The Angels of Paris Chronicles Books 1-3: Boxed Set Bonus Edition

by Anna Santos

  “Of course not.”

  I raised my hand to touch the snowflakes and they melted in my palm. I liked snow—at Christmas that is—not on a summer’s day when I had to walk down the road and look for a way out of here.

  “It’s snowing because Cedric is sad,” Jacob explained.

  I turned to stare at him. “He can control the weather?”

  “Since he became an angel, he can. He made it rain when he was testing his powers. If it’s snowing, then it’s Cedric who’s doing this because he’s grieving. You should go talk to him.”

  “He’s on the roof. I don’t like heights,” I said to Jacob, who shrugged.

  “If you call him from the garden, I’m sure he can come down to talk to you and stop the snow,” Camille said.

  I thought about it.

  Camille insisted. “It’s the mature thing to do, Aria. You’re a couple. You should talk to sort out your problems. Whatever it is, I’m sure you can overcome it. If you still want to leave after your talk, I’ll take you to your parents. I promise.”

  I puckered my lips. I knew what I wanted to tell him. The only question was whether he was ready to listen or not. I was grieving, too. I wasn’t making snow fall from the skies, but I would probably conjure a storm if I could.

  “Talk to him it is, then,” I mumbled and dropped my luggage on the floor. Then I strolled my way to the balcony’s French doors.

  Cedric was on top of the roof, as still as a statue with his closed eyes. It was a pretty sight to see. He was in his angelic form. His white wings were shining blue and white as the snow kept falling on him, making him seem like a vision. He was handsome and seeing him took my breath away every time. Too bad he was stubborn and unfair.

  “Cedric! Come down! Aria wants to talk to you. It’s important!”

  I shivered at Camille’s screams to get Cedric’s attention. I was struggling about whether to call out to him or not. I guessed it was no longer an issue since, thanks to Camille, he knew I was there.

  Cedric opened his eyes, slowly, gracefully, and stared down at us. I felt tiny as my heart raced in my chest. Yet his eyes looked emotionless and far away from us, shining blue. For a few seconds, I thought he was going to ignore me and keep doing what he was doing. Instead, he jumped and dropped himself on the floor, instinctively causing me to panic.

  I put my hands over my mouth but relaxed when he used his wings to prevent the fall and land in front of me. The urge to growl at him for scaring me like that grew bigger. Watching people in high places or freefalling wasn’t something that people who were afraid of heights liked to witness.

  I noticed that he just stood there, in front of me, waiting for me to speak. He crossed his arms over his chest, and I didn’t like what his eyes were implying. He was waiting for me to tell him how sorry I was. He still thought I should apologize. I wasn’t going to. Not again. Not for something I didn’t do.

  “This was a mistake,” I said, glancing at Camille, who bit her lower lip. I made a move to leave, but she grabbed me and stopped me.

  “You are going to talk. And you are both going to lose the attitude,” she warned, pointing at Cedric and me. Then, grabbing our arms, she forced us to walk beside her and sit on the couches near the pool. “I’m going to go inside now, so you can solve your differences.” Pointing a finger at Cedric, she said, “And you better stop the snow because I don’t want our house appearing on the news.”

  Cedric shrugged and stared at his feet.

  I glared at him. He was playing the martyr.

  A few moments later, Camille had disappeared indoors and the silence was unbearable between Cedric and me.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CEDRIC

  I was curious about what she had to tell me. It didn’t seem she was going to ask me for forgiveness. If anything, she looked annoyed. I was aggravated, too. I had every right to be. She had spent her time with that deceitful and traitorous vampire and hadn’t let me freeze him to death. The worst thing was that she had protected him. She had chosen him over me. After everything he’s done to her, how can she want to be in the same room as him?

  Why does it hurt so much? I felt as if my heart was being ripped out of my chest. Why can’t she understand that she’s mine now, and I would do anything for her? Nevertheless, I couldn’t tolerate seeing her with him.

  Aria’s voice woke me up from my thoughts. “Are you going to stop pouting, so we can have an important conversation?”

  “I’m not pouting,” I complained. “I’m sad; that’s different.”

  At least, she was talking. I was done talking. I wanted her to understand that she’d acted wrongly. I wanted her to make an effort to comprehend why I’d been so mad at her. I was calmer now.

  “Good thing you’re not destroying everything,” she muttered.

  I sighed at the sarcasm. “You act like I didn’t have any reason to confront Philippe and punch him in the face!”

  Folding her arms, she said, “You didn’t.”

  “If you don’t want me to stay mad at you, please don’t take your former soulmate’s side.”

  “I’m not taking anyone’s side. I’m stating the obvious. You acted impulsively and you shouldn’t have.”

  “I couldn’t control myself since my angel was pissed and I was pissed, so…yeah.” I shrugged, not knowing what more to say. I wasn’t proud of acting like that and losing my temper. “Would you like it if you found out I was spending my time with some girl who had feelings towards me and who wanted to steal me from you?”

  She narrowed her eyes as if I were provoking her.

  “How is what I’ve done so different from what you did because I was talking to Charlotte?” I insisted since she wasn’t answering. “I apologized to you because of that, remember?”

  “You have every right to be jealous, but you also need to believe me when I tell you that nothing happened,” she retorted.

  “I believe you,” I said. Her eyes showed that she didn’t seem convinced. “I do. I just…lost it.”

  “I don’t think you believe me, and I’m not pleased by the way you yelled and called me names,” she uttered in a gloomy voice.

  I spared her a look, puzzled by what she was implying. “What did I call you?”

  “Don’t you remember?”

  “No, enlighten me.”

  I was curious about what was making her feel so offended.

  “You called me a whore, Cedric, and…you were extremely rude.”

  Frowning, I said, “I didn’t call you a whore. I said that if you stayed with Philippe, you would be one more of his whores. Meaning, he would treat you like a whore and not like a mate. I, on the other hand, want you to be my wife and my queen. I’ve never treated you badly. I would never reject you, and I love you. So, excuse me if I got mad because you spent time with someone who should be kept far away from you.”

  I was patronizing her intentionally. But she seemed to lose sight of things. She had no idea what kind of danger she’d put herself into.

  I fixed my hair and sighed. “You have to stop being so gullible! He’s a vampire, an evil and old vampire. Do you believe he hasn’t fooled hundreds of women to think he cared about them? Do you honestly think he’s sorry for hurting you, for…ripping his soul apart from yours? Aria, you need to stop seeing him as a human. He isn’t. He’s not like you and me. He’s cold and deceitful. I shouldn’t be the one to tell you this. I shouldn’t be here trying to make you stay away from him. You should want to stay away.”

  I couldn’t understand why she was so keen on defending that creep. Whatever he had done in the past twenty-four hours made her feel something for him. I was losing her. It hurt, but it would hurt more if I pretended to be blind to it, and she tore my heart apart by choosing Philippe over me.

  “If you’d stop talking about Philippe, we could talk about us,” she said.

  Her words intrigued me since I had no idea what she’d meant by that. “I have been talking about us. Yet these days, i
t seems that Philippe keeps crossing our path to destroy what we have together. Everything was fine until he showed up in our lives and wanted to claim you back.”

  “Everything was fine until you found out that Philippe was my former mate. You hate him so much that you’ve let that hate come between our love. I don’t know if you’ve realized this or not, but you’ve been pushing me away since the night Philippe tried to take me away.”

  I stared at her, baffled and intrigued by her reasons for saying those things. I didn’t see things the way she did. I wasn’t pushing her away. She was falling for his deceitful charm and fake good intentions. She wasn’t going to place the blame on me.

  “I hate this,” she whispered, lowering her gaze to her lap.

  I sighed. I wasn’t happy about the situation, either.

  Aria kept talking. “I hate that we fight all the time now. I hate that you’re incapable of understanding me. I hate that you think I’m being a spoiled brat when all that I want is for you to…”

  “For me to what?” I leaned forward, invading her space. I didn’t want her being sad, but I didn’t want to be deceived.

  Aria aimed her gloomy eyes at me as her crying voice reached my ears. “I want you to believe in me when I tell you that I don’t want Philippe. I want you. You are the only one who’s pushing me away. I don’t like where this is going. I don’t like the way you address me. I really don’t like how you think my dreams are so mundane and stupid now that I’m supposed to be an angel and a future queen. I really don’t like how you kept me away from the world, and you don’t seem to find time to want to know me and my family.”

  I defended myself. “I invited them to come and have dinner with us here tonight. I went to meet them at the mall. You’re the one who can’t understand that Philippe is using your parents to get to you.”

  “You don’t understand,” she said as I regained my breath. “I’m not stupid and I know perfectly well when Philippe’s lying. You may not like it, but we have a lot in common.”

  “I don’t want to know anything about what you and Philippe have in common,” I grumbled as I leaned my back against the seat.

  “Why not?”

  I scowled at her. “Are you seriously asking me that question?”

  “Yes.”

  “It sounds like you’re trying to find an excuse to leave me,” I declared, troubled by the thought that crossed my mind. “Are you serious about us or not?”

  Aria folded her hands as she faced me. “It sounds like you believe I don’t love you anymore.”

  We stared at each other in silence for a few moments. She seemed to be hurting. Her cheeks were red and her lips were pursed as her soft hair fell about her pretty face. My eyes roamed her body. She was still wearing that flashy black dress with high heels. I didn’t like how it looked on her. Even if it was her cousin’s clothes and not something trashy that Philippe had in his closet, it bothered me how she’d dressed to be with him and how she’d defended him.

  Aria’s voice came out fragile as she wiped away a tear. “It’s extremely upsetting to know that you have so little faith in me and my feelings for you. I’m seriously thinking that failing the trial isn’t going to be my problem, but yours. We’re supposed to fall in love. Things were going fine until you started to act possessive and paranoid.”

  “I’m not being paranoid! Philippe is trying to take you away from me. As for being possessive… Well, I can’t change that. I’ve been alone for so long that I…want you to be a part of my life. I want you to love me—just me and no one else. Besides, why can’t I be possessive of you? We’re bonded. We’re a couple. I want to love you and keep you safe.”

  “And do you plan to make me happy, too?” she snapped.

  Her question hurt me. I did everything she asked me to. “Don’t I make you happy?”

  “I’m not talking about the make-out sessions.”

  “We do more than kiss and… We fight, we do, but whose fault is that?”

  Clenching her hands on her lap, she muttered, “Probably mine for falling for your talk and neglecting to see the manipulation.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked, mystified.

  “It’s quite simple, actually.” She lifted her chin and met my gaze. “I came to Paris to fulfill my lifetime dream of exploring the city. I didn’t ask to be your mate—or Philippe’s. I didn’t ask to be your queen. You asked me to be. You convinced me to give you a try. You claimed you’d do everything I wanted, that you would make my dreams come true. So far, none of your promises have been fulfilled. On the contrary, you’ve kept me locked up in this house, and you’ve done nothing more than prepare me to be the so-called Red Angel of yours. You claim you love me, but I’m seriously beginning to doubt that since you don’t really want to know me. You’re simply waiting for me to change for good and accept the angel inside me. I think you’re in love with the idea of having a mate and a queen. You’re relying on me to break your curse, but you’re failing to understand the curse you’re putting on me. You have no idea how much pressure you put me through when you tell me that you’ll die if I don’t love you.”

  “Aria…” I mumbled, blinking at her words. I had no idea that she’d been feeling all that. Am I being this selfish and blind?

  “Don’t.”. She had a lot more to say by the look of it. “I don’t want to hear anything else from you. So far, you’ve been the only one talking. You haven’t given me the opportunity to explain myself. I’m not a prisoner, nor am I one of your subjects to yell at and boss around. If you want me to be your mate, then you should treat me as your equal. Don’t give me the lame excuses that you’re busy and that you don’t hide what’s actually making you so busy!”

  I defended myself. “I’ve spent my day in meetings and resolving problems. I have a lot of duties. Being a prince and a ruler is more than parties and having fun.”

  “I know perfectly well that you have duties. I don’t expect you to neglect them because of me. I want you to, at least, take some time to do the things that I want. You don’t even know what I like to do. You don’t really care. You would find time to take Charlotte to the Disneyland, but you didn’t make any time to take me to the Louvre or to show me the Eiffel Tower. I’ve been here for almost two weeks now. What am I supposed to do while you’re taking care of your royal duties? Should I stay locked up in my bedroom, playing the nice girl? Or should I practice harder to learn how to fly and use my powers since it’ll make me more angel and less human?”

  “What’s wrong with being here and practicing how to use your powers?”

  “Don’t I have a lot of time for that after you survive the trial? Shouldn’t you be working hard to make me want to spend the rest of my life, and apparently eternity, with you?”

  “We were chosen to be a perfect match.”

  “So you don’t need to work to make me fall in love with you, is that it?”

  I stared at her for a few moments, dwelling on her words and accusations.

  “Apparently, I’ve neglected your needs. But don’t you think you’re being selfish?”

  “Are you kidding me?” She raised her voice, flustered by my words. “Should I remain in the house feeling lonely and sad just because you think I have to love you, and we were paired due to some curse? Do you want me to thank you for that, too? Do you think my life was pathetic and pointless when I was a human?”

  “Of course not,” I grumbled. She was distorting my words.

  “It seems like it. It seems like just because you’ve saved my life, I owe you something in return. Correct me if I’m wrong, but shouldn’t saving a life be an act of altruism? Or were you expecting something in return just because gargoyles have a curse to break, and I was a rejected soul?”

  “I…was hoping you were mine, but…I saved you because it was the right thing to do.”

  “If you truly want me, then you need to work out your priorities. Now that you have me, you don’t seem to be making a lot of effort to keep me.
”

  “That’s not true, Aria. You’re being cruel because I…lost my temper. I care about you and I do a lot of things to make you happy.”

  “Like what? What was the last thing we did together that I chose to do? Running, doing push-ups, attending a birthday party, going to your kingdom, and being left in a bedroom without anything to do? That’s all been you. That’s what you wanted.”

  “You were enjoying the party until the panic was installed,” I argued, annoyed by the complaints. I was not the villain here. She was overreacting.

  She folded her legs and arms as she glared at me. “That’s not the point. The point is that you don’t do anything that I like. You don’t take me to anywhere I want to visit here in Paris. You aren’t being true to your promise from when we first met. If my life is going to become this, I would rather stay human and spend my existence alone. At least then, I would be free.”

  “Aria…” Her words were breaking my heart. “It wasn’t my intention to neglect you and your needs. These past few days have been hectic. I had to deal with exploding vampires, reunions, an increase of the patrolling to keep the humans safe, and Philippe trying to steal you from me. You could be a bit more reasonable with me.”

  “Like you were with me today at Philippe’s house and when we got back?”

  I rubbed my face and held it for a moment between my hands as I contemplated her accusations. “I may have overreacted, but what did you expect me to do?”

  “Listen to me, believe me, and give me the benefit of the doubt. I don’t know, Cedric!” She got up.

  I looked up at her. “I told you to come back home, didn’t I?”

  “And why should I obey you?”

  “Because it’s dangerous for you to be outside!” I stood up, shadowing her.

  “It was dangerous when I was a human. Now that I’m an angel, it’s less dangerous. Besides, my parents were with me. Gabby and her boyfriend were with me.”

  I looked down at her face as I uttered, “And Philippe.”