Page 57 of To Tame An Angel

They could try, but I was free. I could escape. I could take Nalla with me, far from where they could ever find us. The sky was mine, and I belonged only to Nalla.

I reached out to her, my eyes pleading. “Come with me.”

She shook herself out of her horror and pushed away from the wall. She looked frantic, trying to figure out how to keep me safe without realizing that I could already care for myself.

“You need to leave. You need to escape. Today. Now,” her words were fast and panicked. “Right now.” She grasped a bag and gathered whatever food was left from the dinner trays. Apples, oranges, oat bread, shoving them inside with trembling fingers.

I took her hands, and she startled, staring up at me and my wings in horror.

“Look at me,” I urged her.

But her face crumbled. “I destroyed your life. Our chance of happiness.”

Pulling her close, I held her as she collapsed into my arms, her face pressed into my chest as I rocked her back and forth.

“No, the opposite,” I said.

“How can it be the opposite?” She stared up at me. “Your wings, Tannor! They’ll kill you. They’ll make me watch as they hack them off and you’ll die a slow, agonizing death. Please don’t make me go through that. Don’t make me live through that!”

She held on to me like I was the shore in a storm-ridden sea, like her life was slipping by. I murmured her name, understanding her fright, knowing it was all too much for her to take.

But I would escape. They couldn’t catch me even if they tried. Women couldn’t fly and the sky was mine to command.

“Let’s see if we can put them back!” She said with a suddenness. “I can use my magic! I can look up some books—”

“Nalla!” I grasped her upper arms and made her stop. “I don’t want them to go away. I don’t want them stuffed back into my body, like something I should be ashamed of. They’re part of me, what makes me Tannor.”

She didn’t speak, her face didn’t change. She was distraught. A fear curled itself in my belly and I felt my wings shiver and drop.

“Unless…” I could scarcely speak. “Unless you find them repulsive. I can understand if you find them ugly.”

I was desperate for her to accept me as I was, as I was born. With protruding appendages and all. I needed someone to love me whole, like I was. Like my mother never could, always staring at my wings in disgust.

“Repulsive?” Nalla asked in a whisper and her hands slid down my back, her fingers burying themselves into my feathers. We gasped; me at the feel of the intimacy, her at the feel of the downy plumage. “They’re the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.”

I could scarcely believe her words, listening to her voice, feeling her fingers. Softly, she smiled. It wasn’t happiness; it was wonder. Fear was still clear in her eyes. Fear for my safety and what they would do to me.

Desperate to show her, I took her hand and led her to the balcony. She balked and hesitated, but I looked at her with reassurance.

“Trust me, as I’ve trusted you,” I said.

She met my eyes and slowly nodded, allowing me to lead her to the rail. I knew fully that her mother’s regiments had been posted below. To escape, I’d have to fly straight up, up into the clouds, into the cover of night. There was no moon, and the world was dark but for the torches lighting the gardens.

I pulled Nalla to me, holding her in the cool night, my wings covering us both. She stared around her with her wide, beautiful brown eyes. She was enchanting at this moment and without warning I kissed her. My arms surrounded her along with my wings, enveloping her and feeling like I was finally truly touching her. She sighed into my mouth, her fingers caressing the edge of my wings, pressing her fingers into the bone which sprouted the feathers.

Pleasure shot through me at the act, and I gasped into her mouth. When I opened my eyes, I saw a small smile flittering across her face. As if she’d discovered a new way to tease me. Without another word, I commanded my wings up, and we lifted into the air. It had been so long since I flew, we shot out of her home in a straight line, plowing through clouds. My powerful wings slid up and up above where no one had gone to in over a century.

I move us sideways, towards the cliffs and the forest. My wings took naturally to the skies. I breathed in fresh air for the first time in decades, overwhelmed by the sensation of freedom coursing through me.

I turned to Nalla, whose face pressed against my chest. Her eyes were wide as she took in the world from above. With a smile, I dipped suddenly into the trees, and she let out a squeal. It made me laugh, and she chided me.

“You’re only looking for me to punish you!” She said with a wobbly voice.

I was. I laughed more, without denying it, as we careened through the tips of the trees, startling birds. Through the land I flew and flew, discovering it at the same time as I showed it to her. With her in my arms and the wind on my wings, I felt reborn, like we could have anything we wished. Let the world destroy itself with its laws because no one could touch us here.

Landing on a cliff, I gently set her on her feet. She wobbled slightly, and the wind made her nightgown sheer. I backed away from her, staring at her smile of wonder. My wings gently flapped as I hovered over the edge.

“That was magical,” she said.

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