Page 70 of Hellish Fae
“You’re not a fallen, are you, Zaviar?”
His angelic image isn’t crumbling away like Ryke’s and Damien’s. He didn’t give something up like Ryke and Damien.
He doesn’t say anything for so long, the silence falls around us like shattering glass.
My fingers drop from his magenta wings and splay over his chest, across his hard-pounding heart.
“Our father always warned me I’d be a demon someday because I was too cruel. Too careless. Too . . . imperfect to live among the gods.” Zaviar says, his palms finally settling on my hips as he leans into me like he just wants to rest, he just wants someone else to carry the weight on his shoulders for a little while. “I was always okay with that. I’d adjust. I’d overcome. I knew I would. I just—I didn’t know how to cope with Damien falling. Without me. He’s always been the good one. It just isn’t fair.”
Another sigh fans across my cheeks as he confesses all his sins to me.
“I left. I don’t know anyone else who walked out on being a seraph, but I’d rather be damned to the demon land than let Damien face it alone. Especially after all he’s done for me.”
All he’s done for me.Part of me wonders what Damien did for Zaviar to have the guilt that’s lining his face so hard right now.
But another part of me realizes Zaviar isn’t telling me for a reason. What happened in their past, that’s their secret to keep it seems.
Zaviar shouldn’t be here. It’s forbidden for fae and demons to mingle. It’s downright deadly for angels and demons to do the same. Angles should only be with other angels.
Him being here with us… it’s bad.
“What will happen to you?” The question comes out sounding more scared than I intended it to.
“I don’t know. I don’t really care. I just want Damien to be alright. He doesn’t want to turn. And I’m not going to leave until he’s ready.”
His hands fall, and he catches my wrists and brings them down to his, sliding his fingers through mine slowly like it’s a secret that only the shadows know. Space separates us. We aren’t close and cuddling. We’re not intimate.
But why does holding his hands feel intimate then?
Neither of us speak for a long time.
None of the men in my life belong with me. Zaviar especially.
Maybe Rhys was right.
Maybe fate does play a part in our lives when we’re not looking.
When we’re not looking is the best time to sneak under the radar and fuck everything up.
Just like fate always does.
And just like I’m about to.
“If I were you, I’d go back now before the end of the night. And take your brother and Ryke and Krave as far away as their demon wings will carry them,” I tell him, stepping back but letting my hands linger in his for just a little longer.
“Why? Shit, Ari, just stop. For once, think through whatever it is you’re about to do before you go running face-fucking-first into this.”
And then I do drop his hands.
The asshole.
“I do think things through!”
“Really? Because I found the token’s resting place.”
Everything in me stops. The breath in my lungs catches.
“Why?” I whisper.
