Page 27 of Wicked Angel
He studied me, his dark eyes searching. “You know, it's okay to enjoy this”—he gestured between us—”even with everything else going on. You're allowed to have moments of peace, sweetheart.”
A lump formed in my throat at the gentleness in his voice. “I know. It's just strange.”
“What is?”
“This.” I waved my hand, indicating the apartment, the movie, the comfortable domesticity of it all. “Playing house, pretending we have normal lives. We never will, you know. Not really.”
Levi was quiet for a long moment, his gaze thoughtful. “Maybe not. But that doesn't mean we can't have this, sweetheart. Moments stolen between battles. It's more than a lot of people get.”
I looked at him—really looked at him—and felt something shift inside me. Levi, who had been through centuries of war and darkness, had found a way to carve out these small pockets of joy.
Maybe I could learn to do the same.
“You're right,” I said softly. “And for what it's worth, I'm glad we have this.” I gestured between us. “Whatever it is.”
His lips curved into a smile, and he pulled me closer. “So am I, sweetheart. So am I.”
The following day, we visited the Great Eternity Hall again. This time, though, their grandmother insisted we stayed longer and eat lunch with her.
“So glad you could join us today,” Belinda said warmly as we settled around the familiar dining table. Despite her advanced years, her eyes still sparkled with life as she gestured for us to help ourselves to the food that had appeared magically before us. “I've asked Myg to prepare all my best recipes.”
The little goblin housekeeper looked bored as she disappeared back to the kitchen.
“As if we'd turn down free food,” Levi replied with his usual smirk, already reaching for a platter of perfectly roasted duck.
“Some of us have manners, demon,” Magnus muttered from the far end of the table, though his perpetual scowl had long since lost its effect on Levi.
“And some of us are still waiting to find theirs,” Abbie countered smoothly, shooting her uncle a pointed look.
Trent slumped in his chair, pushing his potatoes around his plate with disinterest. “Can we not talk about manners? I've had enough lectures for one day after that disaster with the elemental binding spell.”
“It wasn't that bad,” Gwen offered, though her attempt at comfort fell flat.
“You only flooded half the library,” Britt added with a sympathetic grimace. “Last month when I tried it, I somehow managed to summon a minor dust storm that took three days to clean up.”
“That's because neither of you concentrate properly,” Magnus grumbled between bites.
Belinda waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, hush, Magnus. I recall a certain young warlock who once turned all the books in the east wing into butterflies because he couldn't pronounce a simple transformation reversal.”
The table erupted in laughter as Magnus's ears turned pink, and even Trent cracked a smile. I felt a warmth spreading through me that had nothing to do with the excellent food. These moments of everyday family life—the teasing, the shared history, the comfortable chaos of it all—had become precious to me in ways I couldn't quite explain.
The delicious dessert appeared in front of us and I reached for my spoon. A low beeping started and I glanced at Levi. He fished his phone from his pocket and stared at the screen.
“The motion detectors,” he said.
Shit. Mourning the loss of such amazing looking dessert, Levi and I got up from the table and started saying goodbye to everyone. Abbie and Lacey stood too and said they would come with us. I was ready to tell them it wasn’t necessary when I remembered that if Ezekiel was here, if it was him, then it meant he had the flowers … hopefully.
Abbie used one of the coins to open a portal and we all went back to Levi’s apartment.
From there, we crossed the magical door to the warehouse.
Sure enough, Ezekiel stood in the center of the cold, dark building.
“There you are,” I said, rushing toward him. Up close, I could see the exhaustion in his face, the circles under his eyes. “Are you okay?”
He nodded, though his movements were stiff. “I'm fine. Just it's been a long few days.”
Levi approached, his expression guarded. “Did you get them?”
