Page 121 of Even Angels fall
“How does it work with shifting?” she asks before explaining where her mind just went. “Your piercings.”
Oh.
“Weirdly, I never asked myself what it would do in my dragon form and went with it when I was in my early twenties. It’s been so long that I don’t even pay attention to it. I guess that since they’re under my skin and I don’t ‘eject’ them when I shift, that they grow with me.” I say with a shrug.
There’s a glint in Angélique’s eyes that tells me that this answer isn’t enough for her and that she’s going to investigate some more, but I don’t mind. If it keeps her mind focused on something else…
Reluctantly, she removes her shirt, but stops there.
“You said it yourself,” she says, “unless my wings go out, I’m not going to damage my clothes.”
“Suit yourself,” I say as I grab the hand that she didn’t burn. “Do you trust me?”
She looks at my hand holding her first. I shrug.
What can I say? I love the feeling of her skin against mine…
“Be more specific,” she answers in a taunting tone.
“I’m going to shift. Keep holding onto me,” I say with a pointed look.
She nods, and I start to shift.
Softly and so very low that I almost miss it, she says, “I trust you with my body alright, that’s my heart I fear for.”
By the time I’m fully shifted, there is no trace of what I just heard on Angélique’s face, so I’m not even sure I heard her right.
I’ll investigate that later tonight.
I launch myself to the sky with Angélique between my claws and I hear her shriek a bit, but then she’s laughing at the wind on her face.
Well, she won’t laugh for long.
Once we’re high enough that I know I have enough time to swoop under her easily to grab her, I release my claws and Angélique in the process.
That’s when the screams start.
82
Angélique
Ihate him. I truly hate him.
He asked me if I trusted him, and right after, he let me fall to my death.
Not completely, but it feels like it, anyway.
He flies next to me the whole way I fall, ready to pluck me from the air if my wings don’t extend.
And they do. I feel my back burn and scream in pain, but the damn wings open.
Obviously they do because that asshole made me free fall from higher than Notre Dame, and it’s like my body remembers.
So, the wings open and I don’t ‘splash’ on the ground.
The speed of my fall is way more than when I fell—I can’t really call that fly—from Notre Dame tole parvis,so it hurts like hell to slow down my speed, but I manage it.
I’m so proud of myself…until Elhyor plucks me from the ground between his claws and brings me back where it all started.
