Page 72 of Lost Feather
I gave her a look back that saidI have no idea. Then I felt Righteous’s gaze on me again, almost a weight moving over me. I felt like I had to say something. “I thought you were doing missions on Earth.”
“I was. We were all called back for the Assembly.”
“All of you?” I twisted around, my eyes scanning the room. “Is Mikhail here?” My hand went to my nape unconsciously, and I pulled my hair to one side as the spot throbbed.
“Mikhail? You call him… Oh, Feather.” He said my name with such shock, such disappointment, and then I felt his hand on my nape, brushing the top of the feather tattoo. “Who?” he asked, and his voice broke on the short, angry word.
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “It was like this when I finished taking the smut off my neck.” I wanted to see him smile. “You never mentioned how I look now, by the way. I think I’m turning out pretty hot.” I waggled my eyebrows, squeezing my arms together so my boobs poked out a little more from my sequined toga top.
“By the Gate, Feather,” Ry cursed, his eyes now laser focused on my chest. “What have you been up to? Whose isthatone?” His voice was now a snarl, and his hands tightened so much on my arms that it hurt.
I tried to figure out why my boobs had made him go nuts, then saw my birthmark peeking out of my top. “Oh, that? It’s been there forever. Since I was… on Earth,” I finished, not making the same mistake I had with Sunny.
His hands got even tighter. “Who?” he demanded, now practically crushing my upper arms. I cried out in pain and anger, and at that moment, an enormous tremor shook the floor, pulling me away from Righteous.
No, not a tremor. A mountain. I looked up at the glowing bronze mountain of angry angel that stood over me, his wings wide and flashing, his eyes burning holes in Righteous’s face.
“Never touch her, Protector,” Mikhail thundered. His wings were half-extended, and he leaned forward and over me, his feathers shaking slightly, like he was having trouble holding himself back from attacking. The entire room went silent, like an invisiblemute the roombutton had been pushed. “Never again.”
“She is a Novice. She is mine to care for,” Righteous snarled.
“She is nothing to you,” Mikhail replied. “She is not yours. She ismine.”
Righteous’s sharp inhale was only the first of many. The whole room should have turned into a black hole, with the number of Protectors, Guides and Novices all sucking in a shocked gasp at the same time.
I didn’t care about them, even if my burning cheeks indicated differently. “Growly, you’re back!” I lifted my arms to him, and he picked me up, his lips moving over my forehead.
“You look beautiful, sweet soul,” he murmured. “Are you hurt?” I shook my head. His eyes bored into mine, a hint of hurt peeking out of the turquoise rings. “Did you come here to merge tonight?”
“Yes,” Sunny answered for me. She stood beside us now, her arms folded and her voice strained. “She’s never merged before. Even though she has that nifty ‘tattoo’ on her neck. So I figured we’d flush out whoever dared to put it therewithout her knowing.” She hesitated, then went on, “Tell me it’s not your feather on thisNovice, High Angelus.” She put so much emphasis on those last three words, I practically felt it.
The whole room was still, listening. Only Righteous’s raspy pants broke the silence. “I could never lie to the Light of Truth,” Mikhail said calmly, one hand brushing over my hair. His eyes, molten and deep, moved over my mostly clean form and I fought back a smile. I had never been told I was beautiful without words before, but his movement now said it more plainly than speech.
“Can we go?” I asked, blushing harder as I felt the entire room memorizing every move Mikhail and I made. He didn’t answer, just lifted me into his arms and vaulted upward, his great wings beating almost as hard as my heart.
In three seconds, we were out of The Merge. In a few more heartbeats, we were winging down the wide, vaulted hallway, the shrieking of the Great Gate battering my ears. Mikhail’s brow furrowed, and I craned my neck to see what was happening on that side of the Hall. Hope, one of the eldest Protectors, stood at the gate, her jaw dropped and eyes wide as she watched Mikhail carry me past. I peered up at Mikhail’s craggy face, and dared to reach to touch his stubbly chin with one hand. His eyes fluttered shut the tiniest bit, and he wobbled in the air.
“Better not, my sweet soul,” he said. “I haven’t fallen from the air since I was a Novice myself, but your touch could be what distracts me enough to make me tumble.”
“You’d fall because of me?” I whispered, but he heard me.
His eyes met mine and seared my soul as he murmured back, “I’ve already fallen.” I pinched my arm, just to check if I was dreaming. So many of my recent dreams had included him, and he’d said things almost as romantic, though not quite.
As we approached the Maker Hall, he drifted closer to the floor so smoothly, it seemed we were flying in one breath and on the ground in the next. He was carrying me bridal-style, but we wouldn’t fit through the small door that way, so he let me down at the doorway. His eyes flickered to the great door that hadn’t been used in four centuries, though, and I remembered what Sunny had said about High Angeli using it to carry their created mates out to meet the rest of Sanctuary.
Mates. The thought shimmered in my mind, and I put one hand up to the feather that had made Righteous lose his shizz in The Merge. Sunny’s reaction had been bad enough—I knew that this feather wasn’t innocent, like my birthmark. I put my hand to that one now, suddenly wondering if I’d been wrong about it for my entire life as well. When Mikhail tilted his head at me, gesturing toward the door, I made sure to pull up my bikini top to hide that one. If it had upset Ry, who knows what Mikhail would think. Although…
I put a pin in the thought, and followed him inside the Maker Hall, watching as he waved a hand at the fireplace, lighting it up with a word, and did a quick inspection of the tables. “Gavriel sent the Novices down to Earth?” he murmured, but seemed shocked when I answered.
“Yes, the day after you left.” His head swung around, and I tried not to fidget, still remembering my unfortunate moment with the glitter clean up. Maybe he wouldn’t ask; I sure wouldn’t tell him. “I missed you,” I blurted out.
“You did?” He shuffled his feet slightly, his wings folding up tightly behind him as he fidgeted. My heart pounded at his reaction.
I stepped closer. “Yes. You kissed me, and then you were gone. You didn’t say goodbye.”
His lip curled. “Gavriel pulled rank.” He stepped closer, and reached out for my hand. “I’m sorry, dear one. I didn’t mean to leave you.”
“Where did you go?” The firelight played across his features, drawing long shadows that made him look even more brooding and romantic than usual. “On Earth, I mean. Did you have a mission?”
