I cleared my throat, knowing this was going to come out wrong, but I couldn’t help it. “You look less shiny than usual. Your skin, and your, um, hands. Is that because of me?” His eyebrows lifted. “I mean, a lot of the others here don’t want to be around me, since my smut is more or less contagious. I don’t want you to get… tainted.”
His smile grew, and I felt a blush rising on my cheeks. For some reason, my nape pulsed with an answering warmth, a faint, pleasurable throbbing. “I promise, every inch of smut on me is there because of my own decisions, not yours. That’s the nature of it, you know.”
“Wow,” I said, turning my head to take him in, though my vision was still a bit blurry. His feet were bare at the bottoms of his leather trousers, and it looked as if he’d walked through a field of gray mud. His arms were streaked with it, too, though from the marks on the surface, I could tell he’d been carving it off with his knife. His face was fine, the grime there just making it look like he had a five o’clock shadow. He was actually pretty filthy—not quite as bad as I was, but close.
“Have you been watching porn?” I blurted out. He burst into laughter, almost dropping his knife and the rook. “Sorry, it’s just… Wait.” I narrowed my eyes. “Whathaveyou been doing to get so dirty?”
“Are you worried for the state of my soul?” His voice was a sensual growl.
For some reason, a flare of bright anger lit up my mind. “Did you rub up on some Guide or something? Some smutty Protector?” If he’d been at The Merge, I was going to burn the place down.
Mikhail’s smile dropped. “The only being in Sanctuary who bore this much taint was Righteous; this is his smut I bear. I took it from you.” I wanted to ask how—maybe he knew the trick Rumple had taught me—but he went on. “We need to talk about him, and what happened when I was out of the Maker Hall.”
“Wait,” I interrupted. “Gavriel found your blood on the floor. Are you hurt?” I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to see a cut through all the gray on him. What if it got infected, like Righteous?
I was on the verge of panicking when Mikhail turned his hand over, and showed a thin, squiggly scar in his palm that seemed newer than his others. “I was distracted. I cut myself. I promise, I hardly felt the blade.”
“You have to be careful with that soul knife,” I scolded gently. “You’re a big, strong Angelus, but you’re not invincible. Wait… are you?”
His lips twitched. “Not quite. I promise to be more careful in the future.” We stared each other for a long moment, unspoken words flying between us.
Finally, Mikhail spoke again, his voice raspier than ever. “Gavriel found me, and told me that Righteous had injured himself severely. When we returned to my Hall, we discovered Righteous completely cleansed, healed, and as much of a…” He hesitated.
“As much of a douche as ever?”
The dimple flashed for a moment. “Let’s just say as charming as ever. And we found you covered, nearly beyond help. Do you have an explanation?”
“Um, no?” I didn’t want to try explaining what I’d done, or why. I was still wondering why I’d agreed to take on Righteous’s smut in the first place. Also then I’d have to explain about Rumple, and… just, no. Time to change the subject. “Can I have some more food?
“A fine idea.” Mikhail nodded, holding a grape just out of reach. “I will feed you, and you will tell me what you know.”
“I said, I don’t know anything.”
“Lies have a particular tone in Sanctuary,” he said somberly, popping the grape into his own mouth and making a ridiculously sensual face as he ate it. My mouth went dry just watching the muscles in his shadowed jaw flex. His tongue darted out, licking up a drop of juice from his lower lip, and I felt my own copy him. The spot on my nape pulsed, and my clitoris answered, like they were sending secret messages in Morse code. I squeezed my legs together, trying to remember what we’d been talking about.
Oh, yeah.“I know. Lies sound sour,” I mumbled, distracted as he popped another grape and crunched it with his teeth. His eyes narrowed slightly, and I shook myself mentally. I wasn’t supposed to be able to hear all the things I did. “I mean, maybe Righteous mentioned that?”
“Tell me what Righteous did, and I’ll give you some grapes.”
I was glad my eyes were clean so he could see my glare. “Withholding food? I can take torture. I’ve been tortured before.”
“Have you?” His hands were on my cheeks then. I wished I could feel them through the muck. “By Righteous? Did he force you somehow to take his smut?” His gaze was so protective, I melted a little bit more.
“That’s not how smut works, Growly Bear. You just said that. Whatever happened, I’m sure he didn’t force me to take anything.”
“Hmph.” Mikhail picked up one berry and placed it against my lips. I reached out with my tongue to draw it into my mouth, and the tip touched his finger lightly. If I hadn’t been paying attention, I would have thought I imagined it. But when my tongue touched his skin, he closed his eyes, shuddering slightly, and let out an almost inaudible groan before pulling his hand away. I was certain it hadn’t been a groan of pain, and an answering heat swirled in my belly. “You’ve been tortured, you say?” I nodded, making sure not to lick him again as he fed me the next berry—though I really, really wanted to. “In your time on Earth?”
I shifted, wondering how much I could conceal in my answers. Lies were out. “Yeah, well, maybe torture was an exaggeration.” My eyelids were so heavy, I let them fall. “Can I ask you some things?” He hummed in assent, so I went on. “We eat and breathe in Sanctuary. But it’s not really food or air, Sunny said.”
“No, it’s energy. Sanctuary is made of energy. When Novices and Protectors come here between missions, they’ve used up a lot. So you eat. I haven’t eaten for a long time.”
“Until today?”
“Mmhm. Bearing smut like this burns up my energy. Weakens me a bit. Though I am very old, and I don’t feel it like others would.” He paused. “You’re very young, aren’t you, Feather?” His voice was close to my ear then. “Compared to me, you’re a fledgling.”
“M’not that young,” I murmured, eyes still closed. “Just… look that way.”
I could have sworn he said, “Far too young for me,” but that was nuts. I must be dreaming.
