The knight snarled, beating his wings. The tendrils of guilt receded: this was one feisty fairy. Especially when he twisted, biting Gabriel’s thumb.
Gabriel yelped, dropping the knight who whizzed in a metallic blur around our heads. Then the knight transformed in a shower of gold into a full-sized steam-punk military officer, whose wings burst in burnished gold through the slashes in his coat; a decorative scimitar was slung around his waist.
I startled, staggering backwards, whilst the knight’s lips curved upwards; the deep emerald of his eyes danced with a dangerous malevolence that made my hands twitch towards the non-existent weapons at my waist.
Emerald eyes that matched his hair, which was pinned up with flamboyant gold clips, scrutinized me. The knight’s grin widened in the translucent alabaster of his skin, revealing sharpened teeth like fangs.
It put a whole different spin on the bastard Tooth Fairy.
I shuddered. “Is Fairy of the Fangs here safe?”
Gabriel barked with laughter. “Of course not. By the bones, why ever would you think any of the fae safe? You don’t survive by avoiding danger, but by understanding that there are dangers you can never tame.”
The knight swept to Gabriel, slamming his hands against the wall to box Gabriel in and nipping kisses along his jaw.
I growled — not at the kisses — but at the way that Gabriel sighed, relaxing under the knight’s demanding caresses.
How long had they been lovers, whilst I’d only just been admitted to this realm? Yet Gabriel had offered me everything… Had he meant it or had it simply been another move on the board?
I snatched the knight by his hair, digging his clips into his scalp, whilst he hissed and twisted, and dragging him back from Gabriel. I knew, however, that he was allowing himself to be manhandled, as I tossed him to the floor: his coiled strength hummed through me.
Gabriel caught my arm. “Aren’t we all prisoners, sister? Everyone’s a spy in this temple: we’re all ensnared whisperers together. And Quinn—”
“This is the Chief Knight?” I gazed down at Quinn, who was sprawled on his back, staring at me unblinkingly. I trembled with eddies of violet rage. If Quinn had touched my teenage Phoenix, I’d cut off his bastard balls. “Where’s Firebird, bitch?”
Quinn flicked his fingers at me, and a burst of rainbow sparks shot out, before fizzling away.
“Impressive kiddie show, but as an attack…? Epic fail.” I stalked closer, but Quinn only raised an eyebrow. “Cat got your tongue?”
Frustrated, Quinn pushed himself to his knees, shooting another arc of colors at me: rusty reds and oranges this time.
Gabriel tutted. “Your coarseness will get you nothing but a spanking, young fay.”
The look Quinn cast Gabriel was sultry as he crawled towards him; Gabriel backed away.
I glanced between them. “Am I missing the part where Rainbow Fairy here’s…you know, talking?”
Gabriel stroked his hand down Quinn’s cheek, as Quinn rested his head on Gabriel’s thigh. “The fae’s voices were stolen by my father. He sought to control and isolate them, so that only he’d be able to talk to them inside their minds. Yet, the fae are rebels…” Quinn sniggered. “They found their own way to communicate and they taught me.”
The rainbow colors were Quinn’s voice…?
A bottle green crept blushing from the tips of Quinn’s fingers.
Gabriel sighed. “Thank you for your trust and…she knows that you wouldn’t hurt the Phoenix.” Gabriel glanced at me, and I read his plea: not to hurt Quinn.
I bit my lip. “You’ve been protecting Firebird from the Seraphim, yeah?”
Quinn nodded.
“There are many tribes of fae, and the ones that my father bound to him…” Quinn pushed himself to his feet, bursting rainbows so brightly that my eyes ached. Gabriel caught his hands, stilling them. “Why, even now so frightened?” Quinn struggled to back away, but Gabriel held on tightly. “My sister shan’t reject you: the ones that she’s claimed as family are bastards, Addicts, Halflings, Seducers, and vampires. I promise, she will not believe that you deserve your fate: she is not your father, nor mine.”
Why had Quinn and his tribe been bound? Why was Quinn so ashamed?
I nodded. “My fam has my back, and I have theirs. I don’t care about your past, only who you are now.”
Quinn’s eyes widened, before he gestured from himself to me.
Gabriel smiled: it wasn’t the radiant one that made me feel alive but soft and thoughtful. “She is indeed a rebel like you. Quinn’s entire warrior tribe was hated and feared for their difference. When they were defeated in battle, they were given to the Seraphim as punishment.”
“I wish that I could kick some fairy arse for you.”
“Quinn will kick arse for us on the Test by Monster.” Gabriel dropped to his knees, pulling Quinn with him and wrapping him in the nest of his wings. Then he glanced at me. “Fae need skin contact — touch in their world is power. My father forbids it but by my feathers, I’ll not deny them.”
“Lamest excuse for sexy times ever.” I cocked my head. “So, they’re Snuggle Fae?” Quinn’s brow darkened, until I shivered. “OK, got it, don’t piss off the Snuggle Fae.”
Then to my surprise, Quinn held open his arms, welcoming me into their snuggle fest.
I dived into Gabriel’s wings, allowing myself this comfort. Soon, we’d be taken out of the cell to face monsters.
Ones that weren’t me.
Creak — I jumped, as the oak door swung open.
“Only me,” Purah, Jahael’s Acolyte, ambled into the cell, still naked as he’d been in the Holy Audience Chamber, except for the J stuck in pearls on the center of his chest. “I couldn’t let you fools go wandering about on a holiday without a final cuddle.”
I guess the holy adoration schtick didn’t extend to the Archduke.
Gabriel scrambled up, grasping Purah around the shoulders, before spinning him. Then he snatched his hands, examining his blistered fingers with a guilt, which I understood from every time that my decisions and mistakes had hurt my family.
Hell, Quinn and Purah were Gabriel’s family: a slave and a bound fae. Yet why had an Archduke chosen the enslaved? Had he truly been that lonely? Had he been scorned by the Seraphim or had he allied himself with those that he wished to save?
Was he as much a hero in the shadows as Mischief?
Gabriel kissed the seared tips of Purah’s fingers. “By all that burns, you have my apologies a thousand times over. Tell me how to atone…”
Purah tilted his head, and his curls fell into his eyes. “Nothing says sorry like a back massage; my shoulders are killing me. Our Holy Emperor used me as a sodding foot stool for hours.”
“Your wish is my command.”
Then Gabriel dragged Purah down in a flurry of wings, massaging his shoulders, whilst Quinn licked up his neck. Purah wriggled down with a sigh.
Purring.
Purah’s contented purr thrilled through me, like Rebel’s always had.
Hell, I missed Rebel.
As if sensing my sorrow, Purah waggled his foot at me. “There’s enough loving to go around. How about a foot rub?”
Gabriel paused in his massage, glancing at me uncertainly.
What did he expect me to do? Blast his little Acolyte for his insolence?
This was Gabriel’s family: Quinn and Gabriel were spoiling the slave to try and make up for the abuses that he suffered.
I was bastard down with that.
“I’m God of Foot Rubs.” I slipped into their tangle of feathers, dark and pale skin, and snuggles, whilst I picked up one of Purah’s small feet and stroked its arch.
“On all that’s holy, I’m worshiping your arse.” Purah writhed, purring.
Yeah, I have magic hands.
I glanced through the grille at the Acolyte’s sleeping quarters: it was identical to our cell, except for a row of sinks and marble baths. The Acolytes huddled together on the floor
without even blankets, sleeping like a pile of puppies with wings.
Gabriel noticed my sad grimace. “At least they don’t sleep alone.”
Sprays of blues from cerulean to cobalt shot from Quinn’s palms.
“Buzzkill,” Purah muttered.
“Quinn just wanted to make certain that you knew we have three days only to complete the test, and if we don’t…we can’t return.” Gabriel stroked his thumb along Purah’s wingtip, and he whined. Hell, that was why Purah was here: This was a goodbye. Yet I hadn’t even been able to say my goodbyes to my family. Gabriel’s assessing stare made me squirm. “Defeated already? Aren’t you my father’s mighty creation? A god? The test is to hunt the monsters, not be hunted. To succeed, you bring back a trophy for my father’s cabinet.”
Quinn sprang up, military smart. He wove his hands above his head and sparkling creatures sprang to life in the gloom: a sizzling serpent that wound around the cell.
I scrabbled back against the wall, but the snake passed through me, ghostly. Quinn’s eyes glittered, as a tiny image of him sprang to life: a doll next to the hissing snake. They circled each other, before the Doll Quinn swung his scimitar in a wide arc, slicing off the serpent’s head.
His trophy.
Quinn gave the universal gesture for ta da!
That’s what I’d be facing…monsters like that…?
My lips thinned. “Cheers for the motivational video. It’s filed under Monsters I Never Want to Meet.”
Gabriel brushed his fingers across mine. “The monsters aren’t what you think. Some were brought through the Gateways and others…” He looked away. “Remember, my father has demoted me. I fight by your side.”
I clasped his hand tighter, just as Purah hugged onto us both, and Quinn rested his hand on our heads. I wasn’t alone, but in moments I’d be taking on a test that no one but fae had ever survived, for the sake of my family, who’d die or be tossed into the Abyss if I failed. And I didn’t have my true family at my side, but the Emperor’s son and the knight who was loyal to him.
Would I discover that it was even more dangerous outside the toxic court of the temple, amongst the plain’s feathers and bones?
The ghostly curve of the valley’s bones glowed like a violet river carving a snake path through the mountains of feathers. Hardness between the soft; beauty and decay. A realm that had lived in my mind and haunted me as visions.
Beginning and End.
I shook my head, squinting through the blaze of the scarlet streaked sun from my perch at the entrance of the bone cave, which was hollowed like a giant had sucked out the marrow.
In this freaky realm, maybe it had.
Come on brain, conjure a pissed off Pikachu, rather than a marrow sucking Cyclops…
I sighed, wiping the hem of my golden robe over my nose to block out the musty stench.
Just before we’d left The Burning Temple, Quinn had tossed a monk-like robe at me, which had molded to my body in a way that’d been so intimate, I’d squirmed. Then he’d grinned as he’d strapped Flight and Star around my waist ceremonially: a welcome into the order.
I’d only needed a lightsaber and I could’ve blamed the dark side for my new god-like cravings.
Quinn leaned against the cave’s wall, scanning the plains on sentry duty but looking like a conqueror surveying his new kingdom, whilst the true kingdom’s heir sprawled at his feet next to me.
Gabriel nudged a bottle of water and a tin of baked beans towards me from his pack. “Eat, sister.”
He smiled hopefully.
I picked up the tin with a grimace. “Cheers, these never grow old.”
Quinn glanced at me. Then neon pinks sparked from his fingertips.
Gabriel laughed.
Had I even heard him laugh before…?
I stared at Gabriel, who was relaxed on his elbows next to me. He looked different — younger — than he had in the temple: free.
Why did I crave to be the one to make him laugh?
“See how much I tremble at your threat to turn me into an omega cub!” Gabriel pointed at Quinn, who attempted to frown, but his lips unwillingly quirked into a smile. “You fae would coddle me like a snuggle bug. You need lessons on intimidation from my father; he’s Emperor of Terror.”
I gaped at Gabriel. He’d just disrespected Jahael: where was the holy, holy, holy, and the in His glory fawning…? Why had Gabriel just called down punishment on himself?
Clank — I slammed down the tin; I winced, as the beans slopped over my hand in a cold tsunami.
“What the hell, Monsieur Viv La Revolution?” I growled. “Are you just begging for another trip to Monster Hall?”
Gabriel blinked at me in surprise. “The rules change outside the temple. Here?” His smile was easy and open. How often would he smile if he was liberated from the Gilded Cage? “Father can’t get in my head or use me as a puppet. I can say…what I truly think.”
I glanced between him and Quinn. “Then what’s with fairy boy?”
Gabriel turned away, gathering up his pack. I knew evasion when I saw it. “Quinn doesn’t believe that we should be here; he’s masterful in his opinions.”
“Isn’t this where I slay the monster?”
Quinn snorted.
I stiffened. Not to get conspiracy theory on their arses, but my shadows coiled inside that although this was my Test by Monster, there was more danger than the creatures roaming the plains.
“Don’t you trust me yet?” Gabriel asked.
I studied him. “If you save my fam, I’d die for you.”
Something shuttered in his face. “So quick to die?”
“So quick to save my fam.”
Quinn marched to Gabriel, dragging him up by the front of his robe. Quinn’s rainbow colors illuminated Gabriel’s chest, pulsing over his heart. Gabriel whined, but didn’t pull away.
“On my oath, when we return — and we shall survive to return — all your family who I have control over will be given to you, sister.” Gabriel eased Quinn’s fingers away, and the colors died. “Quinn promises Firebird as well.”
“Ash and Lucifer too?” Gabriel hesitated too long. “I’m the Dragon God, do you want to piss me off? Because as my omega bitch, you’d be leashed, not coddled.”
Gabriel’s eyes became flinty. “By my wing, if I believed such of you, I’d not give a single angel into your power.”
I deflated, licking at the beans on my hand with a shudder. “You got me, bro. I won’t be that sort of god. But you will free all my fam — and that’s vampires too.”
Quinn nuzzled against Gabriel’s neck, and Gabriel sighed.
“You may have the vampire whore,” Gabriel conceded. “But Lucifer is too dangerous—”
“You’re acting the pussy?”
“I’m saving him,” Gabriel burst out, “for you. My father wished him dead or severely punished at the climax of the Angel Games: you were to be victorious through the death of your own father. It would’ve been the washing clean of your Fallen past and the entry into your new godly role. Do you imagine the Emperor so furious with me over fripperies? Before your arrival, he believed me the most obedient son in all things. Since it…I have defied him at every turn. You shall be the death of me.”
I stared at Gabriel, as Quinn held him to his chest, stroking his back.
What the hell did I say? Sorry I’ve screwed-up your life?
“Good word: fripperies. Like flibbertigibbet, kerfuffle, or pernickety…”
Gabriel raised his head from Quinn’s chest; his eyes were glazed with tears, but he still smiled weakly. “I hope you’re aware how impossible you are?”
“Yeah, Mischief makes sure to tell me that in daily doses of snark.”
“I shall claim Lucifer as my personal Acolyte. It’s the only way to keep him away from other Seraphim and stop him from being tossed into the Abyss. Does that save me from beating?”
I nodded, licking the final stripe of beans off my hand, before chucking away the tin.
Gabriel’s brow furrowed. “I was clear with the Guardian to source human army rations.” He untangled himself from Quinn’s possessive hold, crouching down opposite me. “Did I fail you?”
My breath caught at the honest rawness of his tone. How often had he been made to feel a failure?
Unexpectedly, the velvet caress of his amber scent wound around me: a silent plea for mercy…
I craved to pull Gabriel closer and kiss away the panicked look, pulling the lip that he tore between his own teeth and bite it instead between mine…
“You couldn’t fail me.” I forced on the most fake smile of my life. “Beans are the food of the gods: delicious as triple chocolate cupcakes smothered in nectar.”
Gabriel’s shoulders slumped with relief. “I’ll have the Guardian fetch you more as a treat once we’re back.”
The tangled web of lies…
I bit back a groan. “Awesome.”
“Although…” Gabriel seized my hand; his wings flapped in sudden agitation. “You’d do better with blood.”
I jerked my hands away from his. “Listen here, Sultan’s boy, I’ll never drink human blood.”
“Who said anything about human? A Fallen’s blood, especially of a bonded, is the most potent…a Marked angel’s has almost equal power. Don’t you sense it: the pull?”
My gums itched at the phantom taste of blood. Rebel’s was candy sweet heaven: its strength had juiced me, as well as bonded me so close that I could shoot emotions through to Rebel and even control him on a thought. But I wouldn’t do that to him without permission because I wouldn’t make him my puppet.
Plus, his blood was addictive.
If Ash’s had an even greater kick, how much more addictive would it be?
“Don’t get blood craving on me.” I inched backwards. “My sister’s a Blood Lover, and I’m not forcing that type of twisted love on Ash.”
Quinn leaned over Gabriel, cradling his arms over his neck, before tipping him back and licking down his throat.
Gabriel peeked through his thick eyelashes at me. “How strange that you assume it’d be unwilling? What if he secretly longs to bond b-b-but…"
Rebel Angels: The Complete Series Page 113
