Page 78 of Beyond the Storm
“It’s all right.” I gently grabbed his hand and brought it forward. “You can touch them if you want to.”
As he glided his fingers over my feathers, I watched his expression morph from awe to something more profound. His eyes glistened. “I have never seen anything more beautiful than you.”
The emotion in his stare burrowed into my chest, causing my own to press down on me. “You are not afraid?”
Elasus came closer and grabbed my waist with one hand while cupping my face with the other. “The only thing I fear in this moment is waking to find you were nothing more than a dream.”
We kissed then, unable to fight the strong bond drawing us together. It ran deeper now, as if showing him my wings had strengthened our connection. He had seen me as I truly was.
“Will you tell me more?” he asked after pulling from my lips. He didn’t go far though. He stayed against me. “Your father was an angel, and you are a…”
“Nephilim.”
“Yes. Nephilim.” Elasus’ brow tapered. “And you have a curse in your blood?”
“My brothers and I are all cursed.” If Lazarus had ordered me to retrieve Elasus, surely that meant I was allowed to tell him the truth about us. “We call them our sins. Eight in total. One for each of us. Are you familiar with wrath and greed? Lust and envy? Pride?”
He nodded.
“Think of us as the holders of those vices,” I explained. “Our personalities reflect our given sin, but it’s also shown in the powers we possess. Alastair is the holder of Pride. Bellamy is Lust.”
“And you?”
“Melancholy.”
Elasus glided his knuckles across my cheek. “That explains why your eyes hold such a deep sadness. Like you are Atlas, carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders.”
I leaned into his touch, finding comfort in it. One of my wings curved inward, as if seeking his touch too.
“They’re so soft,” he murmured, running his fingers through my feathers.
“They’re also warm.” I hooked my arms around him and enclosed him in my wings. They came around us, blocking out the rest of the world. He turned his head and kissed one of my feathers before returning to my mouth, smiling before kissing me again.
“You said you joined us in battle because of demons?”
“Yes. We fight them.”
Elasus thought on my words. “What city do you fight for?”
“All of them,” I said. “We fight for all of humankind. Wherever the dark army strikes, we go to defend.”
Elasus leaned his head against mine and held on to me like he feared I might fly away. “My brave warrior.”
He was mine too. But how long did I have with him? More needed to be said, but the words froze in my throat. So instead, I kissed him.
One night. I would allow myself this one night before asking him to leave with me.
We lay beneath the stars all night, succumbing to sleep eventually. Elasus woke before dawn and kissed me softly to wake me. After more lazy kisses in the grass, he snuck into the barracks before anyone found him gone. As the sun broke across the horizon to welcome a new day, I settled into a nearby tree and watched it rise. Something then occurred to me.
Not once during the night had Elasus asked me why I’d come to Sparta. As if he feared the answer too.
***
The agora bustled with activity. Merchants sold their wares, and people stopped to browse their carts and stands. The marketplace was smaller than the one in Athens but still brought in a decent-sized crowd.
I walked through the sea of people as the midday sun hung overhead, heating my hair and the tops of my shoulders.
Elasus was training with his syssition, so I’d decided to take a stroll through the city to pass time. Mainly, I had hoped the walk would help clear my mind. Melancholy’s influence darkened any hope of Elasus agreeing to leave. Laconia was his home. The men in his syssition were his brothers. To abandon them would go against every value he’d learned as a Spartiate.
