Chapter Twenty one
Gabriel
I woke slowly, drifting on a cloud of contentment. At first I couldn’t remember why I was so happy, so eager to greet the dawn. I hadn’t had nightmares again. My cock was hard and sensitive.
A low, soft sound to my right reminded me.
I opened my eyes and glanced over to see Eve curled into my side, hands drawn up and stirring in her sleep. With a tender smile, I stroked her cheek with two fingers. We’d fallen asleep after our lovemaking, and I hadn’t had the chance to tell her my news.
I hoped she’d accept our bond. Anxiety seized my chest. By the skies, I hoped she would. After a few more moments of watching her sleep, she stirred again and her eyes fluttered open. A sleepy smile spread across her face as she met my eyes.
I hadn’t been this happy in…decades. Perhaps ever. Happiness so strong it hurt lanced my body. “Good morning, my love.”
A shadow crossed her face. “Gabriel, there’s something I need to tell you.”
I stroked her bare side, ending at her ass. I squeezed one globe. “Do you need to tell me with words?” I asked suggestively.
She hesitated, then smiled. “I’ll give you a good morning.” She licked my ribs, spreading her hands across my abdomen. Then she moved downward. Her hot breath skated across my skin, making goosebumps erupt. “So handsome,” she murmured.
My erection, which hadn’t flagged at all while watching her sleep, strained toward her hands. The backs of my wings scratched against the smooth sheets as I sprawled, ready for her to take me.
“I am so lucky,” she whispered against my tense abdomen, licking her way downward, “that they chose me.”
I groaned, feeling my heart pumping faster and faster. To be truly bonded our ayim needed to mix—or at least, mine into her bloodstream. And my body was begging for it. “Eve,” I rumbled. Then her words finally slipped through a chink in my hazy arousal. What did she mean?
“I can’t believe they sent me to all of this.” Her words were soft, so soft, that I barely picked them up. A human’s ears wouldn’t have been able to separate the sounds, but I was a seraph.
I drew my forearm back on the mattress to raise myself enough to peer down at her, hovering over my hips. “Eve?”
She glanced up at me, eyelashes half mast, one hand reaching for my hard cock. The sight of her, with that bed-tousled hair and those sleepy eyes nearly made me come right then. “Mmm?”
I rallied, trying to regain what little reason I had left within me. “Who sent you?”
Surprise, then fear flickered in her eyes. A strand of hair fell across her face, and she leaned down to take me into her mouth.
“Eve.” I grabbed her bare shoulder.
“Let me please you,” she pleaded, reaching out to trace the slit on my head with her tongue.
My eyes rolled back in my head at the exquisite feeling, but I wouldn’t be put off. “Eve.”
“Let’s talk later.” She wriggled from my grip on her shoulder to engulf me.
I let out a strangled groan. How I wanted the wet heat of her mouth, welcoming me and swallowing me more than almost anything. But that fear in her eyes evaporated my ardor. I wrenched free of her grasp even though it pained me to leave her.
She stared up at me in shock. “Is something wrong?”
“I don’t know,” I said grumpily, not used to cutting off my own climax. “You tell me.”
Eve swallowed. She lay a hand on my upper thigh.
My eyes narrowed. “You’re evading.”
Her mouth pressed into a thin line, then she sighed. She sat up, and the sheet fell to reveal her glorious breasts. My mouth watered at the sight of them, even though my mind knew we needed to focus on something else first. “Very well. What is your question?”
“What do you mean, you’re lucky they chose you? Who are they?”
She grabbed the bedsheet and pulled it up. Though it was a smart decision, I hated seeing her breasts disappear. “My…my church. They sent me.”
I blinked. “You said you had the chance to get out in the world, that your parents needed the money you send back. That’s why you’re a housekeeper.”
She flushed and looked away. “That’s all true, but there’s more.”
I tensed. “What else?” I ground out. “Tell me now.”
“I told you I’d grown up in a church that’s more like a cult.” She wouldn’t meet my gaze, always bouncing between a spot on the bed, the headboard behind me, her fingernails. “They have a fascination with, well, you.”
“Me?” Confusion and distrust climbed within me. “Explain.”
“The church was started by Reverend Grimshaw fifty years ago, when you Fell from the sky.” She sighed again, as if it was painful for her to speak. As if I was dragging the words out of her. Well, I deserved to know, didn’t I? Mates shared everything with one another.
“He became obsessed with seraphim. With you, specifically, because you fell closest to where he stood. He called you Heralds of Death, beings of great power that could travel between us and God. You could smite entire cities, and you were worthy of worship.”
I snorted. Leveling entire cities by myself was a bit much, but I could do far more damage than a single human could.
“His grandson, Zorababel Grimshaw, is the reverend now. And he’s carried on the legacy of searching for you.
After you disappeared, it was hard to find any seraphim.
But a few months ago Zorababel tracked down some rumors to this part of the country.
We—he—found your advertisement for a housekeeper, and the elders decided to send me as sort of a, well,” she fumbled.
“A spy,” I finished coldly. As she spoke, a chill crept into my body, spreading through my limbs and creeping toward my heart. Who was this creature? Did I even know her at all?
She flushed again, biting her lower lip. “Yes,” she admitted. “Like a spy.” Her head jerked up and she met my eyes for the first time. “But I didn’t reveal anything! I swear it. I care about you, Gabriel, and you can trust me.”
My skin prickled. In the past, when I’d heard those words, it meant I definitely could not trust that person. “What have you done?” Had she told them our weakness? Thank goodness she didn’t understand how important ayim was to us.
She flinched at my tone.
My heart squeezed at the sight of that flinch. A good mate did not make his partner shy away from his voice. But the anger in me wouldn’t stop building.
“Zorababel contacted me,” she admitted. “He knows I’ve found you. He wants to meet with you, to convince you to come back. He’s planned some sort of ceremony and grand temple for you.”
“Never,” I declared, recoiling at the idea of being trapped by playing a god. Then I registered what else she’d said. “How does he know you’ve found me, if you haven’t told him anything?”
Her eyes shone with regret. “He…has a feather of yours. It matches the feather his grandfather took from the day you Fell.”
It took a heartbeat to understand what she’d said.
“You gave him one of my feathers?” Anger turned to rage.
Feathers weren’t a particularly intimate thing, as they tended to drop off and regrow.
Puberty was a particularly mortifying time due to molting.
But picking up feathers? Handing them off to humans?
It didn’t sit right. It had been a part of my body, and it felt oddly… violating.
She paled. “They took it from me, I promise. I never would’ve given it to them willingly. I just…I picked it up one day and it was special. I liked having a piece of you close by.”
I scoffed. “So you came to me as a housekeeper, lying about your background and why you came here. All to, what, convince me to lead your cult?”
Eve looked miserable. One end of the sheet was twisted through her fingers. “I don’t want you to join it. I don’t trust Zorababel. I don’t know how he’d hurt you, you’re a seraph and he’s a mere man. But even godhood can be a cage, can’t it?” Her eyes were shiny, as if filled with tears.
I was unmoved by them. “Were you going to tell me?”
She was silent.
Hurt swirled through the rage in my body. My chest burned, my arms flooded with the sense of betrayal. My heart pounded and my wings bunched tight and high against my spine. I jerked away from her.
“I’m sorry.” One tear spilled over, trickling down a cheek. It was poison to me.
“Me, too.” I balled a fist and looked away from her. “I can’t believe this. I can’t believe you.”
“Everything between us is real,” she insisted. “Please, Gabriel, please believe that at least.”
“How can I trust that?”
“Look at you!” She gestured up and down my body. “Who wouldn’t fall in love with you?”
The words hovered in the air between us for four heartbeats. I didn’t think either of us breathed.
“You don’t lie to your ma—to a person you love,” I stated coldly, though the rage in my body burned like the sun.
Another tear escaped. Eve sniffed. “Please, Gabriel, I never meant to hurt you. Or lie so much. I was trying to survive.”
The ayim coursed through my veins, evidence my body knew she was distressed. My body wanted to go to her, to comfort my mate, to put right anything that hurt her. Except I couldn’t fix any of this.
I gritted my teeth. “I’m going out.” I threw the covers off the bed and stalked to where I’d dropped my clothing the night before. I didn’t check if she shaded her eyes or not as I bent over, bare-assed to retrieve my trousers.
“Zor thinks,” she began in a wobbly voice.
I turned, sneering. “Zor? Is this Zorababel Grimshaw, the leader of your cult?”
Eve tilted her head until her chin reached her collarbone, huddling under the sheets. “He’s my betrothed.”
I hadn’t thought I could get more angry. Apparently that was wrong. “Betrothed?” I roared. “You’re betrothed?”
“It was arranged a while ago. But we still haven’t married. I think because he doesn’t want me.”
“Do you want him?” I demanded, my throat burning with anger.
Eve stared at me, eyes wide and mouth agape. “How could you ask me something like that? With us?” She looked at the rumpled sheets.
The idea of another man—a human man—putting his hands on my mate made my blood boil. Red crept into the corners of my vision. “He will not come fucking near you,” I swore.
Eve blinked, jaw dropping again. “I…”
My wings flexed behind me, furious energy needing to find release. I turned toward the balcony door, snarling.
“Gabriel, please!” Her voice followed me.
I couldn't think straight, couldn’t see straight.
My mate had lied to me, led me on, plotted against me, and was fucking betrothed to another man.
No. It’s too much. I threw myself off the balcony edge.
I beat my wings against the heavy wind, struggling to get away from Mirkwold and the sounds of Eve’s quiet sobs.
* * *
Eve
I choked back yet another whimper as I slid wrapped bread in my valise. It had been hours since Gabriel had stormed out of his bedchamber, and I had given up waiting for him to return.
It’s the perfect time to leave, my mind told me.
I hated it.
He’s gone, so now you can slip away like you’d planned from the beginning.
My eyes burned, my throat ached, and my heart was heavy.
I sucked in a ragged breath, wincing at the pain in my throat.
I slid another cloth-wrapped stash of food in my valise.
I’d be on the public coach for a day or two, once I finally decided where I wanted to go.
I didn’t want to leave him, but my deceit had ruined everything. It was best if I left. One day my heart would recover. I hoped.
I wiped my nose with the back of my hand and gripped the worn wooden handles of the valise.
On my way out, I glanced around the manor.
I found myself making notes about draperies, furniture that needed polishing, even a window with a streak on it.
Then I remembered: I wasn’t coming back. It didn’t matter anymore.
Another sob welled up in the back of my throat, but I forced it back down.
I slipped through the shadows into the Great Hall.
I paused at the oriel, looking up at the stained glass masterpiece.
I was so close to finishing it. The depiction was beautiful, heartbreaking, and mysterious.
I wished I understood where the image had come from, but now I’d never know.
The background looked like gentle Anglian hills and meadows with an abbey nestled between two copses of trees.
The forefront of the glass, however, looked like a body falling from black clouds.
Where had Gabriel gone? Was he brooding on the roofline?
I shook off my wonderings. I needed to get away before Zor and his men walked out here to meet with Gabriel.
If they caught me everything would be for naught.
I didn’t want to think of the punishment, nor the years of penance I’d have to perform to return to the community.
And after the passion I’d experienced with Gabriel, I couldn’t imagine letting Zorababel share my bed.
My hand landed on the front door’s latch. With a great sigh, I glanced behind me for one last look at the Great Hall I had begun to call my own. I stepped outside into the bitter winter wind.
My shoulders ached with tension as I walked.
The moors had no trees or places to hide if I came across someone, and my heart leapt in fear every time I thought I saw movement.
I breathed a sigh of relief as I reached the village.
I paused to catch my breath between the blacksmith shop and the cooper’s shed, but the safety of the village was an illusion.
It might have buildings for me to hide behind, but the pub was around the corner, and Zor’s men were inside.
The coach would pull up right outside in an hour.
You can do this. I breathed, curling my fingers around my mouth. I had no gloves, and they were freezing in this weather. One chance to escape. Gabriel doesn’t want you anymore, anyway. Tears pricked my eyes, and not just from the cold wind.
I eyed an overhang across the lane, tucked out of the way of the wind and shielded from view of the pub by two large barrels. I’d wait there for the coach, then run. I’d had to leave my trunk behind, but that couldn’t be helped. At least I had the money from my few months as a housekeeper.
I’d miss that drafty old house. It was beautiful, beneath the cobwebs and mildew. It needed some tender, patient care. Just like its owner.
Sighing, I balled my fists and tucked them in my armpits, then forced my feet to move. I rounded the corner and bumped into a thick, human wall. “Oof!” I glanced up. Absalom’s stupid face stared down at me.