Flash Sale and Excerpt: Judgment & the World

 

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He had silver-black wings, which were not feathers, she realized on closer inspection, but feathery extensions of smokey light. And he glowed. Every part of him was bathed in glorious radiance. His hair looked like spun obsidian, his skin gleamed like polished teak, and his eyes were dark, yet warm and intelligent. There were crinkles around them that suggested wisdom although he was ageless, and she guessed he was much older than his youthful physique suggested.

He looked exactly like a classic angel, although far, far too sexy. Sister McKinney in her third-grade Catholic school would have slapped Trudie’s hand with a ruler for suggesting an angel could look that sinfully delicious. 

“Thank you for allowing me to come to this interview,” he said to her gravely. “I admit, I was surprised when you agreed to consider a Seraph as a tutor for your children, Queen Sabriel.”

Even his voice was sexy. She was definitely going to hell just based on the dreams she would have about him tonight. It didn’t help that now she knew hell was a real place, a Sphere called Darkpyre, ruled by literal demons. 

She kept her voice as cold as ice, just as the real queen would have done. Trudie leaned back on her throne and looked down her nose at him with contempt gleaming from beneath her half-lidded eyes. She could imitate all of Sabriel’s mannerisms perfectly.

“You are not hired yet, Seraph. First you must tell me how you intend to instill wisdom and knowledge into my children. Tell me, why should I entrust their minds and their souls to you? Have you taught before?”

“No,” he admitted. 

“Have you any children of your own?”

“No.”

“No wife? No girlfriend?”

He raised an elegant black eyebrow. “Surely this is not relevant.”

“I do not ask any question if it is not relevant,” she said haughtily.

“No,” he replied. “I have never been married and I have no children of my own and I have never worked with children before. But I have been a student, and I have seen life, not only in Winterdom, but in all Seven Spheres. I can teach your children much more than they can find out in books alone. I can teach them how to be the kind of people who have the adventures written about them in the books that others read, to discover the inventions that others will use, and to live the lives that others will study.”

“And what if they are poor students?” she asked him. “How will you punish them if they are stupid or slow?”

“No child of yours would be stupid or slow,” he said, his eyes twinkling.

Light have mercy, the sexy Seraph was flirting with her. Trudie wanted to fan herself.

“You evade the question,” she snapped. But she also sat forward, and her eyes sparkled with interest.

“I will reward interest with excitement; I will honor excellence with praise. There will be no need for punishment. That which is done right will be encouraged.  That will keep the children learning much better than any punishment would.”

Trudie wished she could have dragged him in front of Sister McKinney to hear this. However, she tried to hide her approval behind a façade of ennui. 

“It amuses me to let you try,” she said, as if skeptical that his method would work. 

Actually, she was skeptical. In her schooling on Earth and then here, all her teachers used corporal punishment as the way to encourage learning, although as far as she could tell it never worked on her.

“You will have to live in the castle, near the nursery.” Near my side of the castle, she added silently.

“That will not be a problem,” he said solemnly. He inclined his head. It was not exactly a bow, so much is an acknowledgment of respect for her. “Thank you for this opportunity, Your Majesty.”

“One more thing,” she said suddenly. “What is your name, Seraph?”

“My name is Raziel Ranaci.”

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