18. Architecti
Architecti
After we left the apartment behind, the city lost its mind. We had to live on the outskirts, seeking shelter in woods and parks and the run-down areas of the city.
I tried to make Gellara go, live her life in peace.
Make herself some deals so she could harness enough influence to get a position of power, perhaps even at Finis Academy.
I pointed out that if she could get a role under one of the seven devils, she would be in a better place to push her paper through Arcadius.
But she refused.
And each day she spends with me, that serpent thickens in my belly. The knot of dread grows heavier.
It’s only a matter of time.
Then I try to convince myself to stop focusing on the possibility of Interitus taking her from me, in case I make it true.
And yet, Interitus has successfully poisoned the city. It is inevitable that she will do the same to Gellara.
As far as I can make out, she’s using her old tricks, shadows and illusions to shift her appearance, whiten her wings and mould herself into me.
After a week of the city mutating into a feral creature with protests, and placards and posters hung with my face scoured out, I knew we couldn’t keep running.
Tucked under the safety of a forest canopy, the embers of a fire burning in a stone circle, I glance at Gellara.
“Don’t you say it,” she huffs.
I lower my eyes. Her expression is so full of pain it makes my teeth ache.
“We can keep running. Maybe we head to that city… you know the one run by the fae and the dark vampires. Nefari, I think it’s—”
“Gellara—”
“Or we could head to that magician city, maybe. What’s it called? Imperial? Imperium. Or any of the—”
“Gellara—”
She flaps her hands at me. “Hell, we could even—”
“GELLARA.” I shout so loud my wings burst out and ruffle as they knock a load of branches from the tree I’m under.
Her lips press shut, her eyes wide as she glares at me.
“Just stop,” I say, kneading my temple and shrugging my wings away.
“Fuck you. You’re giving up.”
“No. Quite the opposite. We have to stop being prey and be the predator. But I don’t want you anywhere near this. If she were to find out what you mean to me…”
“I’m not some helpless fucking mortal, Architecti. I’m a demon. I have power. I can make deals that will garner enough so we can defeat her. Why won’t you let me help you?”
“Because you have no idea what she’s capable of.”
“She’s just an angel, my love. How can she beat two of us if we combine our power?”
I shake my head and lean against the trunk of the tree.
“Do you know what it takes to jump from the Celestial bridge?”
She opens her mouth and then shakes her head.
“It’s one thing to push someone off. That’s a mere flick of the wrist. But to jump…”
I stare into the forest, trying and failing to come up with sufficient words to describe the sheer force of will Interitus would have needed.
“That bridge… it’s celestial too. Not only did she have to override every single base instinct in her body, but the magic on that bridge is designed so as to prevent an angel from falling. It pushes us away. It’s the most dangerous place in the city. Our kind… we don’t go there.”
Gellara frowns as she listens.
“Our wings know innately. That place is wrong. All the magic twisted and gnarled. It sits heavy in our bellies. It’s not just the glass bridge. The magic makes us want to turn back. You have to fight to take every step.”
“How did… did she jump then?”
“Because she is relentlessly determined. Her strength of will is unparalleled. On that ledge…” I drift off, sinking into my memories. The way the magic coiled in my chest. Made my breathing short, ribs tingling. All warnings. Desperate begged pleas for us to return to safety.
“She had to override every fibre of magic she had, the magic of the bridge, and her own body’s resistance.
It would have caused unimaginable pain, her muscles would have clenched and tightened into spasms and cramps.
Her mind would have swollen with thoughts of safety and celestial paradise.
She would have hallucinated retreating. Her wings would have worked on autopilot, flapping to pull her back from the ledge. ”
Gellara’s shoulders tense, her neck straining with unspoken words.
“You want to know why I am hell-bent on keeping you away? This is why. Interitus’s desire for destruction, even at the expense of her own ruin, will override everything else.
She is patient, powerful and the most poisonous thing to walk this realm.
And I don’t want her anywhere near you. So if you love me, you will listen.
You will believe me and you will stay hidden while I hunt her down. ”
Gellara’s eyes are wet. She won’t look at me.
“And if you loved me, you wouldn’t make me watch you walk to your death.”
Her words slice through me; bile froths in my lungs and throat.
She’s mad because she loves me. I lock my fingers through hers, grip her chin and force her to look at me.
“When this is all over, I promise to take you to each one of those cities, and any others in this realm. We will live like gods in the highest of all heavens. And I will make you my queen, my goddess, and I will worship you more passionately than any deity could fathom.”
She sniffles and nods. “If you die, I will kill you.”
I smile. It’s soft, silent, and full of secret fears.
When I kiss her, I want to taste the sweetness of her love.
The deep body of her dedication, and the heat of her protective rage.
But that’s not what curls between our tongues.
It’s cooler, filled with quiet dread, and the tartness of fear in the wind.
I pull away and give her a curt peck on the lips, all the while my throat closes and my fingers grow cold. And I pray to any of the gods who listen to be on my side. To keep my love safe.
All I hear is silence.