Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
“Don’t be afraid,” he murmured as Augustine entered the house. “No one can harm you as long as I exist. I’m not here just for show.”
He followed her and saw that she was already setting herself up in front of the computer, checking a video that was scheduled to be uploaded the next day.
“What are you going to do?” Alderian asked. “You already spent hours editing this video last week.”
“I can’t control what he does,” Augustine replied. “If he wants to watch my videos, well, I can’t do anything about it. But I can control what I show of myself in them.”
Alderian understood she would make cuts to the shots where she appeared full-body, though he couldn’t fully imagine the deep insecurity she felt knowing predatory eyes were watching her without permission.
Without realizing it, his gaze drifted to the soft skin of her neck, her defined collarbones, and that cute mole she had right at the top of her breasts.
He wanted to devour her with more than just his eyes, but he immediately reproached himself for the train of thought; he was acting just like a predator himself, staring at her without her permission. He looked away, thoroughly ashamed.
He knew Augustine would not sleep tonight, as the editing process was always slow. Having been a witness to it for years, he knew that she focused so much in those moments that she noticed nothing around her.
“I’m leaving,” Alderian announced after a few hours of sitting with her in silence. He received only a vague wave of her hand in response, causing him to sigh in resignation. It was time to pay a brief visit to a particularly unpleasant human.
Milán was in front of his computer when Alderian arrived.
For an instant, the angel thought he would find him red-handed checking Augustine’s channel again, but he was wrong; he was just buying things online.
After a few minutes, Milán logged out, got up reluctantly, and left the room on his way to the shower.
Alderian scanned the room with deep distrust, checking every detail, and it didn’t take long to find something that made him clench his fists.
On the wall, in plain sight, was a collage of photographs of Augustine.
Some were screenshots from her YouTube videos, carefully printed, just as a fan might do.
However, others had a much more unsettling character: Augustine studying in the library, leaving her house at dawn, and standing in the park with exactly the same clothes from that day when she’d seen the Silver Thread for the first time.
He had suspected it, but now there was no doubt: the many encounters they had had outside, or even inside campus, were not by chance.
“Damned creep. So you have been following her,” he muttered through gritted teeth, his jaw tight. “What do I do with you? Making you fall from the fifth floor doesn’t seem like enough punishment.”
He didn’t seriously consider it—not entirely, but almost. It was an absolute taboo for an A’aruin to kill a human, even when their own human’s life was in danger.
He swept the room with his gaze, looking for Milán’s A’aruin, Antian, who was his main reason for coming tonight, but he saw no one.
Even if it wasn’t strange for a spirit to be absent at that hour, it still struck him as odd because in none of Milán’s interactions with Augustine had he seen him by his side.
Milán returned to the room after a few minutes, and Alderian watched him complete what appeared to be a normal routine—mechanical, predictable, and nothing especially alarming.
But he couldn’t deceive Alderian. Fortunately, Augustine had had good instincts in not trusting him, as his type was usually the most dangerous: charismatic and innocent-looking, but completely unable to take no for an answer.
Seeing that his fellow A’aruin didn’t return even now that they were alone—and certain that Antian knew about his visit—Alderian decided to go look for him in A’aru. He waited with tense patience for Milán to fall asleep, for he did not intend to depart without leaving him a small parting gift.
“A nightmare wouldn’t do too much damage,” he thought. “One that leaves him immersed in the horrors of his own mind, and from which it won’t be so easy to wake.”
With a satisfied smile, he placed his hand on Milán’s forehead, wishing him a long sleep that night and several days of irrational fear.
Milán’s Silver Thread led him easily to his A’aruin.
Alderian found him reclining in a snow-white pergola, in an area of A’aru that he himself didn’t visit very often.
The A’aruin was surrounded by a couple of maidens, minor service spirits, who laughed timidly at any comment of his.
Seeing Alderian approaching, the angel barely raised an eyebrow and drew a wide, impeccable smile.
“Well, you must be the unexpected visitor who was accompanying my human a moment ago, or am I mistaken?” Antian asked.
Something in that carefree confidence irritated Alderian immediately. With a slight wave of his hand, he dismissed the maidens, leaving the two of them entirely alone.
“I came because you don’t seem to be aware of your human’s activities,” Alderian stated.
Antian's smile vanished instantly, replaced by a grimace of slight contempt that he didn’t bother to hide. “And what is it that’s so urgent that, according to you, I should watch?” he asked, propping his elbow on the arm of the seat, visibly bored.
“Your human has been spying on and stalking mine,” Alderian replied bluntly. “He has developed a very unhealthy obsession with her.”
“And?” Antian let drop after a deliberate pause. “I don’t think he’s breaking any laws and, even if he were, it has nothing to do with me.”
Alderian looked at him incredulously. “Isn’t it our mission to look after our humans’ well-being? What have you been doing, then, all these years?”
The angel let out a brief, almost elegant laugh, appearing genuinely amused.
“I’m in front of a true idealist. How refreshing,” he commented, without losing his smile, although the disdain in his voice was clear.
“Look, young man… sorry, I don’t remember your name…
I don’t know what you’ve been doing with your human, but I’ve been accompanying mine for many lives and, honestly, what you tell me seems almost innocent coming from him, compared to the things he has done in the past. I will not get in his way.
It’s no use. As long as he doesn’t put me at risk, I’ll let him do what he feels like. ”
He stood up and raised a hand, ready to say goodbye dismissively, but when his eyes met Alderian’s, something broke in his smile.
A shadow of alarm crossed his face, and he took a step back, reacting instinctively to a latent threat.
It took him barely a fraction of a second to recompose himself; he unfurled his wings with an impeccable gesture and flew away without looking back.