to his feet. “You should not leave Jela without being as whole as you can be. I want you to survive your life, be happy and live well. You deserve a new start.”
    Lady Miranda Aron gave him a hug and patted his cheek, though she had to reach up high to do it. “Go and find someone to love. Leave the past where it has fallen.”
    He flexed his white wings wide, curling them around her. “You truly have forgiven me.”
    “I have. I have a son now, and knowing what he will face makes me uneasy for his future, but here, he can be cared for. You had no chance. If Osias hadn’t come for you, it would have been much worse. I doubt that our owner would have paid for the repairs to my body. I would have been discarded, and you would have been sold yet again.”
    He blinked slowly. “You have a son.”
    “And two daughters, and one on the way.” She beamed.
    Light seemed to radiate from her, and it settled in his soul. She was truly happy; he had not destroyed her. A weight lifted from his mind, and he smiled.
    “There is that stunning young man that I remember. I wish you luck, joy and happiness. Now, get out there and kick some ass.” Her expression was the same as the woman he had first met eighteen years earlier, determined and patient but enthusiastic. Her love of life was what had drawn his guardian, and it was what Myrik thought he had shattered.
    “Thank you, Miranda. I am delighted beyond measure by your happiness. I will leave Jela with a lighter heart and hope that one day I will find happiness of my own.”
    Miranda hugged him again. “I am sure you will. Now, go on, your earlier screaming freaked out all the brothers. Go pat them on the heads or something.”
    Myrik laughed and headed back toward the sea of concerned faces, flexing his wings. He heard her shout, “And practice flying! You have probably forgotten how.”
    He flapped his wings