Chapter Fifteen
Eve
I shrieked with delight even as the wind blew tears from the corners of my eyes. I sniffed and wiped the trail from my temples before they splashed on his skin. “Do it again!”
Gabriel laughed above me, a deep belly rumble that betrayed his enjoyment, too. His hands around my waist tightened, and he tangled his legs in mine, then barrel-rolled through the sky.
My stomach flew sideways, and I nearly cast up my accounts. But my soul was among the clouds and my joy knew no bounds. If getting caught out on the moors during a nighttime thunderstorm was all it took to experience flying, I’d happily sign up to do it again.
Not that I’d tell Gabriel. He’d frown and growl at me if he thought I’d endanger my safety again.
It had been three days since my accident, and we’d both pretended my ankle was too swollen for me to traverse the manor, climb the stairs to my chamber, and crawl into my bed.
Instead, he’d told me to sit in bed most of the day, and if I needed to go somewhere like the kitchen for food, he’d carry me in his arms. We slept in his bed.
It was so massive we could’ve easily sprawled out and never touched one another.
But in the night, somehow, I always found my way to him, and one of his wings always drifted across my body.
We didn’t talk about it. We hadn’t explored one another’s bodies, either.
I thought Gabriel’s concern for my ankle overrode some of his interest in me.
Either that or it was a one-time experience, and I didn’t want to think about it like that because I hated the idea of never wrapping my body around him again.
On the third day, I was going out of my mind. I could only stare at the painted map on the wall for so many hours. Gabriel had tried to bring me books, but the manor didn’t have much. I’d ended up mending and sewing much of the day.
So when Gabriel had landed on the balcony, wings spread for balance, and invited me up into the air, I couldn’t contain my delight. I’d scrambled for warm clothing and hurried to his side.
And now I flew through the air, arms spread wide and Gabriel at my back. His heat kept me from shivering from the altitude.
“Can we go higher?” I shouted up at him. I craned my neck to catch the underside of his chiseled jaw. He wore a leather vest but was otherwise shirtless. His dark, nearly-shaggy hair whipped in the wind, and I longed to reach up and run my fingers through it.
Gabriel glanced down, his fierce expression softening into a smile. He glided through the air, then beat his wings back to stall his progression across the moors. We gently turned vertical, Gabriel’s legs untangling from mine.
“Are you ready?” He nuzzled my ear.
“Turn me,” I told him. “I want to see you.”
He immediately shifted me in his arms, turning me so our fronts melded together and I could wrap my arms around his neck.
“Hello.” I smiled.
Gabriel’s smile was as blinding as the sun and just as beautiful. His wings lifted high above our heads and beat downward, shooting us up among the clouds.
I clung to him, reveling in the feeling of his arms around my waist.
“I’ve got you,” he murmured, eyes never leaving mine. “I’ll never drop you.”
“I know you won’t.” The words escaped before I could think them through. But it was true.
When we were under the cloud cover, I glanced below and gasped at the patchwork quilt of meadows and moorland. “It’s gorgeous!”
He smiled. “Flying with you makes me remember the joy of learning it all over again. The wonder.”
“You remember?” I inquired as he flapped a steady rhythm to keep us in place.
He nodded. “Seraph wings don’t mature until puberty. Before then we can glide from small heights, perhaps travel a short distance, but nothing like this. We learn when we’re around fifty years old, more or less.”
I shook my head, marveling at such a long lifespan. Don’t fall in love with him, I warned myself. It can only end in heartbreak. “Incredible.”
His brows drew together. “What?”
I blinked. “Hmm?”
“You had a look on your face.”
“Did I?” I searched quickly for an excuse. “What did it look like?”
“Sadness.” His thumbs stroked circles on my lower back. “What makes you sad, little human?”
My lips twisted, irritation and amusement twining through me. “I’m about to be angry if you call me little human again.”
He rolled his eyes, a human gesture he must’ve picked up from me. “What makes you sad, fierce one?”
Much better. I laid my head against his chest, and he sucked in a breath. “We had very different childhoods,” I landed on. The marks on his chest from my tears had disappeared quickly, thank goodness. I hated thinking I had caused him pain.
You will cause him pain when you leave. And if he finds out you lied, a little voice whispered. Guilt reared its ugly head. I didn’t know what to do.
He made a noise in his throat and it rumbled through his chest. I grew hyper aware of his body enveloping mine, his strong hands holding me up, the beating of his heart.
“The church I grew up in didn’t encourage childlike wonder.
” I thought back to the lectures on female modesty, the way the matrons’ eyes would roam over young girls to make sure their skirts were long enough.
“When I turned eleven—that’s roughly the age of puberty, maybe just before for humans—I didn’t learn how to fly.
I got sent to the kitchen after the community dinners to scour the pots and pans.
That’s how I knew I was becoming a woman. ”
Gabriel made a disbelieving sound in his throat. “I do not understand humans.”
“I don’t think it’s that bad everywhere,” I said cautiously. “We weren’t allowed to travel much. Most of us didn’t have the money to, anyway. And it’s not safe for women to travel by themselves.”
“You’re here now,” Gabriel pointed out.
I swallowed, trying to tell him the truth without actually telling him secrets. “The reverend encouraged me to get out into the world for a while.”
Gabriel nodded. “Glad he’s sensible at least.”
I bit back a laugh. Zorababel, sensible?
I hadn’t thought of him or the letter or anything from home in three days, and it had been glorious.
I’d thought of Gabriel’s strength and his wings and his tongue and nothing else.
My body heated at the memory. The spot between my thighs grew damp and desire spiraled in my belly, moving lower and lower.
There was no way I could possibly marry Zor and stomach his kisses and his hands after I’d been with Gabriel.
There was no comparison. The best I could realistically hope for, however, was a future where I had neither.
Gabriel cared for me, clearly, or he wouldn’t be flying me right then.
But he’d never consider a long term relationship with a human, not when he was so focused on righting his wrongs toward his brethren when I was his short-lived servant.
Don’t fall in love.
Gabriel grinned suddenly, eyes like a mischievous boy’s. “Do you want to try something different?”
“Yes!” I couldn’t help but return his smile.
He turned me around midair, so his front was now to my back.
He slid his feet between mine, ready to tangle our legs for my balance.
One hand wrapped around my waist and the other angled upward, his elbow at the edge of my ribcage and then angling across my torso so his hand flattened at my collarbone. “We’re going to dive. Hold on.”
I screamed as he suddenly twisted and plummeted.
Tears streamed from my eyes, and I distantly hoped they wouldn’t reach Gabriel.
My stomach roiled, and the land spread before me, growing closer and closer.
Just when I thought I might perish right there from the force of the drop, Gabriel angled horizontal, then his wings snapped out and we halted.
I shuddered in his arms, trying to gather my body and my spirit back together. “Fucking hell!”
His chuckle filled the air, spreading in all directions. “Did you just curse?”
“You…you fell!”
“A dive,” he corrected, turning me in his arms to face him again. “Did you not like it?”
My arms automatically went around his neck again, snuggling close. “I have no idea,” I admitted.
The light in his eyes dimmed a bit.
“We can try again, now that I know what to expect?” I offered.
His hands tightened around me. “Keep your eyes on me.”
I gulped and obeyed. This time he dove without turning me to face out, and though at first it made me dizzy, I liked it far better. The wind tore through my hair, unraveling the tight braid I’d done that morning.
His wings fanned out and we halted abruptly. I glanced around to see we hovered only a few feet from the top of Mirkwold. He was precise.
“Amazing,” I said breathlessly, panting as if I had been the one to do all the work.
Gabriel’s eyes darkened, and suddenly he was kissing me.
I groaned in relief, in delight, in desire, and kissed him back. My mouth opened, meeting his, and our tongues danced together in ways that made my belly swoop as if we were still diving from the sky. Our kiss went on and on. I bit his lower lip and he gasped.
Gabriel faltered in the air, then his wings caught him.
I giggled, delighted to know my kisses made it difficult for him to concentrate.
“If we continue,” he said, panting, “perhaps we should do so indoors.”
I licked the corner of his mouth. “Probably your bed,” I agreed.
We fell the remaining feet onto his balcony, so swift was his descent. His feet hit the floor first, and then he gently slid me down until the tips of my shoes made contact with the stone. I looked up at him, happier than I could ever remember in my entire life.
* * *
Gabriel
I kissed her again. It was the only time things made sense, when our bodies were touching. The only time I felt normal anymore. I couldn’t imagine a world without her. I wouldn’t want to live in a world without her.
Wrapping my arms around her, I lifted her to meet my mouth more easily. Her feet dangled a few inches off the ground as I walked us inside. Something unfurled in my chest. My ayim ceased pounding in my ears. There was passion, but there was also peace.
I kept going until I heard the back of her legs bump against the bed. Reluctantly, I broke the kiss so I could lift her the rest of the way into the bed.
It smelled of her now, of soft, fresh things.
Of hope and peace—nothing like me. I was a damned lucky bastard, catching someone as wonderful as Eve.
I tucked my wings tighter, moving onto the bed.
She crawled backward to make space for me, smiling.
That pink tongue of hers flashed between her teeth, and it made my balls ache with need.
I paused to take off my vest, unable to hold back a grin as she stared at my bare chest with wide eyes. I had never wanted to impress one of my lovers like this before. Eve was different. I unfastened my trousers and pulled them down, revealing the long, hard length of my cock.
Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open.
Fuck, I’d forgotten. She was an innocent. It was difficult to remember because of how self assured she was in all other areas of life. But Eve stared between my throbbing, proud member and my face.
“Is that, um, does that fit inside female seraphim easily?”
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling. I nodded gravely.
“Are female seraphim much bigger than female humans?”
I squinted, eyeing her body. “A few inches taller, yes. But this will fit. This will work.”
Eve gulped.
“We don’t have to—” I began, but she shook her head firmly.
“This is a sin, back where I was raised,” she said, jutting her chin as if daring me to disagree. “Though…I don’t think the normal rules considered whether one of the partners was a Herald of Death.”
I frowned, disliking the name. Why did that matter? Why did she keep bringing that up?
Eve took a breath. “But I want to do this. I care about you, and I want to be with you. I know this likely doesn’t mean as much to you, but this is—”
I cut her off, my erection forgotten between us. “Why do you say this doesn’t mean anything to me? Do you think I do not care for you, Eve Lovejoy?”
She hesitated.
Irritation made my wings flare and my chest tighten. “Eve. You are lovely and joyful and pure and everything wonderful and mysterious about humans. You are intelligent and determined—how could I not be enthralled by you?”
Her mouth fell open again, and this time her eyes looked glassy. “Oh.”
I got on my hands and knees and crawled across the bed until I leaned over her and she lay down on the mattress. “You,” I whispered, “are unlike anything or anyone I’ve ever met or ever will meet. If I had to Fall, I’m glad I met you for it.”
She blinked rapidly, a human sign I’d learned often meant tears were coming.
“Are you sad?” I panicked, bending down to be nearer. “What did I say?” Who knew what sort of miscommunication we’d have between seraph and human cultures.
She waved her hand at me. “Don’t come closer!”
I halted, hurt mixing with my confusion.
Eve sniffed. “I might cry and I don’t wish to harm you. Don’t come closer until I won’t weep.”
Nervously, I waited. I’d forgotten how unpleasant nerves could be. So much of my life had moldered away until this angelic creature entered my life.
She blinked and sniffed some more before her face settled. Then she smiled brilliantly and reached for me, wrapping her arms around me and tugging me down to kiss my forehead, cheeks, nose, jaw, and lips. “You are everything,” she whispered. “And I’ll never forget you.”
I nudged her legs apart so I could rest my body between them and sighed with relief, for this felt just as right as when I soared above the clouds.