“This is why I don’t like emotions, Centaurus. Now I’ll be crying as I water the fucking plants with my piss.”
“Want help?” he says.
“Ew, no. Not into watersports.” But I’m a little into watersports.
“Go so you can get back here. If you take too long, I’m spanking you.”
“Is it weird I don’t mind?” I lean forward to steal a kiss. The impatient ravencawsoutside. “Be back.”
I don’t bother lacing my boots all the way. Instead of a shirt, I go for the jacket-only look, but instantly regret my choice—it’s a crisp night. Stomping through the woods on a tear, I make it to the clearing. The raven is now the real deal, Merrick, son of the angel Daniel.
The outline of his dark form is easily visible. His black hair long and loose. The scent of Gardenias permeates everything.
“Finally, you come as called. I’ll knock a few days off our punishment for your horrible disobedience.”
If only that didn’t turn me on, but it does, and after this adventure, I’m seeking help. There’s kink and then there’s just plain insanity. “Merrick, I’m not yours anymore. I couldn’t be further from yours. That’s what happens when you abandon boyfriends without explanation.”
“We weren’t boyfriends. You are simply mine and I’ll prove it. And I didn’t abandon you. I let you go—for a time—because it was necessary. You know how logical angels are.”
“Stars aren’t. We’re like humans that way. I’m over you.”
“You’re in danger, Treyu,” he says, losing some of that Merrick arrogance I know so well.
“Haven’t I already got that t-shirt? Maybe you’re making this up just to get me back.”
“I do want you back—I’ll have you back—but I’m not making this up. I don’t need to. I could take you right now and there would be nothing you could do about it. I am going to bring you with me either way, but I would rather you come willingly.”
“Not a great way to grovel, Merrick.”
“I don’t have time to negotiate, and I don’t have time for your fucking nonsense. I’m not allowing you to die because of ignorance.”
I rub my forehead. I don’t think stars are supposed to get headaches, but I feel one coming on. I can’t conceive another angle to this. Merrick would lie, but about what? I’m not special.
“You don’t think it’s just a bit suspicious that they tried to execute you for what should have been a slap on the wrist?”
“Allowing a child to die is no slap on the wrist matter.”
He facepalms. “You didn’t allow a child to die. There was no child, Treyu. It’s made up.”
Gods I want that to be true—that my foolish actions didn’t result in a child’s death—but then it only brings more disturbing questions to the table. “Why me?”
A glowing blade cuts through the darkness. “Get behind me, Treyu,” Zhang’s voice rings out.
“Do you really think you’re going to fight an angel and upstanding member of the Guild, Centaurus?”
“For my husband? Yes.”
“Admirable. What if I told you he’s safer if he comes with me? Would you believe me?” Merrick says.
“No.”
“Thought not.”
Merrick’s wings open. Zhang pushes me back, catapulting off the trunk of a tree to meet Merrick’s wide angel sword in the air. There isn’t much I can do without a weapon, other than pull on Merrick’s feathers.
Atlanta and Gemini run toward us. “No,” I say. Atlanta can’t get involved. “I’m reasonably sure he won’t slice Zhang apart.”
As if to prove me wrong, Merrick sinks his sword into Zhang’s chest right through his heart. “You have sixty seconds, Treyu. Come with me willingly and I won’t allow his heart to stop. Don’t and I do, and you come with me anyway.”
