Celestial (Angels of Elysium, #2)

by Olivia Wildenstein

“Did you also save him?” “Yes.” Surprise pared my face from the suede. “They’re together in Elysium?” “No.” “They’re not together? Or they’re not in Elysium?” “Both. Neither.” “Is one of them in Abaddon?” “No.” The gleam of faraway stars edged the stubble coating his rigid jaw. “Where are they, then?” He nodded to the world below. “In Paris?” “On Earth. Not in Paris.” “Are they together?” “No.” “You separated them?” I didn’t believe in soulmates, but Leigh had, and she’d believed Jarod was hers. Asher’s attention inched away from the shimmering city and set on me. “I had no choice.” No choice? Or was he still trying to get Leigh for himself? I set that question aside for later. “Since, to my knowledge, souls don’t float around Earth, I take it you implanted them into human wombs?” “No.” My eyebrows jolted up. “Then—where?” “If I’d placed them inside wombs, they would’ve been someone’s child. I wanted them to be raised inside guilds so their wing bones could develop. So they would get a second chance.” He squinted past my ribboning hair. “How much do you know about reincarnation?” “Just what they teach in the guilds. That malakim must embed the soul in the womb sometime in the first trimester of life. And that if it’s not done, a new soul will form, providing the world with a necessary balance of new and old.”