Page 30 of Wings of Valor
I sink into the scalding water, letting out a long breath. Closing my eyes, I do my best to relax and justexistin this moment because even though I hate it, Remiel was right. We need to be at our strongest to get them back.
Raphael and Theo must have put something in the water, because it smells of honeysuckle and jasmine. After ten minutesof soaking, my aching muscles feel more soothed than they have in months.
At the sound of water splashing, I open my eyes to find both Theo and Raphael joining me in the tub. Theo pulls me forward so Raph can settle behind me. I relax into Raphael, letting him wrap his arms around my waist and press a kiss just below my ear. Theo sits across from us and pulls my left arm straight, rubbing a soft sponge along the length of it.
“We’re sorry we made you feel you couldn’t be honest with us,” Raph says, his breath tickling my flesh and causing goosebumps to rise.
“We never wanted to control you. We just wanted you to be safe. But we realize now that how we handled it wasn’t right,” Theo adds, and my heart squeezes a little.
Then, as if they planned this speech in advance, they say in unison, “Can you forgive us?”
I want nothing more than to forgive them, and deep down I know I already do, but the loss I feel right now overshadows everything else.
“I think so,” I tell them honestly. “But right now I’m angry. Angry at Auriel. At Uriel and the demons. At Mira for telling you where I was, and at the three of you for showing up. This ismymess.Myresponsibility. I went alone because I couldn’t bear to see any of you harmed, and now the worst thing has happened.”
A sob escapes me as flashes of Zeke’s slumped form being taken race through my mind.
“But that’s just it, sunshine. It’s not only your responsibility. We’re a team. Not just against the evil forces of this world, but here.” Raphael places a hand over my heart. “The four of us are a unit. Against everything. Your enemy? Well, that’s our enemy. Your problems? Also ours.”
A single tear falls down my cheek, leaving a wet path in its wake.
Theo shifts the sponge from my collarbone to my right arm, his touch gentle and so full of love. “We shouldn’t have tried to take away your choices, but we should also be allowed to decide for ourselves. About whether it’s worth the risk of helping, of joining this fight. We all knew the risks of going to that meeting. And we were all prepared to endure the consequences, as long as you were safe. That alone is worth everything to us.”
Tears flow freely as I realize they’re right. I took away their choice just as they had done to me. And even though Ihatethat Zeke was taken, I’d be a hypocrite to be mad at anyone; I was making that same sacrifice. Allowing myself to be Auriel’s pawn to save everyone else.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
“And so are we, firefly,” Theo says, placing my hand against his chest where I can feel his heart beating.
Behind me, I can feel Raphael’s heart too, and I swear the three of ours are pounding in the same staccato rhythm, fully in sync.
I wish I could feel Zeke’s, too. That thought sours the air around us, tainting it with pain.
“Hey,” Theo says. “We’re going to get him back. Your parents, too. But we do it as a team this time. With all cards on the table and all of us in the know. Deal?”
I nod, feeling the veracity of their words deep in my bones. “Deal.”
“Good.” Raphael places a kiss on my hair. “Now that that’s settled, we just need you to do one more thing for us.”
“Oh?”
I feel Raphael’s smile against the column of my throat. “Lie back. Close your eyes. And let us take care of you.”
I groan, not because I don’t want to do as he says, but because my mind just isn’t in it. Not knowing whether my parents arealright, paired with the fear of what might be happening to Zeke this very second—it’s just too much. It’s all too fucking much.
As if they can read my thoughts, Raphael says, “We want you to think of Zeke. Focus on your love for him and the connection you two have.” He cups my bare pussy beneath the water. “Pretend it’s his hand between your legs.”
“And his mouth on your flesh.” Theo leans forward to pepper kisses up my arm and across my chest, stopping just above my right nipple. “We think he’ll be able to feel it. Your thoughts. Your love. So he knows we won’t stop until he’s back with us.”
Water sloshes over my stomach as my breath turns choppy. “Do you truly think he’ll sense it?”
Raphael teases my clit beneath the water, offering little nips of his teeth against the top of my shoulder. “We do, little sun. This thing we have, the bond we all share with you at the core, it’s greater than anything we’ve ever imagined. Something powerful and undeniable.”
Theo’s lips wrap around my hardened nipple, his tongue flicking it before he sucks gently. Too gently. Still, a moan escapes my throat.
“No amount of distance can dull it,” Theo says. “We’ll only know for sure if we try.”
As they continue to caress my body, I allow myself to think of Zeke. To push my love for him down the tether that links us and hope that, wherever he is, despite whatever he’s enduring, he’ll feel it.
