CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Alad
The knock on the door sounds only an instant before the portal swings wide. Lady Mary sweeps into the room.
Instantly, I arch my wings to cover Charlotte’s nakedness. And my own, though she’s still splayed atop me, serving as a modesty shield if I needed one.
My love yawns and lifts her head before she reaches for the down coverlet that just brushes her knees. “Mary, what on earth?”
“My wings cover you,” I whisper, taking the opportunity to nip at her exposed neck.
“Stop that.” She slaps at the top of my head.
Laughter bubbles up and from me. Have I ever been this happy? This fulfilled? If so, I don’t remember it.
“Oh! I… Charlotte?” Mary blushes scarlet and hides her face behind her hands, half-turning from the scene before turning back. “Charlotte?” She peaks through her fingers.
“Is well,” I snap. “Please leave.”
But Lady Mary has more spine than I’d credited her for having. Instead of leaving, she drops her hands, though her gaze trains upon the far cornice of the four-poster bed. “Not until I’m certain Charlotte is well.”
“I’m fine, Mary,” Charlotte calls, pushing harder at my wings so her head can rise above them. “Will you let me out, Alad?”
“Not until you’re clothed.” Because, call it an ancient, masculine instinct, but now that I’ve made Charlotte mine, I can’t abide the thought of anyone else viewing her magnificence, not even another woman.
“We’ll meet you in the drawing room in ten minutes,” I say to Lady Mary.
“Now, if you don’t mind?” With my eyes and chin, I gesture towards the door.
When we’re alone, a huffing Lady Mary finally turning tail, I drop my wings. “We should dress. She looked like she was contemplating my murder. If she tries, she’ll regret it.”
“Surely you wouldn’t hurt her?” Charlotte ceases trying to wrap herself in a robe that she’s snatched from a trunk at the end of her bed. It slips along her shape like a fall of water, and I’m suddenly mindful I haven’t yet stroked her from neck to toes with my feathers.
I take a step towards her, but she begins laughing and holds up her hand. “I know that look now. Back, Alad. I don’t wish to place Mary’s safety in jeopardy.”
She smiles because she doesn’t believe I would hurt her friend, but I would.
I would raze the world for Charlotte if it would save her a moment’s emotional or physical pain.
Poor human has no idea what she’s undertaking, marrying a shedu.
I was born to protect. Without a country or court, she’s now the throne I guard.
I leave her for a moment to sluice her juices from my flesh, not because I have to, but because I need a moment to control my baser impulses that urge me to take Charlotte back to bed.
The taps bring forth both hot and cold running water. Something similar existed in Uruk, but nothing so refined. Water in the palace and temples flowed through copper piping, traveling over heated braziers, but the flow was less precise and the temperature rarely predictable.
When Charlotte stops in the doorway, dressed in a belted robe, she leans against the lintel, watching me. She’s so beautiful, my heart turns over. I rub my chest at the inclement feeling. A need to stand over her, protecting her, spills from my throat as a grumble of warning.
“What have I done?” she asks, the smile never leaving her lips.
“It’s what the world might do that concerns me. And what my curse might do.” Because now, more than ever, I need to break whatever horror Gil laid upon me. I can’t leave Charlotte. I can’t. I won’t. Of thousands of women who’ve wanted something from me, she’s the first one to want me.
She brushes into the room, hips swaying beneath her robe. Since I’m standing on my hind legs to better view myself in the mirror over the basin, she wraps her arms around my waist and snuggles against my side.
“Thank you, Alad.”
“For what?” But her hand is so close to my i?arum, all I can think about is moving a few inches and begging her to grab hold of me.
She pulls back slightly to meet my gaze. “For making our physical union so perfect. I—I thought I couldn’t do it again.”
“Fucking, you mean?”
A delightful pink flushes over her face.
“Yes, I suppose. After Mr. Swanson, I didn’t think I could face the act again, but you made it special.
Delightful, really.” She pauses, and her eyes slide to the side before returning to latch onto mine.
Beautiful blue skies are filled with a tender emotion I never imagined seeing directed my way.
“I love you, Alad. Maybe it’s too soon, but I’ve never been so sure of anything in my entire life. I love you.”
And there it is. The floor beneath me moves with the shaking earth. The heavens fall. Oceans rise inside me, drowning me from inside out, while I’m crushed between the weight of destiny and a desire so strong, I can’t contain it in my paltry form. All I can do is stare. I can’t speak.
“I’m sorry,” she begins after a pause in which we might park ten chariots.
But before she can pull away, I grab her head between my paws, forcing her to meet my gaze once more. “I love you too, Charlotte. So very much. So amazingly, overwhelmingly much that for the first time in my life, I’m terrified.”
“Of loving me?”
“Of losing you. I love you. I love you.” Sudden laughter escapes me. “I love you so damnably much, I can’t stand it.”
I lift her into my arms and swing her around the small room before carrying her out to the bedroom and beyond.
I dance in circles down the hallway to the music of her delighted laughter, and then all the way down the stairs.
Luckily, there’s space enough in the grand foyer to stretch my wings because my feet certainly never touch the treads.
I fly her in dancing circles to the drawing room where Lady Mary waits.
We finally collapse, laughing, kissing wherever we find each other, onto the couch.
Becoming mindful of my i?arum only when our hostess glances away, I use a throw pillow to cover what Charlotte’s robe does not.
I’m still in First Form, but seated as a human, too much is revealed.
“Mary, it’s the best news,” Charlotte gurgles.
“I see we’re rejoicing in something. Surely, it can’t be that such intimacies were taken without the benefit of vows.” The lady looks down her nose, her expression grim.
“Don’t be such a fussbudget, Mary. We’re wed according to Alad’s customs. Isn’t it so?” Charlotte asks, addressing me.
“More or less.” Definitely less, but close enough since there aren’t any of my gods in England to bless our union. “I’ve promised Charlotte a union according to her customs as well.” I hope the fob will content her friend.
“Wonderful. I’ll send a note to the parish immediately. Obviously, the ceremony must be dealt with in an expeditious manner.”
Charlotte settles against me. Her hands play over my hide, not in a sexual manner, but as if reassuring herself I’m with her. I kiss her forehead and settle her more demurely across my lap.
“Thank you, Lady Mary,” I say.
“You might as well call me ‘Mary.’ Though not in public, of course.”
“I read your books of etiquette. I’m familiar.” Familiar enough to know that Charlotte shouldn’t be draped upon me. “Speaking of etiquette, I apologize for my brisk commands earlier. Has Sir Gilead departed?”
“Yes. I threw him out on his ear, with a host of my own threats added to the ones you advised me to give.” She looks at Charlotte, and her expression melts. “I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I allowed the fiend in my house.”
“You didn’t know,” Charlotte demurs.
Mary looks as if she’s going to say something but, instead, shakes her head.
We sit in silence for a few moments before she smiles.
“It’s so good to see true love, especially in this modern age.
I feared we’d quite forgotten how to open our hearts, what with everything having to do with position, duty, and the joining of prominent families. ”
“It is love. I love Alad as I never expected I would ever love anyone,” Charlotte says, wrapping her hand around my leg. I move my paw to her thigh. Improper, but I don’t much care.
Mary’s smile drops. “But have either of you contemplated the difficulty inherent in such a union? After all, Lord Alad…”
“‘Alad.’ Please.”
Mary nods. “Alad. We in England are unaccustomed to monstrous demigods marrying our ladies. To be perfectly frank, I’m afraid that if anyone learns who and what you are, a riot will ensue.
And civil unrest will bring armaments, and…
” She sighs. “How will you get on? Have you funds? Or are you proficient in an occupation wherein you might find employment?”
Charlotte starts to object to the line of questioning.
I quiet her by pressing another kiss to her forehead before I say, “From what I’ve seen and read of your time, it’s devoid of magick.
Your Society has chosen technological innovations over the brain’s ability to bend matter according to will.
I’ve been considering what changes might be wrought by the discovery magick is possible.
You’re right to worry about your people discovering me. ”
“Good.” Her shoulders relax before she adds, “And the other matter? How will you support Charlotte?”
She’s right to ask this as well. Even as Charlotte groans and hides her face in my fur, she knows it, too.
“I’ve the gold that was on me when I was cursed.”
“The medallion you wear is certainly worth something?” But her voice is uncertain, even so.
“I’ve coin, too. Plus, there’s Gilgamesh, when I find him. He’ll have coin. He always does. I’ll care for Charlotte. You needn’t worry. You have my word that if she wants for anything, it will be a surcease of my attentions.”
“Good.” Mary nods, looking relieved. “Even so, I have to caution you again that when you appear in public, you must wear your human guise. You appear foreign, and you speak with a decided accent, but at least you don’t seem another species altogether.”
“I understand.” And I do, though the restrictions will pinch. Accommodations will have to be made. My comings and goings will have to be curtailed unless I know I’m strong enough not to shift.
Which may require that Charlotte and I sleep in separate beds. Because if I’m near her, I’m going to want to fuck her, and if I fuck her, I’m going to lose my strength for a time.
She won’t wish a hermit-like existence while I recover. Scheduling may become necessary.
I shake away the inconvenient thought. I’ll do whatever becomes necessary, and I’ll make her happy. Nothing less.
“I’ll present as human at the ball tomorrow night.
” I stroke Charlotte’s fine blond hair back from her face.
“We’ll likely need to find some uninhabited corner of the world in which to live, however.
I don’t think I can hide inside a home forever, and even then, there are servants, though yours are remarkable in their discretion. ”
“They’ve been with me since forever, though I wouldn’t trust any beyond Soames, Cook, and Mrs. Webster.
The maids are silly things, and the footmen even worse.
But, as for quarters, I’ve heard of a village in the hills.
It’s alleged to be surrounded by deep forest, with only a small path into the center.
Rumor claims that monsters live there.” She holds up her hand as Charlotte begins to protest. “I don’t know what kind, or whether it’s a tale for children or simply a story pulled from a penny dreadful, but while we’re at the dressmaker’s tomorrow, Alad could probably explore?
I hear it’s only a three-hour coach ride, which should present a short, surreptitious flight. ”
Charlotte cups my face, rubbing my cheek with her thumb. “What do you think?” she asks softly.
“I think it might be an excellent solution if true. I’m happy to fly over and find out.”
“But you’ll be safe going on your own?” she asks, her fingers tickling my chest. “You won’t reveal yourself to anyone? Because we have guns now, Alad. Cannons, too. Explosives. Even if you’re immortal, you can be hurt, right?”
“I’m immortal and incalculably strong. Truly, you don’t need to worry about me.” But I bring her fingers to my lips and kiss their tips because the fact that she worries about me makes me so happy, my eyes grow damp.
But she isn’t immortal. That’s another problem, one I’ll think about after I find Gilgamesh.
Which will be after I find a place for us to make our home. After, after, after.