“You’re the only link I’ve got to that night,” Madeleine said. “I don’t know where to get answers, other than from you and that beach.” She gave Hæra a cool glance. “Which I am going to explore, thank you.”

Hæra’s hackles rose just as surely as if she were Brodie scenting a predator. “I warned you⁠—”

“I know what you warned me. Of course I have to go back there, and I’ll go in broad daylight. I’ll be completely safe. I’m sure there will be other people around.”

“What do you hope to find there?” Jonathan asked. “Your angel?”

Madeleine blushed. A blush meant the blood was getting closer to your skin. Hæra remembered licking the cut on her forehead, now marked by a scar.

“Yeah,” Jonathan said. “I remember what you said, all right.”

“Please don’t laugh at me,” Madeleine said softly.

“I wouldn’t. You’d just smacked your head and weren’t thinking straight.”

Madeleine lifted her head. Hæra watched the proud tilt of her chin with fascination. Beautiful.

“I still believe it,” she said. “Or at least, I’m willing to believe it. I didn’t just say that because of a head injury. That might seem silly to you, but angels are part of my faith.”

“No, lassie,” Jonathan said quickly. “I don’t dismiss you. I’m, ah, willing to believe it could be something supernatural. I don’t know about angels specifically, but who am I to say?”

He glanced at Hæra, who said, “Who indeed. Sist…that is, Madeleine, what do you believe an angel is?”

Knowing full well that Madeleine had thought Hæra was one, Hæra had combed through the Bible to read about them, but there had been less than she’d thought there would be. If Madeleine had thought Hæra was an angel, what did that mean to her? Surely Hæra hadn’t reminded her of those silly pictures of people with wings, haloes, and white robes.

As if reciting from an invisible book, Madeleine said, “Catholic doctrine dictates that angels are servants and messengers of God. They’re creatures of pure spirit, not human beings.”

Hæra frowned. “Then why do they always look like humans in the pictures?” And did Madeleine believe Hæra had been a servant of God while she was lying on top of her, kissing her?

Madeleine chuckled. “Because people relate more to things that are familiar. Scripture actually describes angels as frightening beings of fierce aspect.”

“So the woman who found you had a…fierce aspect?” That was much better. So much better, in fact, that Hæra settled more back in her chair and grinned at the thought.