Page 18 of The Star's Sword

Samael sat back. “As you know, since the two of you had sex and you met my rogue, he is somewhat…separate from me.”

“What do you mean?”

Samael sat forward, his expression darkening. “You know, it is me, but it’s a part of me that grew out of that darkness I faced as a child. As you know, most rogues can’t go back. They lose control of the darkness put inside them and let it overwhelm them. For me, it’s like that only happens in waves, and then I return to myself.” He twisted his hands together, making the knuckles whiten. “I don’t have full control, either, but I’ve never seen my rogue do something bad, or to someone who doesn’t deserve it.” He rubbed his hair. “And I remember what I do, it’s just less control. And more darkness.”

I smirked, remembering our time in the rafters. Demonic claws, stroking along my arms, over my most sensitive areas, the sense of danger that had overlaid everything. “I like your rogue.” I blinked. “Except when fighting.” I shuddered, remembering the fight with Dellen. “I don’t like when it feels like you’ll have to lose control to go far enough.”

He was quiet at that. “I won’t be able to use my rogue form in the ninth realm, you know that, right?” He flexed a hand, looking at it in the sunlight. “I’ll want to be in my ninth realm form and using those powers. They are potent against other ninth realm celestials.”

I nodded silently, still waiting to hear more about his rogue.

“My rogue, it’s just my heart but darker, and my body but larger, and my mind, but clouded with the rage that knowledge of the darkest portions of the world causes.” His jaw tightened. “If I could, I would go back before I gained my rogue form. I would be whole.”

“You are whole,” I said, walking over to sit in his lap, his arms coming around me immediately to hold me against him. Safe and warm, but I could still feel the tension in his body.

“It’s just, I can’t control when he comes out. I can’t control what he does that much. At times, I can utilize his strength without losing myself, but you’re right. I called you property.” He exhaled roughly. “I suppose if I’m honest, that part of me wants to just lock you in a cage where no one else can see you and never let you go.” He looked to the side. “Then again, I grew up around a lot of cages.” He sighed. “So I have my celestial side. My incubus side. And then my damaged side, my rogue.”

I snuggled in against him. “I like your rogue. It’s just your inner demon. I like all parts of you, Samael. As long as I have you forever, that’s all that matters.”

He kissed the top of my forehead and then stood, pulling me up with him, raking his eyes over me with a lascivious glance. “I wish I had time to eat a real breakfast, but we should probably finish eating and get you out there.” His eyes weren’t quite as warm and sparkly as usual. “You’ll need all the strength you can get.”

I pouted as I took clothes from him and headed to the shower to wash off the stickiness from the ball the night before. “After, then?”

“If you have energy after, you didn’t train hard enough,” Samael said, urging me into the hot, steaming water he’d already started running. He pulled the glass door to the huge shower shut, encasing me in steam. Then his head poked back in. “Of course, if you do a really good job and tire yourself out completely, I suppose I could do all the work, as usual.” My knees nearly buckled at just the thought of it, and he gave me a quick grin and then ducked back out of the shower again, leaving me in steam.

I was barely lathered, leaning back to enjoy the gorgeous florals emanating from the shower oil I was using, when a loud voice made me grimace and turn the water a little higher to try and drown it out.

“Morningstar, what are you? Afternoon star? Get out here!”

I rolled my eyes and began to rinse off quickly.

Cayne was a lot of things, but never patient.

7

When I walked out to the abandoned field next to the sanctuary where we trained, I saw Cayne was standing there shirtless, holding his axe over his shoulder, wearing loose sweats and tennis shoes, his red hair braided and back.

I raised an eyebrow at him, looking around to see our friends all sitting on the abandoned bleachers to watch today, including Simon, who looked ready to fall asleep in the front row.

Cayne kept sending him irritated glances as he walked over to me. “Do you know what happened at the ball last night when Simon disappeared? I didn’t see him the rest of the night. He didn’t even go home with me.”

“Your outfit was bad,” Simon mumbled, stirring to only pull himself into a tighter ball in the blanket he’d brought with him.

Samael walked over to sit with Simon, patting him as he looked over at me, offering a thumbs up.

Simon looked more hungover than me, and as he looked up at me, and his pallid skin caught the sun, he looked more dead than usual. His lips slightly pale.

Cayne grabbed my arm and pulled me with him into the middle of the field, where we could talk without the others hearing us.

“Simon’s been acting weird lately,” Cayne said, folding his arms, making his muscles flex impressively. He trained every part of his body and every single muscle was toned. “I want you to see what you can figure out when you’re doing vampire recon. Keep an eye on him.”

I snorted as we kept walking. “You thinkIcan keep an eye on Simon the vampire? I doubt it.”

Cayne growled. “He’s not usually like this. He always tells me everything. We go everywhere together.”

“I saw him go off with the fake Morningstar,” I said.

Cayne’s eyes narrowed. “Really?”

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