“Really?” I ask, shocked. “If even the Overlord’s son wonders about it then I am sure angels everywhere have thought about it. Unfortunately, nothing is going to happen unless we all come together.”
“Yeah, but that'll never happen. The risks are too great and we'd never find enough Angels to stand with us because they’re all too scared. I doubt they even feel that way anyways. Honestly, I thought I was the only rebellious one,” he winks.
I smile without showing my teeth because he just has this really sweet look on his face. His elbow is propping his head up and the light coming in the window behind him makes it looks like a halo around his head. Gabe is a great example of a perfect angel. Everything about him screams “angel”, so it’s kind of funny to me that this is happening. I snort finding it mildly funny and ironic.
“What’s so funny?” he asks.
“Nothing,” I say, unconvincingly. I can’t stop smiling.
“You know, I can already tell when you’re lying,” he smirks.
“Well I guess that’s kind of a good thing since angels aren’t supposed to lie.”
“Just because we aren’t supposed to doesn’t mean it’s right. We aren’t supposed to do a lot of things that we’ve already done,” he smiles showing straight white teeth now. “See if you can tell if this is the truth or not…” he pauses and I nod. “I told my dad he better put me with the smartest angel in the Domain.”
“Hmm,” I think on it for a second. “False,” I say confidently.
His eyebrows draw down. “How did you know?” he asks.
“Well, honestly it’s because I think you seem to care more about looks than wits.”
He looks at me for a second not saying anything. “Well I can tell you think highly of me.” His voice has an undertone of sarcasm.
“It’s not that I don’t. I just don’t guess I know you well enough. So what did you ask your dad then?”
“I didn’t ask him anything, I just left it to chance,” he says, numbly.
His tone suggests he doesn’t want to talk about it anymore so I don’t. We lay here facing each other but avoiding each other’s gaze. Just as I’m starting to feel uncomfortable he asks me another question.
“Okay, here’s another one: I was hoping to be vowed to Angelina.”
I visualize all of the girls that follow him around like lost puppies and only one stands out. I think she’s beautiful and I’ve caught his gaze lingering on her more than a few times. “True,” I say pretty sure I’m correct. I am also acting like I’m not jealous about it, and I’m not sure if I’m doing a good job or not. Neither am I sure if I really am jealous or not.
“Definitely not true,” he says, seeming disgusted.
I cock my eyebrow, not believing his gusto in that remark. I want to point out all the times I’ve noticed him staring at her, but I don’t want him to know I was watching him like he was watching her.
“Okay, well then who?” I ask. I’m genuinely curious to know.
Either he doesn’t want to tell me or he is deciding whether or not to, but I know he has an answer. He thinks he knows me so well in such a short time but I know him too. He looks sideways when he is thinking but he will look you in the eyes if he knows something. Right now he keeps his eyes locked on mine. I grow more and more curious by the second and just as I want to grab onto his shoulders and shake the answer out of him he speaks.
“You.”
::Crickets chirping outside::
I swallow and wonder if he hears it, because it sure is loud to my ears. His hand drifts to my cheek and he tucks a stray piece of hair behind my ear.
“Say something,” he whispers, “anything. Who did you hope to be with?”
Shadow is the first thing that comes to my mind but he’s not welcome here. I try to push him out of my thoughts before Gabriel can see.
“I was hoping it would be you,” I say quietly. I look him straight in the eye this time because I can’t afford for him to know this is a lie too.
We don’t say anything else. I wonder if he thinks I’m lying again or not. I lie back down on my pillow and turn over. He cuddles up to me with an arm under my pillow, holding my hand, and his other hand rubbing my shoulder. Not long later, the rubbing has stopped, his breathing is steady, and I know he’s asleep. The last thing I remember is closing my eyes and seeing Shadow’s face.
*~*Chapter 11-The Prophecy*~*
The smell of cinnamon and something sweet wakes me up. When I open my eyes I catch Gabe sitting a tray of breakfast down on my bedside table.
“I was trying not to wake you,” he says, “but good morning.”
He is dressed in a white t-shirt and black athletic pants, but he must have taken a shower before cooking breakfast because his hair is still wet and he smells like soap.
“Mmm. Did you cook this?” I reach for the cinnamon roll.
“Of course. Wraith and Kaia are still asleep, but even if they weren’t; Wraith can’t even boil water. I don’t know about Kaia.”
“Oh, she’s never had to cook a thing in her life. She’s probably afraid she would break a nail,” I snicker with my mouth full. It’s probably not very attractive but I’m so hungry that I don’t care. “This is really good! Thanks for breakfast, Gabe.”
“You’re welcome, babe. It’s just one of my many talents,” he says, wiggling his eyebrows with a goofy grin on his face.
I giggle a little at his geeky expression. I like this side of him. He is making this easier after all; maybe I can be happy with him.
A knock on the door causes us to pause and say, “Come in,” in unison. We glance at each other and I laugh. He smiles warmly at me laughing.
Kaia opens the door slowly; just enough to sneak her head through the space between and look at us with an “all-knowing” grin. In this case, she doesn’t know as much as she thinks she does.
“Hellooooo,” she drawls. “I hope I’m not interrupting any—hey that’s so not fair! I didn’t get breakfast in bed,” she folds her arms and pouts her bottom lip.
Gabe doesn’t even laugh. In a half-way serious voice he says, “Well that’s because Wraith isn’t as good of a guy as I am. You got jipped when it comes to fiancé’s. Sucks to be you,” he makes a clucking noise with his tongue, like uh uh uh. He winks and says he’s just kidding but that Wraith honestly can’t cook. “You’ll just have to teach him and then he can bring you breakfast in bed.”
She scowls as him and looks to me before a grin slowly spreads on her face. I’m not even guilty of anything and I feel my face turn red.
“After you finish eating your breakfast in bed do you want to go down to the library with me?” she asks. “We have a lot to catch up on and I’m looking for a manuscript too.”
I reach for my glass of orange juice and nod and then look at her over the rim of my glass. She narrows on eye at me, “Alright. Well I’ll meet you in the living room in an hour?”
I put it down, swallow and say, “Yeah that sounds fine.”
Now that I can finally think and my face is cooling down, I wonder why she needs to look for a manuscript. Kaia hates reading.
*~*~*~*~*
“I was about to come back in for you but I didn’t want to disturb you two. I thought I said an hour, not an hour, twenty two minutes, and forty five seconds,” Kaia taps her watch face pretending to scold me.
“Sorry,” I say. “I had to shower and it takes forever to dry my hair. Then I went to find something to wear and have you looked in my closet? They want me to play pretty, pretty, princess just for a casual stroll to the library. The clothes they gave me are ridiculous! And you don’t even want to know the kinds of things they put in my pajama and underwear drawer.” I shake my head and wear a shocked expression to add to my melodramatic show.
“Well you look fine in that sundress. I don’t even think I’ve ever seen you wear a dress,” she says, tapping her finger on her chin.
“No, I don’t feel comfortable in them,” I reply. “Where d
id you get those jeans and tank top? Do you want to trade closets with me?” I ask, whining. “I think they got us confused.”
“Yeah, maybe. I’ll have to check yours out when I get back. Let’s get out of here already,” she says, already opening the door to leave.
She doesn’t speak to me the whole way out of the Aerie, but when we reach the sidewalk she finally slows down and sighs with relief.
“So how was your night though, honestly?” she asks.
“It was good. I slept good. We talked a little before we went to sleep. I think he’s a pretty good guy. I’m lucky to have been vowed to him.”
“Lucky doesn’t even compare to what you are, girl!”
I sigh. “So I’m told, even by his father.” I glance at her. “But Wraith seems pretty awesome too…”
“Yes, he is, he is that,” she keeps nodding her head and dazing at the ground.
“Kaia…?” I put inflection on the end of her name as if she’s a little girl who just got caught doing something wrong.
She bites her lip to stop her smile but it doesn’t fool me. I know her way too well.
“Okay,” I say. “Spill the beans.”
She huffs, conceding to my demand. “Well, we were pretty intoxicated off of the Angelspark right?”
I nod. Although, I don’t think pretty intoxicated quite describes the situation. It was more like completely wasted.
“Yes, okay…” I urge her on.
“We pretty much stumble into the room and he takes off his shirt and flops onto the bed. I guess I was ogling him because he told me to wipe the drool off of my mouth. I thought that was the funniest thing I’d heard and I laughed for like five minutes straight. It’s embarrassing, remembering how stupid I was acting.”
“Okay...” I use hand motions to get her to the good stuff.
“Well he patted the bed beside him and I went over there and sat down. My head was spinning too bad to sit up, so I just lay back with him. We’re both laying there looking at the ceiling and he tells me how glad he is that it was me, because he’s had a crush on me since he saw me at orientation! Eeek!” she screeches and claps her hands excitedly.
I roll my eyes, “Okay, that’s good and all, but get to the point here Kia!” I’m not patient.
“Fine,” she huffs. “At that point my head was swimming with warm fuzzies and I felt really good. The next thing I know he kisses me and I am kissing him back. We kissed for a really long time,” she emphasizes. “And-some-other-stuff-too,” she mumbles really fast, really low. “He is really strong too, I mean he has an eight pack and his arms are rock solid. If I wasn’t so hammered, he would have made me feel insecure. Luckily, I didn’t even think about it.”
Everything she’s told me only amps up my curiosity and I feel like there’s more to this little fiasco. “Kaia, are you leaving out something? You might as well tell me because if not I’m just going to assume. And you know what that does.”
Now she rolls her eyes at me. “Fine. I guess you could say we…” she mumbles something I can’t hear at all.
“Excuse me.” I put my hand up to my ear. “I didn’t catch that. What did you say?” I’m smiling from ear to ear.
“I said, I guess you could say we are officially bonded.” She crosses her arms and purses her lips. Then she slowly smiles. “Gods! I think you need a hearing aid.”
“Well, I guess you don’t have to wait another month now.” I smile. “So how is it to be bonded? Can you really talk to each other when you’re not together? Can you hear his thoughts?” I’m so excited for her, and curious for me.
We reach the library and she pulls open the door for me. “Well I’m not sure because he’s been sleeping since it happened and last night we were drunk.” She smiles nostalgically. “But I’m happy. Inside here we have to whisper, so I will tell you the rest later. I can’t wait to hear what really happened with you last night.”
“We didn’t do anything like that, I told you already,” I hiss.
“Yeah, and I. don’t. believe. you,” she whispers back roughly, pausing after each word.
I am going to strangle her with my bare hands. “What book are you looking for anyways?” I ask. Yes, good change of subject as well.
“Well, technically it’s a manuscript because it’s so old, but whatever. Wraith was telling me about some prophecy that the Overlord has his panties in a wad over. He says he’s making everyone in the Guard really buckle down and practice for hours every day. Wraith thinks he’s getting ready for a war or something.”
She continues walking through the library, looking for the right aisle. She leads me around so many corners that I am lost and I wonder how she knows where she’s going.
“Really? That’s crazy! What is the prophecy about then?”
She glances at me sideways. “You can’t speak a word of this anywhere. It could get us killed for conspiracy, same to Wraith. You should really ask Gabriel about it anyways, he’s the Overlord’s son.”
I nod, “The prophecy says…?”
“Oh yeah, well it talks about creatures breeding with different kinds, and one will rise up to overthrow the leader of the new world. It says he’ll be like, the strongest kind to ever exist and he’ll lead all of the different kinds and half-breeds in a war against everyone.”
“So it’s a he? And is he good or bad?” I wonder.
“Well I’d be scared of him if he’s a half-breed anyway. Not to mention that he’s supposed to overthrow your husband’s dad and wage a war. Plus, he’s stronger than anyone else. Ever. I mean what if he’s evil you know?” We’ll have no hope,” she whispers harshly.
I think about this, picturing another war and what it could mean for our race. We may not survive this time.
“I’ll ask Gabriel if he has heard about it or anything,” I whisper.
“I know he’s heard of it. Wraith says they talk about it all of the time, not to mention he’s the Captain of the Guard and he’s been preparing them for war, like I said.”
Surely it’s not hurt that infiltrates my system at this very moment. I don’t care that Gabriel hasn’t said anything to me about this. Right? But Wraith told Kaia. (Insert pouty lip now) After all, I don’t even feel the same way for Gabriel that he feels for me, so why do I feel upset?
“Here it is,” Kaia whispers. She pulls the manuscript off of the shelf and opens it to the first few pages. “I really hope there’s a table of contents,” she says and I agree, because it’s about four inches thick.
She flips through the book for about ten minutes while I stand here thinking about what other secrets Gabriel doesn’t share with me. I really hate that I’m starting to care, because this isn’t something I should be worried about right now. We don’t even know each other that well, but I find myself envying what Kaia and Wraith already have: trust, companionship, a bond.
“Alexia…I think I found something!” She startles me from my musings.
I lean over to read what her finger point to:
…the half-ling shall riseth to lead the like-kinded and reform the path of thy future when the good and evil orphan bonds with thy goodness. For this shall strengthen the good and evil half-ling and raise powers such that thou hast never been. They will rise up a new nation, as one.
“What the heck?”
“Can we check this out?” I ask.
“No, you can’t check these out, they are supposedly the originals and they can’t risk anything happening to them.”
“Kaia, since when do you know so much about libraries? I thought you hated to read.”
“I do, but my mom loved it. She has a whole library in the house and it was actually structured to be identical to this one. That’s how I know where I’m going in here,” she whispers.
I feel like I don’t really know as much as I thought I did about my best friend. Today is turning out to be an awakening for me. I wonder why there are things I don’t know about my closest friend and new husband, when complete strangers like Sh
adow will trust me with their deepest, most important secrets.
“I think Wraith is awake,” Kaia pauses.
“Why?” I ask.
“Because he just asked me where I was…” she looks at me with a shocked and excited expression. “Through our bond.” She absolutely beams.
As I follow Kaia out of the library and back to the Aerie, my mind is in another place, with another kind, another boy. And I’m beginning to wonder if that’s not where my heart is too.
*~*Chapter 12-Arguing*~*
Back in the room, the boys are practicing their swordsmanship with each other out on the terrace. A worrisome thought flitters through my mind at how dangerous that is since neither one has had their wings released yet. I don’t know what I would do if one of them fell, but I bite my lip and try not to worry.
“Bout time you girls came back,” Wraith pants. “Although, I did enjoy our conversation on your walk back.” He winks at Kaia.
I thought she seemed distant on our walk back and now I see why. I tried making conversation with her a few times but she was lost in thought and didn’t reply, so we just quietly walked side by side after that.
Gabriel walks over towards me and smiles a sweet, caring smile. “I missed you, don’t leave me with him anymore,” he cants his head towards Wraith. “I don’t know how many times I have to best him with the sword before he learns who gives the orders and who takes them.”
Wraith hugs Kaia while he shoots Gabe the bird behind her back and I snicker. I’m never bored with them around.
“So while you were gone I was informed that we’re scheduled for our flight lesson in…” Gabe pauses to check his watch. “In an hour!” He takes my hand and kisses it like a prince would kiss a princess. I’m happy to say that chivalry really isn’t dead.
“Really?” I squeak, trying to sound excited and not nervous. But I am nervous. I don’t know how I am going to play this to where he doesn’t realize that I have already released my wings.
“Yeah, my dad pulled a few strings. I guess there are a few perks to your dad being the Overlord,” he says.
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