Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 112287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 561(@200wpm)___ 449(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 561(@200wpm)___ 449(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
He turned his head so she could kiss the other side, too. “I told you, Guild Hunter, I am an archangel. I need to show you more of my skills if you have such little faith in my abilities.”
Giving a little laugh at his smug arrogance, she kissed him again and they allowed themselves a few more precious moments in this place out of time. But it couldn’t last. Because they weren’t just Elena and Raphael.
Sighing, she got her legs back in some sort of order, then looked for the rest of her clothes. But after getting them on—while Raphael set himself to rights, too—which involved flying up to see where his pants had landed first—she went right back to lying against him, in the cradle created by his legs and wings.
Maybe it was selfish to keep him to herself even longer, but her need was endless. She wanted to be in his arms and she wanted to hold him in hers.
“Tell me,” he said, his voice a rumble against her.
So she did, going through all of it, even the things she’d already told him. From that night when Jeffrey had first spoken to her, to their most recent conversations when they were alone. “It’s not every time,” she added. “He’s still weak and sleeps a lot. But when he does wake while I’m there by myself, it’s usually only Mama he wants to talk about.”
Her heart squeezed. “Last night, though, he mentioned Belle and Ari.” The big sisters Elena never got to see grow up, become the blazing stars they had always been meant to be.
Belle, a dancer at home in the spotlight.
Ari, Jeffrey’s right hand and future CEO.
“He used to speak about them right after they were murdered,” she said thickly, “but one day, he stopped. I know that he probably couldn’t bear the pain, but to me, it felt like they’d vanished. Especially after he put away all their photos.”
Raphael’s wings rustled as he curved one over her.
Stroking her fingers along the inner softness, she continued. “But last night, he said he’d seen them in his dreams, and they were angry with him. Belle was shouting and throwing things, while Ari was sitting there, arms crossed, with a disappointed look on her face. Then he laughed.”
Elena’s throat felt like sandpaper as she continued to speak, her body’s ability to heal no match for her grief. “When he stopped laughing, he said that was exactly how the two of them had been.
“Belle was always the hot-tempered one, while he used to tell Ari she’d make a great school principal because she could make anyone behave just by looking at them. It’s the first time since I was a child that the two of us laughed together—because he’s right. That’s what they were like.”
Raphael could well imagine both sisters—because Elena had spoken to him often about the two elder sisters, who, according to her, would’ve interrogated him the instant he and Elena became entangled. “Belle wouldn’t have cared that you were an archangel and could turn her to ash, while Ari would’ve hacked into Tower files to find out dirt. She was like that. Protecting us without the fireworks. Together, my big sisters were a powerhouse.”
He ran his hand over the sleek beauty of Elena’s wings. His consort carried all the colors of night and day in those wings, the midnight at the arches flowing into indigo and a blue as deep as the dark heart of the ocean, before merging into softest dawn and brilliant white gold. “Did your father reveal or know why they were angry with him?”
“Yes. Because of how he acted after they died.” She was silent for a while. “He asked me if we should exhume and cremate them, too.”
“Hbeebti.” No wonder she was so distraught—this wasn’t only about her father’s heart attack, but about the massacre that had forever altered her childhood.
Elena sat up so she could face him. “It was an easy decision with my mother. She never wanted to be buried. She said that while she was still alive. I’ve never been able to believe that she’s at peace in that grave where he put her.”
Angelic burials had their own rituals, but that didn’t mean he didn’t understand Elena’s need for this mortal way of doing things. It wasn’t about the actual ritual, but about fulfilling her mother’s final wish on this earth. “But your sisters had no chance to make a choice.”
She nodded, her throat moving as she swallowed. “I like to imagine that they are at peace, their remains only a shell they discarded when they left this world. What right do I have to disturb them? They didn’t give me permission like my mother gave me permission.”
Raphael bent his leg so that his knee was behind Elena and she could brace herself against him. “A difficult choice.” One he couldn’t imagine having to make. “Does Jeffrey have a view on it?”