Page 57 of Roman

Maalik shook his head.“No.We all made our choice; we all pledged ourselves to Roman long ago, and we don’t break our word or our bond.Someone deceived him.Someone he trusted.There was no way of him knowing that the outcome would have been what it was.But he won’t listen, so there is no point fighting him on it.”He frowned.

“May I ask what happened to you?How were you transformed?”Charlotte hoped she wasn’t probing too much.

Maalik looked out over the city as if in deep thought.She could tell memories long buried were flooding back from the haunted expression on his face.“My story is a lot like my brother’s.I fell into the pits of Hell but wasn’t lucky enough to escape straight away.Lucifer was angry that my brother had gotten away.Although angry would certainly be putting it mildly.In his deranged state, he decided to send a message to Roman.”

Charlotte knew what he was about to tell her was something horrifying and personal on a deep level.She couldn’t even imagine what he must have gone through.The things she had seen in her nightmares had terrified her.Whatever these angels had faced in Hell, she could never comprehend.

Malik turned back to Charlotte, his face hard.“In a fit of rage, Lucifer tore out my wings.But that wasn’t enough to satisfy him, so he ordered a creature to be brought from one of Hell’s prison cells.Then Lucifer forced it to bite me.From that moment, I’ve been forever changed.”

Charlotte stared in shock, her eyes tearing up.“Maalik, I’m so sorry.I… your wings.”She could barely speak.

He seemed taken aback by her reaction.He gave a small shake of his head.“Do not say sorry, Charlotte.”

“Are you like Roman?A… demon?”she whispered the last word.

Maalik shook his head.“No.I’m something different.The best way for me to describe it to you would be to tell you I’m like a vampire.The first of my kind, hence why I could not share food with you,” he explained, watching her closely.

Charlotte’s heart broke for him.Having his wings ripped from his body was unthinkable.Then to be forced into becoming a vampire.Charlotte really couldn’t comprehend anything these angels had been through.The horrors they all had to face.

“I—Maalik, I’m so sorry.Sorry for everything you’ve had to endure,” she told him, her heart aching for all of them.

They are trying to get home,Declan’s words whispered through her mind.Her view of all of them, even though she didn’t know them all, started to change, beginning to soften.

They all deserve to go home,she thought helplessly.But if Lucifer gets a hold of me, they never will.

“You don’t need to apologize, really.I came to terms with what I am a long time ago.My brother blames himself and thinks it should have been him in my place.I only tell you this story so you can understand who he is.Roman is not a monster, Charlotte.His heart is bigger than anyone I’ve ever met.He has been so hard on himself for so long.He doesn’t think he deserves any happiness in this world, but the way he looks at you, the way he acts around you… he cares for you.”

Charlotte’s heart melted in that moment.I care for him as well.

She couldn’t deny her feelings.It would be stupid to continue to convince herself that they didn’t exist.Everything Maalik had just told her swept away most of her fear of him.He was nothing like Lucifer.The furthest thing from it.That he held all this guilt for so long, that he loved his brother and the other angels so loyally and fiercely, proved he wasn’t a monster.Monsters didn’t love people.Monsters didn’t care about anything or anyone.Lucifer wanted to kill millions of innocent souls.Roman wanted to save them.Charlotte would have to talk to Roman and tell him how she felt before it was too late.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think you have feelings for him also?”Maalik asked.

She looked at Maalik and felt she could trust him.He’d freely shared with her one of the darkest moments in his life, trusting her without knowing her.He’d also come here intending to help Roman, which showed he cared deeply for his brother.Something they now had in common.

She gave him a shy nod.“Yes, I do.I think I may love him, as foolish as that sounds.”It felt freeing to say the words out loud, a smile creeping over her face.

“Why foolish?”

“Maalik, I’m going to die.There is no outcome in this scenario where I live.I’m slowly coming to terms with that now,” she said sadly, looking out over the city.“I think you should all kill me.Millions of people will die if Lucifer gets out.My life isn’t more important than anyone else’s.The smart thing to do would be to kill me, then Lucifer can’t have me.”She glanced back at him.

He sat back in his chair, running his hand roughly through his hair, her words clearly shocking him.“That’s no longer an option, Charlotte.My brother will claim you as his soul mate, if you will have him.No one, and I mean no one on this planet, in the heavens or Hell, will ever be able to touch you now.Roman will kill anyone or anything that tries to take you from him.We will have to find another way.I will find another way.If we lose you, we lose my brother, and that is just not an option.”

20

Roman sat on the end of his bed, head in his hands as despair settled in like an unwanted disease.How could things have changed so fast in such a short amount of time?Only hours before, he’d had Charlotte wrapped in his arms, sated from their lovemaking here in this very bed.For the first time since the fall, he felt at peace for a small, magical moment.A feeling that was so foreign to him, he had almost forgotten what it was like to feel… happy.

While Charlotte had slept, her body entwined with his, her mesmerizing golden locks splayed over his chest.Her arm draped lazily across him, and the warmth of her body radiated through him.It had calmed him.The fresh memories of her moans, her scent, the way her body had moved against his, the way she had clung to him during their fiery sex rolled through his mind.He had realized that he was happy with Charlotte in his arms, in his bed, in his life.He could, for just one moment, imagine a life with her in it.Sure, it wasn’t a life he deserved.Hell, he didn’t even deserve someone as beautiful, kind-hearted, and gentle as Charlotte, but fuck it.Why couldn’t he have happiness?Hadn’t he suffered for long enough?Hadn’t he bared the weight of thousands of years of regret and pain for long enough?

But of course, it was all some sick, twisted trick.He was a fool to think he, Roman, an angel who had fallen from grace, amonster, deserved to be happy.It had taken just one look from her, that look of fear and betrayal, to bring his world crashing down.

Charlotte thought him a monster, just like the demons that had been torturing her and hunting her for however long she’d been suffering.He had lost her forever, and there was nothing he could do to make it right.Roman didn’t care if the angels were angry with him for keeping his demon side a secret.He could live with it.He could probably even live with the pain of having his own brother hate him, which, thankfully, wasn’t the case.But Charlotte was another story.He would never forget how she looked at him, the rejection, and how she had hidden behind Armaros in fear and fled the room.

Those memories would haunt him forever.

Roman had gone to follow her, to get on his knees and beg her to let him explain everything, but Maalik had stopped him.He’d talked Roman into giving Charlotte some space to come to terms with everything, and had brought Roman here, away from the other fallen, to talk some sense into him.He still couldn’t believe Maalik wasn’t angry with him.He cursed him out for keeping it a secret and not trusting him.But Maalik said he’d understood Roman’s fear of him and the others knowing, and that in the future, Roman should trust in how much they all loved each other.How they would all do anything to protect each other, no matter what had happened in the past or what was to happen in the future.Maalik reminded him how not for one second did Roman ever judge, mistrust, or change how he treated every one of them that had crawled out of Hell changed, altered into their own monsters.Just like him.They were a family, and family stuck together.

If Roman couldn’t have Charlotte in his life, he would damn well make sure she was going to be okay and that nothing would hurt her.Over his dead body would he let Lucifer, his lap dog, Tora, or any other slave he had working for him, get their hands on her.He needed to fix this for her.Needed to make amends for his lies and make sure she could at least live her life without being in fear that someone or something would kill her.

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