“You’re right. Most of the angels don’t care about Trin’s and my feelings for each other,” Zayne responded, and my whole brain zeroed in on the “most of the angels” part. “They let me Fall and remain as a new and improved version to fight Gabriel.”

“The Throne did tell me that none of the angels that could strip him of his wings and grace would come down here while Gabriel was here,” I said even though that didn’t answer what they’d do once Gabriel wasn’t a problem.

“You’re giving them way too much credit.” Cayman snorted. “Angels are self-righteous enough to try such a thing, no matter the risks. They’re not showing up to take his grace because he has all the power of an angel, but he’s not bound to angelic law.”

“Angelic law?” I twisted toward Zayne. “Like what kind of law?”

Zayne glanced at Cayman, his brow furrowing. “I think he’s talking about their law of combat. Apparently it’s forbidden for an angel to attack another.”

“Even in this kind of situation?” I asked, thinking that couldn’t be right. “Like even when one of their own is trying to end Heaven?”

“Yep,” Zayne confirmed.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Disbelief flooded me. “That has got to be the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“They believe that to take up arms against another is lifting a sword against God,” Zayne said. “It didn’t make sense to me, either, but he said it was a pledge they all took after the war. Obviously they didn’t put a whole lot of thought into the pledge.”

By war, I was guessing he was referencing when Lucifer was booted. I processed all of that and suddenly a lot of things made sense. Big things.

Like why I was here.

“That’s why I was... I was born,” I announced, and yeah, it sounded way overdramatic to me, but it was dramatic. “There’s no way that a single angel didn’t see what Gabriel was becoming. They just couldn’t stop him, because of the pledge. They must’ve realized this was as good a time as any to bring back the Trueborn and I guess they just rolled the dice to find out who would be the baby daddy.”

“Rolled the dice to see who would...” Zayne shook his head as he processed what I said.