Chapter 35
THIRTY-FIVE
Gabriel woke slowly, at peace with the fire inside him for the first time in ten years.
Sharing it with someone, basking in it, not fighting it as he gave all of himself to Icarus had made him feel whole.
He was left with a comforting warmth inside him instead of the crater that had smoldered for a decade.
It had made him consider what he and Mary had talked about yesterday.
Maybe the magic inside him wasn’t the fiery death sentence he’d always assumed was his fate.
At least not yet. Not with Icarus by his side.
“Gabriel.”
Gabriel flipped over under the sheets, planted a hand in the mattress, and vaulted his torso up. Mary stood in the doorway, a folded piece of paper dangling from her fingertips.
Wait . . . “Where’s Icarus?”
She crossed the bunk room and handed him the folded paper. Gabriel was scribbled on the front, and though he’d never seen Icarus’s handwriting before, Gabriel knew the note was from him.
His stomach sank and his pulse pounded in his ears as he shifted on the bed, legs hanging off the side under the sheet. He flipped open the paper. My name is Icarus for a reason.
“He flew too close to the sun,” Mary said.
But Gabriel’s mind had rewound to last night, to Icarus straddling his hips, gliding his hands over him. Let me drown in this heat, in everything I feel for you, before you run off and do something foolish and heroic.
Except it hadn’t been Gabriel who’d run off to do something foolish and heroic.
I won’t let anyone hurt you.
His name was Icarus for a reason.
“He left this for me.”
Gabriel looked up and found Mary close with another note she held out to him.
Protect him.
The notes slipped from his fingers, and he curled over his knees, fighting back fear, tears, and the fire that licked across his skin, that raged in his core.
“Stop fighting it.” Her voice was close, her presence washing over him as she laid a hand on his knee. “Use it. Use the fire. Help me protect him.”
Gabriel lifted his head but continued to keep the core of him buried, the fire scorching his throat as he croaked, “How?”
She crouched in front of him. “Icarus has gone inside. He’ll do the job the DA wouldn’t. Put Vincent in a place where we—you—can end him. We have to be ready.”
“Vincent will see right through him.”
“Give my brother more credit.” She smirked. “Sure, the plan will go sideways because he’s Icarus, but he’ll get us ninety percent of the way there.”
“I can’t let anything happen to him. I just . . .” He gulped, floundering helplessly in this sea of emotions. “I lo—”
“Nope,” she cut him off. “Save it for him. Save Gabriel for him. I need Adam. I need the Devil. I need the phoenix.”
Gabriel closed his eyes once more and rested his head on his knees.
One breath, two breaths. He let the memories of Icarus in his arms wash over him and tucked Gabriel into a warm safe space with them.
Then he let the phoenix inside him stretch its wings, harnessed the fire, and honed it into an arrow.
The Devil straightened and opened his eyes. “Let’s end this. Once and for all.”