Page 57 of Fallen Angels

“Well, you aren’t in his position and you’re still doing the same.”

I cock my head to the side. “Trust needs to be earned, not given.”

She nods. “Then you still don’t trust me?” As she asks the words, she looks up at me, hope appearing in her eyes.

“No,” I answer honestly. The hope fades as she nods and appears sad. “But, suffice to say,” I continue, feeling irritated with myself that I’ve hurt her. “My dislike for you appears to be lessening.”

She looks over at me and a smile haunts her lips. “I can always count on you for your honesty, Cambion.”

I nod. “Returning to the subject of Dragan for a moment,” I start.

“You don’t have to do this, you know?” she interrupts.

“Do what?”

“Talk about this with me,” she finishes. “It’s clear you and I aren’t friends and I’m sure you’d rather think about… other subjects.”

“While both your points are valid,” I begin. “Such is the nature of being a leader.”

“A leader?”

I nod. “As I am in charge of our rather ragtag group, so I have to listen to the squabbles between you and lend my wise advice.” Her smile deepens and I find myself returning her smile even as I don’t realize I am. I clear my throat and return to the subject that seems to cause her the most discord—the gargoyle. “What you went through with Variant was hard,” I begin and capture her attention instantly. She nods and drops her attention to the ground again. “Now imagine experiencing something similar but spread over a much longer period of time. Imagine decades of being unable to control your body, of being debased until you’re nothing more than a shadow of your former self.”

“I understand all that,” she says as she raises her attention. “I really do. But, why doesn’t he just talk to me?”

“Was it easy for you to talk to me?” I ask with a shrug. “I daresay you still regret the fact that I know what happened in Variant’s bedchamber?”

She takes a deep breath. “I didn’t really have a choice in the matter. You saw a vision of what happened, and you forced me to explain.”

I nod. “While this is true, the point still remains the same. It was your secret to keep, just as Lamia and her daughters is Dragan’s secret to keep.”

“I understand,” she says, sounding rather dejected.

“Give Dragan time,” I offer, and she looks at up at me in surprise. “You might not resemble Lamia physically, but there are similarities between the two of you that even I can’t deny.”

She turns color as if I’ve struck a nerve. “Like what?”

I shrug as I try to place my finger on the pulse of my argument. “The aura of seduction that surrounds you at all times.”

“Aura of seduction?” she repeats and then frowns up at me. “I don’t even know what that means.”

“You have a magnetic pull, Eilish. And it’s constantly reaching out towards every one of us.”

“What does it feel like?”

“Hmm,” I puzzle the question for a moment or two. “It feels like we are both magnets of opposite polarities. And no matter what I do, my body naturally wants to gravitate towards you, like the north pole of a magnet immediately attracting the south pole of another magnet.”

“Interesting,” she says.

I nod. “It felt quite the same way with Lamia—like I was always fighting my attraction to her. My guard always had to be up, my shield in place, because if I forgot myself for even a moment, she would draw me in.”

“That sounds… exhausting.”

I nod. “I remember the night Dragan and I first saw her. Variant had already revealed his true colors and the three of us were in the process of waging war against him. It was on the battle field that Lamia waltzed right into our camp where we were stationed in the mountains. How she found us, I will never know,” I continue as I lose myself to the memory that returns with such a vengeance. It’s hard to believe it occurred more than one hundred years earlier. “Lamia offered to help us turn the tides of the war. She told Dragan that only he could stop Variant, and in doing so, she appealed to his ego that was already inflated.”

“But she betrayed you,” Eilish says, as though she’s already familiar with the way this story ends.

“She betrayed Dragan, yes. And, in doing so, she was the reason we lost the war. Dragan, I’m quite certain, has never forgiven himself.” Then I turn to face her. “So, you can see why he has such a difficult time where you’re concerned.”

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