The Forsaken(55)

“Why are you hesitating with your offer? You thought to ease my pain and I find comfort in your voice. Lead the way.”

Meredith looked again to see if any of her fellow sisters poked their heads out to see where she might have wandered to. Guess they’re all too caught up in the celebration to notice that I have left. Selfishly she wished someone needed her. Gareth cleared his throat. He needs me, she thought, turning to face him with a practiced smile.

“I don’t have a lot of time,” she said.

“Then we had best use it wisely,” he said, giving her a friendly wink.

He took her arm, something he had never done before. Meredith waited for the assault of his turbulent emotions. Nothing. A cocoon of blackness that did not overload her senses greeted her. Instantly, she relaxed, knowing something wasn’t quite right but too happy to give him a second chance. After all everyone deserved another chance. She, more than him, understood the need for making a clean slate.

*

A tornado of emotions churned inside Izzy. The need to confess rocked her. What did I do? The question, the only one haunting her for the past hours, damned her. She’d smiled, eaten the food at the feast, and acted like all was normal even as Mike, her business partner, pretended to be happy for them all. He wasn’t truly happy and she didn’t need to be empathic to know the reason why. They had rocked the foundation of his beliefs and he still very much sought revenge. How can it ever be the same? We are not the same.

A gentle knock on her sanctuary door brought her upright from the bed. Nathanael, her husband, awaited for her to open the door. This act, significant and symbolic, a part of Cherub tradition, caused her stomach muscles to flutter madly. The meaning of what she was about to set in motion rattled like a wind chime blowing in the wind.

Izzy yanked open her bedroom door. He grinned, his eyes heated with warmth. They turned light gray, almost hazel-like when he was happy. Definitely asphalt-colored when angry.

“Get in here,” she said, turning her back to march over to stand by the bed. She didn’t dare sit on it. The act was significant, and intimate, considering what she thought he hoped to do next. Izzy closed her eyes and wished again she’d changed into jeans and a shirt. Wearing the red robe felt constricting. Wearing nothing underneath it left her body vibrating anxiously. Knowing he wore nothing under his matching robe unsettled her more.

“Isabella, your loving welcome warms my heart.”

He teased her. She wrung her fingers together, trying to figure out how best to explain everything. “Nathanael,” she began.

“Nat.” He gave her a long, searching look. “Please call me Nat.”

A repeat of an earlier conversation. A smile tugged at her lips. “Izzy, please call me Izzy. All my friends do.”

One of his eyebrows rose. “Friends? We are much more than friends. Izzy, I should warn you that if you treat any of your human friends or greet them wearing what I know is underneath your robe…I shall kill them.”

He flirted with her. Izzy found herself tsking him. “Nat, we’re angels. We don’t go around killing people.”

“My only defense is that I am Seraphim born and yes, I will kill any human who dares see you—”

Izzy laughed, cutting him off. “Nat, that’s not going to happen. Come here…I need to explain something to you.”

“If it’s the birds and the bees, save it. We both know I know all about that.” He grinned in glee.

She took his hand in hers. “After what I have to tell you, you might not think that.”

“Will what you tell me involve having my wings cut off again?”

She gave him a puzzled look. “What?”

He brought her hand up to his mouth, kissing her knuckles. “My wings were clipped. Your wings were clipped. That is pain. I am sure I can handle what you have to tell me.”

It took a lot of willpower for Izzy to remove her hand from his, but in the end she had no choice.

“I bargained with the Mistress to let me stay here.”

He gave a slow nod, his eyes searching her face.

“You have to understand I could not leave them. Because of me, my Cherub sisters are in exile. I will not leave them.”

“I understand that, Izzy.”

His tone, quiet and patient, caused her to gulp with dread. “No.” She shook her head. “You don’t understand. She offered me the heavenly realm and I refused.”

“You did what you thought was right.”

Agitated with his soft words, Izzy got up and began to pace the space in her bedroom. “You are not listening, Nat. I had nothing left to bargain, so I bargained…you.”

He stood, stepping into her space, making her still. “Explain what you mean.”

“I wasn’t sure you’d go through with it, but I bargained that you would willingly give up your wings to be with me…”

His eyes clouded over and Izzy rushed the rest of what had to be said out. “I also bargained that you would stay with me in exile, on Earth, and not take a seat on the Seraphim Council.”

His hands grasped her by the arms. “How did you know I would agree?”

“I didn’t. I thought, I thought you’d leave me and then…”

“Then the Mistress would have no choice but to leave you too here, to this realm, which is what you wanted all along. You wouldn’t complete your penance. How could you?”