Page 20 of Angel's Vengeance

Oh, she did not like the way he looked at her, as if any of his remaining emotions got sucked into a frozen zone with no hope of or interest in retrieving them.

Then he fired that Arctic chill right at her, and she, as usual, was powerless to stop it.

“The origins of how you know me.”

Chapter10

As far as mortal tourist attractions went, the North Woods Arboretum was as unassuming as they came.Rhode and Neela had agreed to kick off their outing during a common lunch hour.Though expansive in their own right, the grounds were not far from the town’s main drag that offered up food fare for the daytime workers.If Rhode had to spend the afternoon among mortalsanda demon, he’d at least do it when the majority of onlookers were stuffing their faces during their barely thirty-minute lunch breaks.

And these people thought paranormal creatures were the supposed heathens.

Wrought-iron arches welcomed them into a world that was both serene and mysteriously haunting.Neatly manicured trails escorted them farther among arboreal sleeping giants who had been tucked in beneath thick blankets of snow and ice from winter’s earlier leavings.Every few steps, they’d pass by a placard describing the various genera of each shrub, berry, and infernal pine cone.

To be sure, there was immense beauty around him.Vastly scaled cypress and blue spruce trees were a few of the basics he’d recognized, but none of them commanded his attention like the bright white puffer coat in front of him that had been newly cleaned and was darting from sign to sign along with its owner like a child in a candy store fretting over which chocolate bar to choose before the store closed.

“Oh my God, I can’t believe it!An emerald sentinel juniper!Oh, and look, it even has berries.They’re so blue and pretty nestled in their green little needles.Kind of looks like a bird’s nest, don’t you think?It’s so stinking picture-perfect, I can’t even!”

Rhode begrudgingly joined her in front of the shrubbery bed.“Can’t even what?”While the plant was certainly alluring, he had a hard time seeing what about it would warrant her ear-piercing squeal that had nearly ruptured his eardrum.

The look Neela threw at him contained equal parts embarrassed teenager and impatient government employee.“I was saying that the plants are incredible.”

“Why don’t you just say that?”

Neela zipped her coat higher up her neck and leered at him.“I just did.”

He snorted.“Forgive me, but I have not had the opportunity to learn the plethora of languages the other angels have.”

“It’s not a language.It’s common vern— Oh, whatever.”

After summarily dismissing him, Neela continued to flit through the manicured forest, marveling over things he had to remind himself that he had once taken for granted.Dappled snow clinging to far-too-thin branches.The musk of earthy pine dampening down the subtle crispness of the cold air.

Cold air in general.

But he could hardly focus on it for long.Every time Neela danced from one patch of flora to the next, her trailing scent made him question his decision to hover so closely.Even among so much greenery, those earthy hyssop notes seemed to flare behind her every time that hypnotic riot of curls whipped in front of him.

Though he hadn’t developed much of a taste for the mortal food in New Hampshire, with the sole exception being Molly’s cooking, hehadlearned that licorice was not a flavor he wanted anything to do with.And yet, this woman carried with her a gentle mintiness that enveloped the harsher edges of the more abrasive hyssop scents he’d experienced.And he didn’t hate it.

Which was ridiculous.How could anything about the golden whirlwind before him, who was straining over a railing in an attempt to plunge what seemed like the more vital parts of her face into some other cypress’ similar golden foliage, spark anything but disgust?

The question had been slamming around his mind for the better part of their excursion and only fueled his frustrations at having so many damn loose threads to begin with.

And he, an Empyrean spy, for god’s sake.

Despite his unease, he had little interest in worsening his already precarious circumstances.So, when her remaining foot lifted off the ground, he pushed off the railing and called her away from the needle pit of whatever she was willingly throwing herself in.

“Walk with me,” Rhode remarked.“There’s a path up ahead that takes us through a more wooded area, away from the main gate and office.The privacy will allow you to speak freely.”

He was only slightly surprised when he heard her foot land back on the pavement, followed by both heels trailing quickly behind him as he headed toward the path.

“Okay, I guess we’re doing this, then.”Neela’s voice had dimmed so much from the brightness it held earlier, and he begrudgingly cursed himself for it.Clearly, he’d snuffed out all the wonderment that had kindled a new luminosity in her resplendent features only a moment ago.

Damn, but this whole outing was supposed to facilitate a trade, wasn’t it?Information for information.He’d let her roam the grounds wildly for an entire hour, after all.It didn’t matter that a part of him warmed just a little at how easy it was to give her the delight fueling each one of those dashes across the walkway.

They had business to discuss, and the sooner they got down to it, the sooner he could find a way to cut whatever ties had been established between them.

But then he caught her bottom lip jutting out, despite the frown weighing the rest of her smile down, and a new level of annoyance slammed into him.Oh, fucking hell.

It was such a small ask, wasn’t it?To meander through plants she’d not seen in the sunlight before?Even he was not so callous as to refute the simple pleasures he recalled upon regaining his freedom.Sunlight on skin.Clean clothes.Cool rain.

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