A familiar figure heads for the arena. Hayliel looks over her shoulder toward the weaponry building, and that’s when I see the look on her face.
In a split second, my focus shifts. Training can wait. Finding out what caused that look of pain on Hayliel’s face can’t.
It takes me a moment to find her in the empty arena, and I have to use the newly formed tethers of our bond to track her down.
“Firefly,” I whisper as I approach carefully, trying not to spook her. “What happened?”
She doesn’t appear startled by my presence, and I wonder if maybe she could sense I was looking for her.
“It’s nothing,” she says, wiping her cheeks. It’s too dark to tell if she’s been crying or not, but that act alone tells me everything. “Cadriel just made a stupid comment.”
“What did he say?”
She chews on her bottom lip, staring at the ground before finally saying, “He told me I was just a passing amusement to Raphael, one he’d get sick of soon enough.”
“Cadriel is a piece-of-shit asshole and only trying to get under your skin, baby. You know that’s not true.”
“Well, I told myself that and tried to ignore his taunts about being the rich angels’ charity case, but then …” She looks at me, eyes full of pain. “I stumbled upon Raphael with Seraphina. Fuck. If I close my eyes, I can still see them huddled together. They looked so fucking comfortable with each other, Theo.”
I pull her into my arms, holding her tightly and whisper, “Raphael would never do that to you.”
She shifts back like I slapped her and snaps, “I know what I saw, Theo.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t doubt what you saw, firefly. I just think there’s more to the story. Have you asked him about it?”
“Fuck no. I hightailed it out of there as fast as I could.”
“I think you should talk to him. It’s Seraphina, after all. I have more faith in Raphael, even with no details at all, than I ever would in her. Especially when it comes to you. He’d never jeopardize your relationship like that.”
Her slate rings, and I watch as she pulls it out and stares at the screen. Raphael’s name is there in bold letters, but she doesn’t answer it. The screen goes dark for a second before it rings again, and she quickly declines the call before putting it away.
“I don’t know, Theo. It was bound to happen eventually, right? Seraphina called it from the beginning. Cadriel said it today. Fuck, even Zeke said something like this would happen. Nobody wants a freak.”
Her words cut into me like a thousand angel blades. Does she really believe these things about herself? And screw Ezekiel for adding more doubt in her mind about us. I’m mad at the world on her behalf, and fuck if I’m not disappointed in Raphael and myself for not doing enough to reassure her that this was never a possibility.
“You’re the furthest thing from a freak. If more angels were like you, this world we live in probably wouldn’t be going to shit right now. As for Raph, I’ve never seen him more obsessed with anyone. Ever since he met you in the cafeteria, you’re all he’s talked about.”
“I want to believe you, I really do, but we never really made sense, and you know that.”
“No, I don’t. You two make sense.Wemake sense. What doesn’t is the fact that he’d throw this all away for a stuck-up, bitchy angel like Seraphina. Do you know why he’s been so open to the idea of you and me?”
“I … no. I guess I don’t.”
“Because he saw how happy you were. He’d rather accept sharing you with me and seeing you happy than keep you all to himself. Your happiness is more important to him than anything else, and the last thing he’d ever want to do is hurt you. He’s fallen hard for you, firefly. You and only you. Please, at least hear him out.”
Her eyes bore into mine, searching them for truth. She must find it because the corner of her lips lift and she pulls me in for a hug.
“You do both make me happy,” she admits, pulling back to look at me. “Even if our relationship is a bit abnormal.”
I chuckle, my world brightening as the dark clouds of doubt clear from her eyes, and I lean down to press a kiss to her lips. She accepts it without question, kissing me back with fervor until all I want to do is tear her clothes off and worship her.
Both of our slates ping several times and we break apart reluctantly to find unread messages in the group chat.
Ezekiel: I’m checking out that building in a few days. Anything to note with the blueprints?
Raphael: What do you meanyou’rechecking out that building? I think you mean we.
Ezekiel: Whatever you say, man.
