Page 77 of Seraph's Tears
He kissed my head, his arms sliding up my hips and waist to stroke my back. We lay together, still joined, still drenched in our lust for one another, for a long time.
My eyes drifted closed, and I’d never been happier before now.
“Eve, will you be my mate?” Gabriel whispered, breaking the silence.
I was too tired to look up. “I thought I already was,” I murmured against the beat of his heart. “The ayim healed me, remember?”
I felt him nod. “Yes, but…you accept our bond? You will live with me as my mate for the rest of our lives?”
I kissed his chest, right above his heart. “Yes, my love, yes. Did I not tell you yesterday?”
He made a noise deep in his throat, which reverberated in his chest and against my cheek. “Will you stay here in Mirkwold with me?”
Realizing this was a conversation that wouldn’t be delayed, I stretched my legs to lie flat on my stomach on top of him. I folded my arms on his chest and propped my chin on my forearms so I could look down at his face. “I love this manor,” I admitted. “I wasn’t sure at first, but it’s grown on me. It needed some attention. I’ll love making this into our home.”
A shy smile stretched across his face. I had a hard time believing this warrior who so ruthlessly rescued me and killed for me and flew through a thunderstorm for me was suddenly shy.
“I want to make this into a refuge for my seraphim,” he said.
Nodding, I thought of the gallery he was transforming.
“I want to build that with you.”
My smile grew so wide it stretched my cheeks. “We will stay here, in our home,” I agreed. “Though I don’t know if you can keep your place here a secret for much longer. Word will spread.”
He hummed in thought. “I suppose I should go to the village, show them they do not have to fear me.”
“That’s probably for the best.” I thought of the barmaid and the way the other villagers would grudgingly say positive things about Castiel, but never Gabriel. “I understand why you want to stay away from humans, though. As powerful as you are, I see how humans can overwhelm you.” I’d hire some villagers and get the rest of this manor into shape.
My thoughts soured as I remembered Zorababel. “We should probably retrieve the bodies and return them to their families.” Absalom was married to Silence, and she deserved to know what happened to her husband.
I hoped I could speak with her soon. I missed her.
“Where is your sword?” I asked. “Surely I didn’t imagine that sight.”
He smiled. “You saw that?”
I shivered dramatically. “I’ll never forget it for as long as I live. I was awestruck.”
“I left it on the cliff. You were more important, my starlight.” He rubbed soothing circles into my back.
I sighed happily. “And we will live for hundreds of years together. Happily ever after.”
His huff of amusement blew my hair. “I certainly hope so. I can easily imagine a happily ever after, as you call it, here in your world if you’re with me.”
Melting, I stretched forward and kissed his lips. “Starlight?”
He tenderly stroked my cheek with the backs of his fingers. “Because you are precious and beautiful.”
Slowly I reached for my necklace and withdrew it from my neck.
Gabriel’s eyes widened as he watched.
Heart full and eyes stinging with happy tears, I set the necklace down. The key clunked against his wooden nightstand. “I don’t think I need this anymore.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Eve,” he rasped, “I know that’s impo?—”
I smiled. “It served its purpose. I promised myself when I found a place I could call my home, safe from the cult, I would take it off. And I would instead focus on making my home a place of hope and love and joy.”
