Chapter 10 #2
His gaze goes to the dark window. “I forgot the feel of sunlight.”
“If I can break the curse, I will.”
“You should rest,” he says, acting as if he didn’t hear me. Maybe he doesn’t think I’m capable of breaking it. We leave the library, and I grab my bag to change into pajamas for the night.
Hasan has gone back outside to keep watch, Jacques is in the living room with the book, and I’m not sure where Thomas and Gilbert are. I unfold my blanket, fluff up my pillow, and settle in on the couch.
This time around, it takes me a good hour before I finally fall asleep, despite my exhaustion. I wake up not long after with a cramp in my neck. The couch isn’t comfortable at all.
The house is quiet and the fire has died down some. The room has retained enough warmth to keep the chill away, but not enough to shed my blankets. I press my fingers into the base of my neck, massaging my sore muscles.
Something shuffles behind me, and I jump up.
“It’s just me,” Thomas says, leaving the shadows. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah.” I sit back on the couch. “I woke up with a stiff neck, that’s all.”
“Let me help you.” He stands behind the couch, putting his hands on my shoulders. “You’re very tense.”
“I usually am.”
“Why?” With one hand, he moves my hair to the side, then starts kneading my muscles.
“Work, I guess.”
“Then why do you do it?”
My eyes fall shut. For a man with fangs, claws, and wings, his touch is gentle. “I like my job.”
“You like a job that makes you tense?”
“It doesn’t make sense, I know.” I let my head fall to the side. Thomas slides his hands down my shoulders. “I guess I just like getting the bad guys.”
He brings his hands back up and moves one forward, tracing my collarbone with one finger. I shiver from the sensation. The last time a man touched me like this was, well, never. I’m not a virgin, but the relationships I’ve had in the past never amounted to much.
I bring my hand up, placing it on top of Thomas’s. He feels human. Warm flesh, tender touch, and deft fingers. He might have vowed to keep it in his pants, but I know these hands have pleasured many women. He knows what he’s doing.
I tip my head back and open my eyes, looking at him. In one swift movement, he jumps over the couch, landing next to me. I angle my body toward him, studying his wings.
“Go ahead. Touch it,” he whispers.
Tentatively, I bring my hand up and feel the top of the wing.
They’re much like bat wings, just sized for a large man.
The bones beneath the webbed flesh is ridged and bumpy, with rough patches of thick skin along the top.
The edges are outlined in barbs, reminding me a bit of the back of a stegosaurus.
Gilbert’s wings look similar, much unlike Jacques’s, which are as detailed as a carefully carved statue, artfully formed with Gothic beauty.
Even the razor-sharp talons at the top of his wings have Celtic symbols engraved into them.
Hasan’s wingspan is the biggest, and his wings are plain and dark with no hooks, barbs, or talons.
“You all look different,” I start, then realize how stupid that sounds. “I mean, of course you do, but your wings vary a lot.”
“They’re based on our personalities. Well, the opposite of them.
Gil and I prided ourselves on our looks and we got the ugliest wings.
Hasan loved his weapons and has the least defensive wings of us all.
And Jacques didn’t believe in material wealth and he looks like the King of Hell with those ornamental wings. ”
I swallow hard, getting a better sense of the curse. Whoever cast it wanted the men to suffer in every way possible.
“What did you do to get cursed?”
Thomas stiffens and looks into the fire. “We were blamed for a murder we did not commit.”
“Who died?”
“The daughter of a pagan sorcerer. Her father cursed us.”
“Braeya?”
“Yes, that was her name.”
I think back to my dream. The intensity in Jacques’s eyes. The feeling of time running out. He said he stopped believing in everything he fought for before he was cursed. Was this woman the reason why?
He was a priest for the Templars. Braeya was the daughter of a sorcerer. If they had a thing going on…talk about forbidden love.
My head spins and I yawn. Thomas takes my hand in his and motions to the stairs.
“If the couch isn’t comfortable, you should take one of the beds upstairs.”
“I need the fire,” I remind him. “It’s too cold up there for me, but hopefully I’ll be able to turn the heater on tomorrow. It’s like a built-in fireplace in the walls. Kind of. It keeps the whole house warm.”
“Sounds dangerous.”
“This old one probably is, but upgrading to a new system would cost a lot more than I can afford.” I resituate my blankets. “The couch will be good enough. I have to get up in a few hours, anyway.”
Thomas slides his arm around me, and I lean into him, resting my head on his shoulder.
He envelopes his other arm around me, massaging my back again.
My eyes fall shut, and if it wasn’t for the feel of his wings against me, it would feel like I’m snuggled up next to a normal man.
He trails his fingers down my spine, relaxing and enticing me at the same time.
He pulls me to him and lies back, bringing me with him. My head rests on his chest, and I listen to his heartbeat. He continues to run his hands up and down my back, lulling me to sleep. The fire crackles next to us, casting long shadows across the room.
“I always thought I’d have this,” he whispers.
“Have what?” I whisper back, not opening my eyes.
“A wife. And then a family.”
His words are enough to jolt me awake. I sit up and look into his sky-blue eyes. “You wanted a family?”
“Yes,” he confesses, and his famous cocky grin is nowhere to be seen. There is sadness and longing in his eyes.
“But you joined the Templars.”
“It wasn’t my choice to join.” He starts rubbing my back again, though this time there’s nothing sexual in his touch.
I rest my head on his chest again, splaying my fingers over his broad shoulder.
“Gil and I are the youngest of six. Our eldest sibling is—was—our sister, Mary. She was married to a Duke before I was even born. Then came John, set to inherit the family’s fortune.
Elizabeth came after him, and shortly after we swore into the Templars, she got engaged to a banker.
Paul was everything my father could have wanted in a son and was the spare in case John died.
With two heirs and two daughters married into rich families, he didn’t want or need us. ”
“Oh, wow. I’m sorry.”
Thomas shrugs. “It’s how things were back then.
And it’d be lying if I didn’t say Gil and I got into our fair share of trouble and used the family name to get what we wanted.
I think we both knew it would come to this if we didn’t settle down.
And I wanted to, but I refused two arrangements set up for me by my father. ”
“You wanted to be in love.”
“Yes,” he admits. “When I refused the second marriage proposal, I was told I brought shame to the family. Our father tried to offer Gil instead. He refused too, and off we went, as expected.”
“But you never expected to be turned into gargoyles.”
“No,” he laughs, and that smirk is back.
“That was not something I ever expected.” His hand moves down to the curve of my lower back.
I crave more of his touch. I want him to make me feel.
“I don’t believe in all the godly shit Jacques and Hasan do, and I can tell you don’t either.
But I’m starting to think maybe they were onto something about destiny and fate. ”
I lift my head, eyes locking with his. “I’m starting to believe it, too.”