Chapter 23
twenty-three
OPHELIA
As soon as Callum and Kat were gone, Jazz cleared her throat.
"I know you don't want to hear this, and you don't want me to say anything," she looked at me, then River, before refocusing on me.
"But River has hardly slept since we made it out of the prison.
Since you nearly fucking died down there, he's spent literally all of his time trying to come up with a way to recreate your prison's magic himself, so you can be free of it. "
There was a moment of tense silence before she continued.
"I get that your past was horrific, Ophelia, but it wasn't River's fault.
He didn't know. Your dad had been lying to him, claiming that you were mentally unstable, for years before you told him what was going on.
He knows he should've looked into it sooner.
It's been killing him for the past century.
You were both fucked over by the person who raised you; please try to find a way to forgive him enough that it doesn't destroy our family too. " She gestured between us.
Not just between me and River, or her and Dante, but between all four of us.
By some fucked up twist of fate, we were all a family in ways I never would've expected.
I kind of wanted to throw up at the idea of letting River back into my life, but I was surviving a mate bond with Dante. Another conversation about the prison was a neutral way to start.
"I can try," I said quietly.
The way River's eyes lit up made my chest ache.
We had been close, at one point. It was a long time ago, but I still cared about him. He had been the only family member I had who even treated me kindly.
Dante released my hand, draping an arm over my shoulders like he'd done in the last restaurant.
I leaned into him, and tried not to think about the past while River explained his ideas.
They were good ideas.
Really good ideas.
But the complexity meant they were going to take time, and time wasn't something we currently had an unlimited supply of.
I was exhausted when Dante finally drove us back to our house. All four of us had ended up staying in the restaurant through dinner, with diagrams sketched over multiple fabric napkins. The napkins were burning a hole on my thigh, where they currently rested in a messy stack.
"How are you feeling?" Dante asked me, on the way.
He could probably tell that I was in a dark place.
The planning session and conversation with River hadn't been uncomfortable or painful for me in any way, but it had been completely and utterly exhausting.
There was too much to do for me to let mysef be tired, but I already felt like I needed another break.
"Wrecked," I admitted. "It's going to be a long night."
"It can wait until the morning."
I set a hand lightly on Dante's thigh. Touching him freely was different, but it felt right.
"I appreciate the suggestion, but it can't. Callum seemed scared of Reaper, and you know as well as I do that the fae don't fear anyone.
If he gets through the elevator's magic before we have a place to put him, we're fucked. "
"Waiting twelve hours wouldn't be the end of the world."
"It won't be twelve hours. I'm never going to want to deal with this. The whole situation is just incredibly stressful.
Dante nodded.
Thirty seconds later, he pulled off the road we were on, turning into a parking lot.
My forehead creased, but I understood what he was doing when he pulled into the drive-through of a Werewolf Café location I'd never been to before.
“We’re getting coffee?” I asked.
“We are. If you want to get the plan done tonight, we’ll get it done.” He pulled up to the window, and looked at me. “Do you want your usual?”
I nodded.
I was quiet as he ordered for both of us.
And as we drove home.
When he parked, I didn’t get out immediately, just sipping my coffee and staring at the door through the garage that led into the house.
Going in would mean dealing with the prison mess, and I just needed a few more minutes to breathe before I did that.
Dante got out of the car.
I didn’t realize where he was going until he opened my door and leaned against it, studying me.
“Thanks,” I said, looking away without moving to get up. “For what you did in the restaurant. I could’ve done it alone, but I'm glad I didn't have to."
"I wanted to." His words were simple, and I believed him.
He'd been nothing but supportive in the restaurant. Him and Jazz had talked a little, but mainly, he'd been in the conversation with me and River. Jazz had, too.
When things got tense, Dante interrupted calmly. He had offered to get me out of there multiple times, too.
"I did everything wrong," I said quietly.
"Not everything."
"I couldn't convince River that our dad was hurting me.
I couldn't get away from him without falling.
Or jumping. Or maybe... going dark?" I grimaced.
"My prison was a complete shit show. It still is.
I left River in there too long. My rescue attempt was a fail, and made everything worse.
I separated you from your family, and I'm a shitty partner or mate or whatever.
It's not even hard to be a good mate. You're perfect at it, obviously, because you're perfect in general, but—"
"Let it go, Ophelia."
I blinked.
"No one blames you for any of that," he said. "If they do, they can fuck off. No one who matters holds it against you. Stop holding it against yourself."
"As far as you and I go…" He bent over, leaning into the car and hitting the button to unbuckle my seat belt.
When he pulled away, he left his face just a few inches from mine, so I had no choice but to look him in the eyes.
"I've never been less bored, or more satisfied.
Both blood-wise, and sexually. If that sounds like the description of a shitty mate, you need to find a dictionary, Angel. "
"I don't think shitty mate is in the dictionary." The words were half-hearted.
"You made mistakes. So have the rest of us. It's time to let them go, and move on. We'll fix the mistakes that can be fixed, and leave everything else in the past."
Dante stood up, and offered me a hand.
After a moment of hesitation, I took it.
He slid his fingers between mine after pulling me out of the car, and I took another sip of my coffee.
"You don't need to stay up with me while I work," I said quietly. "I'm used to late nights on my own."
"I want you to get used to late nights with me."
"You probably have a schedule full of meetings tomorrow. I doubt you have time to stay up until 2 AM. Or later."
"I'll make time, Angel." He lifted our intertwined hands and pressed a kiss to the back of my palm as we stepped inside the house.
Twenty minutes later, we had loud music playing in my studio. Dante was sprawled out on his stomach on the floor with his laptop, while I bobbed my head to the music and sketched out a completely new map of the prison.
The part that I'd been focused on before was going to have to be abandoned and stripped of magic. River and I were going to weave light and dark power together in the upper half of the prison, which had previously only been used for temporary, less violent criminals.
Weaving that way would be much stronger, and we were confident we could neutralize most magic effectively. Plus, there was no elevator required. Just a set of stairs.
That was a major benefit.
Dante was in charge of snacks and coffee while I sketched and brainstormed. Factoring in space for River's magic was a bit of a challenge, which was kind of fun.
Dante dozed off with his face literally on the keyboard around 3 AM. I slid a blanket under his face to make him more comfortable as soon as I noticed. When I was ready to sleep around 5, I woke him up long enough to drag him to bed with me.
He pulled me into his arms, mumbling that he wanted my wings as soon as I was sprawled out on his chest. I'd been planning to take them out anyway, so I complied.
More than half asleep, he stroked my feathers in a way that made me calm instead of horny. I thought he was asleep when his fingers stopped on one sensitive spot, but before I drifted off, he murmured, "There's a bump here on both sides."
"Hmm?"
He pressed lightly on one spot.
A numb, but familiar spot.
My drowsiness faded.
"Are these scars?" he asked quietly.
"Yeah."
"Are they why you don't fly?"
I squeezed my eyes shut.
"You don't have to tell me." Dante sounded less drowsy, too. And more gentle.
"I've never told anyone before."
"That's alright."
"No. It's... it would probably help. Maybe. I don't know. It's not that big of a deal."
"If it left scars on your wings, it's a big fucking deal, Angel."
I sighed quietly. "My dad chained me there on and off, over the years. Just chained my wings together. He left the loops in even when I wasn't chained, just to remind me that he could. It was discreet. I don't think anyone ever even noticed. I couldn't fly with the chain on. It hurt too much."
I kept going. "Flying was painful, even when the chain wasn't there.
I was never good at it, and I missed most of the things the other angels were doing when I was a kid because of that.
I'm not confident with flying. Definitely couldn't carry anyone with me.
I had the loops taken out after I came to Rumor, but I never managed to get over the bad memories long enough to learn to enjoy flying. "
"Fuck," Dante said quietly. "I'm sorry."
"Me too. But you can make it better."
"I'm not fucking you after you told me that story," he grumbled at me. "We're cuddling. And it's not because I'm vanilla, even if I am."
"You're regularly knotting someone who isn't a demon, Inferno. Your vanilla ship sailed weeks ago."
"My vanilla ship, huh?"
"Okay, that might be the wrong way to say it."
"Nah. I like it. My vanilla ship has sprinkles, now."
"I'd rather be hot fudge."
"Hot fudge it is." He kissed my forehead, his fingers brushing the scar one last time. "You should be proud of yourself for surviving as long as you did. And for going dark."
"Going dark fucking sucks. I barely survived."
"Barely surviving is still surviving. Be proud of that." He kissed my forehead again. "And go to sleep. I think it's already morning."
"It is. I got the sketches done, though."
"While I was asleep?"
"Yup."
"Damn, Angel. You're making me look lazy." If he hadn't sounded so proud, I would've felt a little bad.
I swatted his arm. "You go to sleep."
"Kiss me, and I will."
I lifted my mouth to his, and kissed him. Lightly.
He slipped his tongue into my mouth and deepened the kiss for just a few seconds, before he pulled away.
Then he kissed my nose.
And we were both asleep ridiculously fast.