38. SOPHIE
Sophie ran across her room in a panic. She was slicked with sweat from the hot yoga session she was doing with Cal.
Shit. What do I wear? Should I wear some make-up? Why did I say it was a date?!
Sophie’s heart hammered as she went to work like a madwoman. She blasted the shower, rinsing off as much sweat and dirt as she could before jumping out within minutes and drying herself with a whip of her air mana. She bolted to the wardrobe where Calypso sat with several dresses in his mouth. Slobber had started to seep through the linen. Sophie gingerly pried the moist dresses out of Cal’s jaw, earning herself a little whine.
“Oh buddy, thanks but I think mama needs something a bit more . . .” Sophie trailed off as she surveyed the options in her closet. She pulled out a dress she bought at one of the Isle market stalls. It was a tight fitting, maxi length lilac dress. Its straps were thin and all over were shiny, purple sequins. It matched her hair perfectly and it wasn’t too casual, nor was it too dressy. It was just right for this date that wasn’t really a date she was about to go on with Ash.
Sophie slipped on the dress and rushed to the mirror in the bathroom, spinning a tendril of mana through her long hair so that it curled and waved effortlessly. She added the last touches to her outfit, straightening the golden, flaming heart necklace she had never taken off since coming to the Godlands. She hadn’t looked in a mirror for so long that she barely recognised who stood before her. She was wearing colour for fuck’s sake. Her curves were accentuated by the tightness of the dress and her skin practically glowed from the amount of sun she’d been exposed to. She looked healthy. She looked happy. She was happy.
I like this look on you, Sophie. Happiness really suits you.
She breathed in all the excitement and nervousness that coursed through her veins and smiled to herself.
Knock. Knock.
“I’ll be out in a sec!” Sophie shouted from the bathroom. She quickly applied some clear lip gloss and bronzer before slipping into some sandals and bolting for the front door.
Cal looked at her with a slight tilt of his head from one of the white chaises.
“I’ll be back soon, love you, buddy,” Sophie quickly said to the hound, who in response huffed a puff of black smoke from his nostrils before burrowing himself into a blanket.
Sophie pulled the front door open and stepped out.
Ash had his back facing her, his white wings pulled tightly against himself as he held Lumen’s reins. He wore a loose-fitting white tunic, black slacks and sandals. Casual. “Took your time . . .” Ash didn’t have the nerve to continue as he turned and spotted Sophie in a splash of colour.
Sophie watched Ash’s gaze burn into molten lava, hot enough to melt away her dress.
He gulped.
Sophie did the exact same thing. Her throat was as dry as godsdamned chips as she spied Ash’s muscled form, his long black hair with a tuft of white falling over his shoulders, fresh from a shower. He belonged on a period romance novel cover, and it made her think of terrible things. Terribly carnal things she wanted to do with him. Sophie swore her heart was about to leap out of her chest and perform some form of gymnastics routine before guttering out and dying on the steps of her villa. The electricity that had always existed between them sparked in delight as they stayed quiet for just a moment.
“Hi,” Ash breathed.
“Hi,” Sophie couldn’t help but smile.
Lumen’s neigh echoed around them, jolting them both from the magic spell they were under.
Ash stretched out a hand for Sophie and she took it as she descended the very few steps from her villa. He let go of her hand briefly to lift her up onto Lumen with ease.
“The stars are wary tonight,” Ash hummed.
“Why is that?” Sophie adjusted herself on Lumen’s back. Because her dress was tight around the hips and legs, she had to sit sideways. Her legs dangled off the arion’s side.
Ash pulled himself up and over Lumen, adjusting Sophie’s legs so that they draped across his hard thigh. He locked her in the confines of his arms as he grabbed Lumen’s reins. “Because you outshine them,” Ash said into her ear. His deep voice rumbled through her and Sophie swore he almost purred.
Sophie’s breathing hitched. Is this how she was going to die? From swooning too hard? It seemed like a probable cause and given the way his woodsy scent was holding her captive; it didn’t seem like a bad way to go either.
“It’s a new dress.” Sophie smiled, looking up to his smoking eyes.
“I didn’t say anything about the dress.” He pulled Lumen into the sky with a giant leap.
Yep. I’ve gone into cardiac arrest and now I’m dead.
Sophie smiled shyly and jabbed Ash playfully with an elbow, not sure what to say. Her cheeks burned profusely, and her words eluded her as they flew across the Isle toward the waterfall.
Ash pulled her closer to him so that she could lean her head comfortably in the space between his shoulders and neck. All the nervousness she felt caved, making way for something full and warm. It felt like home here, with Ash. It felt like they were back in Faery – young and impressionable with no other worries in the world. They were two of a kind. Where one pushed, the other pulled.
The Isle’s waterfall roared beneath them as Ash slowed Lumen down for just a moment.
“Both arms around my neck at all times, okay?”
“Is that permission to strangle you?” Sophie joked. She couldn’t help but smile brightly as the knowledge of what was to come sent a ribbon of excitement through her.
“That smart mouth of yours . . .” Ash shook his head and smirked as Lumen charged over the Isle’s waterfall with a joyful whinny.
They were airborne. Light. Weightless. Sophie felt invincible as they spiralled through the night sky like a falling star. She stretched out her hand just the slightest to rake her fingers through the clouds as they descended.
Ash wrapped an arm around her back, holding her tighter. Sophie could feel her resolve melting with every day, every laugh and every jibe. She could stay like this. She really could.
Ash led Sophie down a black set of marble stairs behind the main strip of Soul City.
“This place looks fancy, are you sure I’ll be able to get in wearing this?” Sophie asked as she looked up at the sign carved in white marble. It read Archi’s.
“Of course, come.” Ash grabbed her hand and for once Sophie didn’t pull back, she let him guide her completely.
There was something inside her that tingled, watching Ash with his towering form lead the way, his large hand enveloping hers.
They ventured down a dark corridor as the sound of revelry echoed and surrounded them. They came to the end of the corridor but there was no door or entrance in sight. That was until Ash walked straight through the damn wall. As Sophie followed suit, the cooling sensation of the walk-through wall swept over her skin. On the other side, everyone cheered for joy.
Most of the revellers were angels of the Tienthan. In fact, all of them were. Sophie recognised most of them from training and in the corner of a sunken lounge area, she spotted Eros, Deymos and Nemy waving their hands, beckoning them to come and join them. Well, Eros and Nemy were waving ecstatically. Deymos however, looked like he was going to kill someone, and he’d happily do it right here.
Everyone in the room got up to greet Ash and Sophie. All the angels looked casual in various forms of linen, but no one could mistake the power that vibrated in the room.
Is there an off button for this shit? I’m going to hurl.
This was a place they came to relax in private it seemed. As Ash made his way through the room he didn’t let go of her hand. Not until the flock of angels swarmed in on Sophie, kissing her cheeks and asking how she was faring.
A dark-skinned male angel came up to Sophie with a wide smile, his arms open wide. He kissed both her cheeks in greeting. “You haven’t met me yet, the name’s Morpheus.”
Morpheus, God of Dreams and Sleep, slung an arm around Sophie like they were the best of friends. He pulled Sophie forward, so he could introduce her to another angel she hadn’t met yet.
“This is my darling Nyx.” The goddess of night smiled before rushing to Morpheus’s side. They were surprisingly anything but dark. Their stark white hair, porcelain skin and white dress were the exact opposite. They were the moon personified, if anything.
Sophie could sense a theme with all the angels. Their powers were all dark and deadly.
“How long have you been together for?” Nyx smiled sweetly between Sophie and Ash.
Sophie sputtered. Panicked even. “Ugh no, we’re just friends, right, Ash?” Sophie snapped her eyes to Ash, and he looked like his soul had left his entire body.
“Totally,” Ash agreed with a weird, pained grin. It wasn’t very convincing.
Nyx’s eyes widened, clearly embarrassed by the assumption they’d made.
Morpheus barked. He literally barked, “Oh don’t be silly. I mean maybe you two are just friends, but not for long, eh?” The dark-skinned god clapped Ash across the arm.
Nyx pulled back their partner with eyes of warning. They looked back at Ash and Sophie and said, “We’ll leave you to it.” The goddess smiled sweetly before turning back to Morpheus with a deadly glare and muttering something about embarrassment underneath their breath.
Sophie loosed a breath, watching the pair disappear into the other side of the room and disappear into another rippling wall.
That went well.
Half the room in Archi’s bar was a large, sunken lounge where the angels lazed and conversed. In the middle of the sunken lounge space was a fireplace. To the left of the room was a well-stocked bar and a bartender, dressed smartly in a grey, pinstriped vest and a matching flat cap.
Sophie sighed. “I think I need some wine.”
“I second that.” Ash whisked away to the bar, ordering two glasses of wine and returning to Sophie in record time.
They walked over to the corner of the sunken lounge where Ash’s cadre lazed.
Eros sat up, raising a glass he toasted, “To better days.”
They all clinked their glasses together, Sophie included, before taking a long sip.
Sophie took a seat right next to Nemy, while Ash took a seat on the floor, his back resting next to Sophie’s legs. Her thigh and calf brushed against his thick shoulder and muscled arms. Ash’s wings rested next to her, occasionally brushing against her arm.
Nemy turned to Sophie. “I heard Ares gave you a bit of a run for your money this afternoon.”
“He did a little at first, but I think by the end of it I earned my stripes.” Sophie smiled shyly into her wine glass. It was a win from today for sure.
“Watch out, Nemy, you might have someone gunning for your spot on the Tienthan,” Deymos teased, poking Nemy on her side. He earned a deserved pinch on the arm from the goddess of retribution herself.
“How was everyone else’s day?” Sophie smiled.
Silence swept through the group.
“Well, Artemis is potentially missing, but we hope she just got too worked up in hunting a cute animal in the Faery forest,” Eros said it as if it were nothing, but long gulp of his cup told Sophie otherwise.
“Oh, and Ash accidentally went to the Shadow Realm,” Deymos offered.
Sophie’s eyes widened.
“Yep. I accidentally went to the Shadow Realm,” Ash confirmed it as if it were merely an unimportant speck of dirt on his shirt.
“Sorry, you what?!” Sophie looked like a fish out of water.
Ash, the ever-brooding angel then had the gall to shrug.
“He even lost a couple of feathers,” Nemy pointed out to the patch of missing feathers, the pink skin looking sore.
“Yeah, Kaine did that to him.” Eros took a sip from his cup. “The Breaker of Realms,” he mocked in an annoying voice.
“Omg Ash, what the fuck? Why didn’t you tell me?” Sophie gasped, instinctively examining the patch of missing feathers. Barbs stuck out but it looked like it was healed well. It would just be a matter of growing the feathers back.
“I was going to until these assholes beat me to it,” Ash complained, taking a sip from his cup. He turned to Sophie with a devilish grin.
Oh gods, what’s he going to say now? Sophie could feel an impending eye roll start at the back of her eyelids.
“Worried about me, are you?” Ash smirked. And there it was. Ash. The giant carrier pigeon.
“Ugh,” Sophie groaned, rolling her eyes and downed the entire wine glass. As she put it back down to rest on her knee, the glass filled back up as if enchanted. Sophie marvelled at it, and looked to the bartender who gave her a small nod.
This is going to get messy.
“Don’t worry, Sophie, his pretty wings will grow back in no time.” Deymos winked.
Eros put his glass down on the ledge behind him. He leaned into the circle, his elbow upon his knees, his hands serving as a pretty seat for his chin. He looked downright mischievous, as he asked, “Tell me, Soph, has Ash told you about how he got his wings?”
Ash let out a groan of annoyance, pinching the space between his brows. “They only tell this story to remind me how powerless I used to be. Don’t buy into it, Sofreya.”
Whatever the story was, it clearly annoyed Ash which made Sophie lean farther into the circle with a conspirator’s grin. “No, he hasn’t told me the story. It sounds ever so interesting, please do tell,” Sophie said sweetly as she looked down at Ash who gave her an offended look as if to say How could you?
Sucker. Sophie grinned, resting a hand on Ash’s neck as she buckled in for the story to come. The touch was second nature.
“When Ash landed in the Godlands, he was a wee baby Fae,” Eros pouted his lips as he conjured a little cloud figure, in the shape of a boy. “Baby Ash cried a lot,” he continued as little cloud tears fell from the small cloud Ash.
Why was he crying a lot? What happened when he departed Faery? The questions echoed in Sophie’s head as a pang of sorrow filled her. She squeezed Ash’s neck in comfort. She doubted he needed it, but still. Ash leaned in closer to her legs, the movement bringing her warmth again.
“Then one day, he spotted us training in the ring,” Eros continued. He conjured a tiny training ring with three angels fighting one another. The little cloud Ash was crouched underneath a table, spying on them.
Deymos scoffed. “He followed us around like a lost puppy. Day and night.”
“Come on, I was not a lost puppy,” Ash argued.
“Don’t listen to him, Sophie, he was. He even had a little chip on his shoulder and everything. I’ve never seen such a sad little thing before.” Nemy held up a hand in front of Ash’s face to shush his arguing.
Sophie smiled at the little exchanges they had. They were like squabbling siblings.
“We told him to go home when we found him sleeping in the training ring, but he wouldn’t leave. So, we put him to work.” Eros conjured a little cloud Ash, a little older now, who practised various weapons as the cloud angels watched over him.
It was really sweet but where did Cerri fit into this? Afterall, she was meant to take care of him in exchange for her son’s protection.
“He grew up big and strong, but he had no wings. How could he keep up?” The cloud angels flew away as little cloud Ash chased them.
“The little bugger had guts though.” Deymos smirked, lifting his glass to Ash before downing his drink.
“That’s right. When the Hrabrost Trials rolled around, he followed us there too. Only fifteen years old at that point.” Eros arced his hands wide, to create a big mountain out of his clouds.
Nemy leaned into whisper into Sophie’s ear. “The courage trials. An annual test for us Tienthan to make sure we’ve got what it takes to stay in the Aerial Legion,” she explained.
Sophie raised her eyebrows and nodded. Interesting.
“We were so angry with him, Sophie. He followed us to the Hrabrost Trials, for Fates’ sake. Once you’re in, you can’t get out without completing it.” Deymos shook his head in disbelief.
“And so we dragged him with us for the entire trial. He was a nuisance. Always complaining. Always brooding and carrying around his little war hammer thinking he was some warrior.” Eros made a face to say that he was annoyed and disgusted at the same time. The cloud angels climbed the mountain with a little cloud Ash among them.
Ash laughed, as if the thought sparked a fond memory.
Sophie smiled a little at that.
Eros’s voice turned serious. “When we reached Mount Gehenna, the largest monster we’d ever seen came spilling out of it, sending rocks crashing around us.” Cloud rocks dropped down the mountain and the cloud angels dodged them, carrying little cloud Ash by the scruff of his neck.
Sophie laughed at the clouds. They looked so darned cute.
Nemy chimed in with a laugh. “Deymos’s leg got crushed by one of them.” She poked her tongue out at Deymos, who snarled back.
“And we were stuck. With the end of the Hrabrost Trials mere inches away,” Eros said solemnly. The cloud angels looked frantic, trying to pull out cloud Deymos from the rock.
Deymos leaned in, a look of sadness upon his face. The entire room quietened, as if they too were listening to the story.
“Fifteen-year-old Acheron Taranis, with the bravery of a thousand soldiers, climbed upon one of the rocks and called to the lightning above us with his war hammer.” Eros paused as he conjured little lightning strikes around the scene. “He channelled the lightning above and struck the monster, stopping the onslaught of rock and debris falling from the mountain top.”
“He saved us.” Deymos watched the cloud formations, though his eyes were a little distant.
“And he fried his entire body doing it,” Nemy added.
Sophie’s hand squeezed tighter on Ash’s neck. His cheek was leaning on her thigh now and she became all too aware of where their skin met. Poor Ash. To go through something like that at such a young age.
“I mean I got some cool hair to go along with it, didn’t I?” Ash tried to make light of the conversation, earning him a scowl from Eros for interrupting.
Sophie let out a soft smile. She absentmindedly ran her fingers through Ash’s pure white strands. Softer than that of his inky hair.
“When we found him, he was a hair’s breadth away from the clutches of death.” The cloud angels swarmed around the lifeless cloud Ash. “So we imbued our powers in him. Whatever we could give, we gave,” Eros said the last part with a smile, as if proud to have given a part of himself to his friend. “Zeus was watching the trial from afar. For Ash’s gallantry, Zeus offered his own power too.”
Sophie’s eyes widened. In her mind, Zeus was an overzealous, power-hungry bully, but she was starting to think that it was worth putting her preconceived notions aside. Just for this one act of kindness.
Sophie replayed the words in her head again. Zeus offered his own power too.His power of lightning . . .
Sophie almost wanted to step back from Ash. He had the power of four gods within him and not just any god, Zeus’s power coursed through his veins.
Holy shit.
“When he came to, he was granted his wings by Ares,” Eros marvelled. Little wings appeared on cloud Ash.
Nemy smiled. “The youngest to ever achieve it.”
Eros vanished his cloud display with a click of his fingers. Gone was his solemn, reminiscent tone and back in its place was his playfulness. “So, what did you think of the story, Soph?”
“It sounded like Ash saved your asses, which, by the way you set up this story was not where I was expecting it to go. I thought you were going to roast his ass until kingdom come.” Sophie made a face of disappointment.
“Ah darling, you forget that I am the god of love living among the dark and deadly. I just made you fall in love with him,” Eros stated as a matter of fact, his lips pouted as he leaned back into the lounge as if to say Hook, line and sinker.
Sophie gaped. “Why you little—” Sophie made to lunge at Eros.
Deymos barked in laughter while Nemy tried her best to hold hers in.
Ash groaned, facepalming himself.
Eros curled away defensively. “Just admit it, you love each other!” Eros teased with the silliest grin Sophie had ever seen on a god of any kind.
“We’re JUST FRIENDS!” Ash and Sophie screamed at the same time, their hands shooting up in unison.
“Ah, the beautiful sounds of denial. The first step to true love they say.” Eros sighed romantically, fanning himself with his hand as if he were about to swoon.
“By the Fates,”—Ash pushed himself off the ground—“I’m getting a stronger drink.” He trudged away, a cloud of lightning following in his wake.
Sophie leaned back into her seat, taking another long sip of her wine.
Eros caught her eye and winked.
Sophie couldn’t help but smile. She enjoyed his teasing way too much.