“Oh, now, now, boys, don’t be silly. In our house, we practice truthful parenting. We don’t lie to sweet Gracelyn, even about things like holidays.” Before I register what she’s doing, the lady walks over and grips me by the sides of my face, yanking with all her might. “Look, sweetie, it’s just… a…costume,” she grunts as she pulls harder, dragging her fingers along my neck as she searches for a seam.
“Stop that,” I growl, yanking my head back, but she holds on as her acrylic nails dig into my neck and make me hiss.
“Just… be still and let me take it off! Why are you… fighting me?”
She tugs once more and the last thread of my patience snaps. “Stupid human, I saidstop that.” The demonic distortion of my voice slips free as I bare my teeth, and Micah’s eyes get cartoonishly wide as the woman freezes. The child’s screaming comes to a sudden halt that leaves the silence roaring in my ears, and every single eye in the park lands on me.
It’s quiet for a long stretch before the mother shrieks at the top of her lungs. She snatches her child off my lap, sprinting away as the girl continues to stare at me with a thousand-yard-stare.
“Her therapy sessions are not my fault!” I bellow after the fleeing woman.
“Teeth!” Micah whisper-shouts, rushing to put his hands in front of my mouth. “Your temper broke my fucking glamour!”
It’s pandemonium as colorful baskets and eggs fly. The thunder of feet sounds like a stampede as the humans dart every which way, crashing into each other and shouting as they sprint. More than a few are sobbing as they run, and not just the children.
Micah and I watch the chaos in morbid fascination as they disappear, and soon we’re alone, surrounded by the rainbow confetti of Easter remnants.
“So, that happened,” I finally say, but Micah is silent beside me. “Do you think it was the head? Because… yeah. I’m pretty sure that was the final straw. Or the voice… probably shouldn’t have done that.” My attempt to cheer him up fails, because he just crosses his arms and gazes into the distance.
“Hey…” I take a step towards him and grab his hand. “Admittedly, that could’ve gone better, but on the bright side, we learned an important lesson.”
“Yes, we did,” Micah finally whispers. Disappointment coats him like oil, oozing down his body as he seems to shrink. The mess disappears with a distracted wave of his hand, and then the world fades around us without warning.
My brows draw as we arrive outside my building. I glance at the foot traffic who’ve done a double take at us standing here, but my attention is locked on him. Ever since the very first time he came inside with me, he’s teleported us straight into my home. Not outside, on the streets.
Our glamour has vanished, but his face isn’t right. It’s skewed and off-kilter, and wrong. “Micah?”
He drops my hand and takes a step back. “This was a mistake.”
The first crack in my heart splinters right down the middle as I stare at his impassive face. “I’m going to need more than that vague answer. What do you mean by that? What’s a mistake?”
“This… all of this. Let the humans have their mascots and make-believe idols. It was stupid of me to think I could do this.”
“But—”
“No, Xalreth,” he snarls, backing up one more step when I reach for him, and a hateful laugh rolls from his mouth. “You were right from the start. This was nothing more than a power grab by an Angel who hasn’t been relevant in centuries. Everyone knew it from the very beginning. You all fucking warned me, and I was too stubborn to listen.” Another rough laugh leaves him as he glances up towards the sky. “Pathetic. All this time, they’ve been telling me how worthless I am, and I was so fucking determined to prove them wrong that I didn’t stop to consider they might be right.”
“Don’t say that,” I snap as I lunge for him, but his power pins me in place. “So you had an idea that didn’t pan out? It happens to everyone. Failure doesn’t mean you’re worthless. Are you stubborn? Yes. Bullheaded as fuck, absolutely. But not—”
“Just stop,” he pleads. “Don’t placate me like I’m a child that needs coddling.”
“That’s not what I’m doing. Igetit. I understand that you’ve never been allowed to fail—”
“Stop using that word!” he bellows, his eyes glowing with their ethereal power.
“No!” I shout back, struggling against the invisible restraints that hold me in place. “You need to fucking hear it,Micah. You need to accept that you can’t keep living your life with these unrealistic expectations of yourself. Nobody expects you to be perfect.”
“Everybodyexpects me to be perfect!” The tendons in his neck pull taut as that storm in his eyes grows more dangerous than I’ve ever seen it, crackling and swirling. “The first sign of weakness, of amistake,and they all attack. And I’ve taken it my whole fucking life, Xal. Over and over, I’ve taken it…” He stops and takes a few panting breaths in as his shoulders slouch. “I can’t take anymore,” he finally whispers, his eyes closing as his head droops.
He reaches around the back of his neck with shaky hands. “I cannot be what you need me to be. If I am destined to be a disappointment, I refuse to disappointyou.” That single crack running through my heart spiderwebs and spreads as I watch the gold chain of his choker loosen against his shimmering skin.
“Micah—” My voice cracks and he closes his eyes as he extends his hand, the necklace dangling from it. “You’re being rash. Put it back on.”
“I don’t deserve you,” he whispers, and I snarl as he shakes his fist at me, urging me to take it like he can’t stand to hold on to it for a second longer. I snatch the chains from him and shove him against the wall.
“That’s not your fucking decision to make.” A few heads turn our way, and something shifts on Micah’s face as he senses their attention. “You don’t have the right to tell me how to feel about you. Now, if you need time to deal with this, I will give it to you, but you do not get to walk away from me. Not after everything.”
“Why do you even want me, Xal? Where do you see this going between us? God, they all called it… they recognize what I was too afraid to admit. A washed-up, pitiful fucking excuse of an Angel. It’s all I am, Xal. Is that all I’m ever going to be?” Hiseyes are wild as they bore into mine, dilated and storming and goddamned heartbreaking as he fists my shirt. “Tell me what you want from me,please.”
