Page 19 of Seraph's Tears
I turned it in the winter light filtering through the windows, marveling at how the vanes caught the light, making the tiny, downy barbs glow. I once saw a wealthy woman in a fancy milliner’s shop. Zorababel had given me enough coin on our betrothal day to buy myself a gift. I went out with another one of the young women in our church, Silence Bellwether, to the fanciest millinery I knew of to buy ribbon and a sprig of silk flowers to spruce up my bonnet.
While there, a wealthy woman had sniffed over the wares, arguing with her adolescent daughter about the quality of the goods. She’d worn milky white jewels in her ears and around her neck that caught the light, making it luminescent. Later, Silence told me those were called opals.
That’s what this feather reminded me of. Opals.
I ran my finger along the edge of the vanes, letting it ruffle as I turned the shaft this way and that. I had so many questions about Gabriel’s wings, but it seemed impolite to ask. I also didn’t want to draw his ire. After a glance to make sure I was alone, I lifted the feather to my nose and sniffed. It didn’t have the odd, natural smell of a raven or hawk’s feather. It smelled of musky male and something spiced, something like cardamom. I closed my eyes and sniffed again.
I stroked it across my nose, then my lips. It was so soft.
No, this is dangerous. And foolish beyond words. I jerked myself right and stuffed the feather in my pocket.
A clatter on the balcony made my heart leap. I spun around, the bed still half-made behind me, to see the balcony door pushed open and Gabriel walk through.
He was already inside, head down and fingers unbuttoning a leather vest he sometimes wore.
My chest heated at the sight. So did other parts of me. I must’ve squeaked, for he froze and looked up, vest off and in one hand. My breath caught in my throat. He was so beautiful it wasn’t fair.
His bare chest glistened with a hint of perspiration from his flight, and his black hair hung in his eyes. He flicked it backward with a head movement, which only drew my attention to the corded muscles in his shoulders. His green eyes narrowed on me.
We stared at one another, nothing but our breath between us. I could’ve gone deaf from the sound of our breathing.
“I didn’t expect to see you in here.” He dropped his vest over the back of a chair.
“Ermph,” was all I could muster. The rippling baritone of his voice did a funny thing to my stomach. I clenched my teeth against the ribbon of desire twisting inside me. This was why I needed to leave sooner than I’d intended.
He walked toward me, toeing off shoes as he came. His glorious wings pulled back, tight and low, though I could see he was careful not to let them drag the ground. Make sure to sweep daily, I made a mental note.
His eyes flicked to me, then the bed, then around the room, as if expecting to see something else.
“I…I’m cleaning,” I said, probably unnecessarily.
His nostrils flared. “Eve.”
“Yes?” I asked uncertainly.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“Do…what?” I glanced behind me. “Oh! Make the bed? I think I must. It’s part of a housekeeper’s duties.” A strange heat grew his eyes.
My stomach flipped. I should leave. I should go. Before one of us does….I don’t know what.
There was a long, awkward pause between us. At least, awkward for me. Maybe he was merely thinking of how to get his annoying, mousy housekeeper out of his chambers.
“In the future, I think?—”
“Beg your pardon, sir, I?—”
We broke off, staring at one another. In the silence, his vest slid off the back of the chair and hit the floor with a dull thud.
Unable to bear the thickening tension in the room, I surged forward to use that as my escape. I slipped past him and crouched, picking up the leather vest, damp from the high altitude and his exertion. “I’ll take care of this, sir, and—” I rose, turning, and nearly rammed my nose into his sternum. “Oh.”
Heat radiated from him, and the scent of cardamom clung to the air between us. The very scant, very thin air between us.
I looked up, eyes surely wide. I wanted him. More than anything I had ever wanted, except for perhaps my freedom. My body burned for him.
He looked down, blinking as if surprised to see me there. The heat in his eyes strengthened. “Eve,” he rasped.
And then his mouth was on mine and he was kissing me.
