Page 107 of Legendary

Maybe I was nervous to know what it meant to hold onto both. The dark and the light. I was so good at being one thing so what was the point of trying to be anything else? I remembered what I told Nick about not having to be the angel he thought he needed to be. Maybe I didn’t need to be the demon I always thought I was. A low hum vibrated through my body again and I glanced at the light. I tilted my head to the side and mentally tried to will it over to me, trying baby steps to see if I had some kind of remoteconnection to it.

It stayed where it was, just bobbing back and forth in its corner, and creating light everywhere but inside of me. I pushed my fingers into my hair as I dug my heels into the bed. There should really be a class on how to speak with your angelic light 101. My raven-haired angel could be the teacher and that light would be very, very traumatized by the things I would do to him when class was over. I felt dumb for making myself laugh, but I was going crazy in my own head. Ridiculous thoughts were better than the ones I could be having. I could have been thinking about the darkness I took from Nick and how I’d never done that before, but it was in the moment and I felt like I could do it, so I did. I had told him it was fine, but I didn’t actually know what that meant. I didn’t feel any different.

Knock. Knock.

I kicked my feet off the bed and quickly shuffled over to the door, swinging it open with way too much excitement than I should have at seeing who was on the other side. Nick gave me a smile before walking into the room as I closed the door behind him.

“You took your time,” I pointed out, noting that he and Reese had been together for pretty much the entire day.

“There was a lot to be said, Dani.” He ran his fingers over his healing forearm scars and turned to look at me. “Plus, we might have fallen asleep.”

“Aw, that’s cute. Together? Like you cuddled and spooned?”

He rolled his eyes. “No, separate beds. But we talked and then just kind of passed out.”

“Good sleep?”

He shrugged. “It was okay, no nightmares.” He took a few steps towards me, touching the tips of his fingers to my own. “Nothing compared to when I sleep next to you though.”

I turned my nose up at him. “Thank you for clarifying. I thought I was going to have to rage with jealousy.” He laughed in a way that I hadn’t heard in a while. The kind of laugh that made him hold his stomach and mildly catch his breath.

When he was done, he spoke again. “You sound like you missed me.”

I reached up and touched my thumb to the scar under his eye. “Maybe.”

Nick cleared his throat. “Leah told me Elise and Beetee left hours ago.”

I nodded, stepping away from him and aimlessly walking towards the bed. “Yeah, to go see Beetee’s parents. Hopefully to bring them here to plan for invasion. Garrett and Leah are all for it and Elise has been waiting for this moment so why not.”

“We’re completely ready whenever you are,” he offered.

“Reese is completely ready to fight the Queen of Darkness?” Ideadpanned, raising an eyebrow.

Nick tilted his head from side to side. “Okay, maybe he’s not super excited about it, but it’s what we’ve been waiting for. And I know what you and everyone else are thinking and I’m okay, truly, I’m fine.”

I chewed on my thumbnail. “I don’t doubt you. I just…”

“You just what?”

I sat on the edge of my bed and placed my face in the palms of my hands. “I just don’t want to keep being the cause of all this shit. And donottell me I’m in no way, shape, or formnotthe cause, Nicholas.” My words came out muffled.

He opened his mouth, but wisely closed it, thinking about his next words. “Dani, it’s not like we came here blindly.”

“Yes, yes, dutiful angels do missions well, I get it. Let’s not forget that you underhandedly came here because you're kind of infatuated with me.” I peeked up at him and saw his expression filled with nothing less than adoration.

He rubbed the back of his neck. “That’s one word for it.”

I placed my hands on my knees and gave him a patient look. “What are some other words?”

Nick forced his mouth into a hard line and shook his head. “There are probably way too many for me to appropriately list.”

“Oh well now I feel special.” I fluttered my eyelashes and delicately placed my hand to my chest. He chuckled and walked over to me, squatting so that he could be close enough to my eye level. He placed his hands on my exposed thighs and ghosted his fingers over my skin.

“I am in a much better place now Dani, thanks to you, and I’ll take care of you just like you did for me.” His dark hair fell over his forehead in a naturally messy way. “We both know you don’t need me too but let me pretend, okay?”

I ran my hand through his hair and I sighed. “Okay.”

He gave me a smile and stood up, taking a step back when I got off the bed. I grabbed his hands and slid my own up his forearms, his biceps, over his shoulders and down to his chest. I let my palms rest near his beating heart, the organ drumming into my ears. It was like I could feel the forever lingering darkness, a hissing viper of mental destruction. It was just the remnants of a time that changed someone forever. The darkness that I’d taken from him pulsed inside of me wanting to get out, jump back into him and try again, but I wouldn’t let it.

---