Chapter 26

“Honestly, Miss Daeva, if it were any other combination of beings I would consider it a weakness. The two of you separately is terrifying. If I were the enemy, and wanted to hurt your cause, I would capture you separately or not at all. Having you together would be too dangerous, but separated they could use the other as leverage. If you were to let it be known, you should stay together. If you want to keep it a secret though, you should stay very far apart. Anyone with my abilities will be able to feel what he is feeling from miles away.” I might have blushed a little at that. I thought I was keeping my murderous thoughts more under wraps than that. Daeva chuckled darkly at that. “Then let it be known. It might help our cause.” Adan nodded. Daeve stood up and reached her hand out for him to shake. He looked as though he might explode from happiness. He took it and shook but lowered his eyes. “Thank you, I will not let you down.” “I believe you, Adan. I wish you luck. If you should need me, you know how to contact me.” She nodded once again and turned to leave. “Miss Daeva, would you mind if I spoke to Devland for a moment before you go?” Oh shit. “Can you keep a lid on it, Devland? I will be above you if you need me.” I nodded my head but was not one hundred percent sure myself.

Daeva stomped hard on the ground and took off. She already knew what he wanted to say to me, but I was still avoiding looking into his mind. “What?” I said, I wasn’t about to forgive him like Daeva was, but I would trust him as long as she did. “How much did you see?” He asked me. I growled at him, trying not to remember it. “The only image that your mind couldn’t contain.” He nodded his head. “I have apologized to her for centuries without her knowing what I was sorry for. Now that she does… I am sorry. You were affected before you even knew her, and for what my actions helped cause, I am so sorry.” I held my hand up to stop him. “I do not forgive you. But I will trust you, as long as she does. I trust her judgment. You, however” I stepped closer to him now, staying out of arm's reach, just in case. “You. You watched it happen. You hid her from me. You watched as they tore into her over and over. As they destroyed her wings. You watched as she screamed.” He was shaking his head violently now. “What? Is anything that I said wrong?!” I nearly yelled. “That’s the thing sir. She didn’t.. Scream. She didn’t make a noise. She mouthed off to them all, sure. But she didn’t make a sound while they… while they did it.. I could feel it. I was blocking it out and still it was enough to make me want to cry and she didn’t make a sound. She is the only god that I recognize.”

Holy shit. “I am so sorry, sir. I thought you saw. I believe if you did, I wouldn’t be standing here alive though. I will earn your trust. I may not earn your forgiveness, but I will earn your trust. I just wanted to apologize.” he bowed his head again. Against my better judgment, I reached out to shake his hand. I steeled myself against his mind before I took his hand, but another image slipped past. Why did I recognize that angel? “I do hope you earn it, Adan.” I walked away trying to shake the new image but something was familiar about one of the angels. Not his vessel, but something else. I pushed off to join Daeva and found her immediately. She just nodded at me and started flying towards her bar. I am going to be in trouble.

I landed on her roof to watch Daeva free fall above me. She seems to be at peace when she does that, just spinning through the air without a care in the world. She released her wings and floated down gently. She gave me a small smile and offered her hand to me, I took it gladly. I watched her eyes swirl as we made our way back to her suite wondering what was on her mind. We finally made it back to her suite and I was expecting a lecture at the very least, but I was trying ot avoid his mind, I just hoped that she believed me. She just sat on the bed and stared at her knees, her eyes still swirling. I sat beside her for a moment, for once in my existance not knowing what to do. "Daeva..." I started, but she looked up me with tears in her eyes and it broke me. I pulled her on top of me to hold her and she let me. After a few minutes she wrapped her arms around my neck and held me tighter. I could feel her body shaking with silent tears. I just held her and rubbed her back. I stayed like that for an hour before she moved. "Let me hold you, my love" I pleaded. "I'm okay." She said, in a shaky voice.

"Do you want to fight? Food? Liquor? Do you want to sleep?" She chuckled against my neck and the feeling made me twitch under her. "Well, at least I can be sure you can't read my mind." She said laughing again. That was my favorite sound in the cosmos. "It is nearly midnight, but I can still order food to my suite. Maybe some drinks? I would prefer not to go anywhere else tonight" She said. She hadn't moved away from me and I wasn't about to inatiate it. "That sounds perfect, love. What would you like?" I was stalling, I didn't want to move. "My phone is in my pocket, grab it for me?" I did what she asked immediately. I pulled it out and handed it to her and she sent a message with her order and my own. My own being 'whatever you're getting'. I don't know how long we had stayed in that position before we heard a knock on the door. Before she could move I stood up and placed her on the bed and went to go get our food. I thanked the server that came and gave her half of the contents of my wallet just to be done with it faster and she shuffled away quickly.

We ate on the bed in silence side by side. When we were done I quickly picked up so that I could get back to hold her. When I got back to the bed she was still staring off into space and her eyes were swirling but she seemed to be a little better. “Ok..” she started, but I stopped her to sit down and pulled her back into my arms. As soon as we got comfortable she resumed. “I am sorry for not telling you the whole plan. I had a feeling that he would either show you something accidentally or you would peek. Since you held it together, I assume you didn’t peek?” I let out a growl. “I didn’t peek, the image looked like it was burned into his eyes. Daeva, I’m so sorry. You did so well, and you’re so strong to look into his mind and relive that. Did you find anything interesting?” I was playing with her hair, trying to get them to wrap around my finger to keep myself calm for her.

“Actually a lot, but only because I didn’t have the information. He thanked god and the devil for my wings as soon as he saw them. I saw why he joined, he truly believed that he was on the good side but he was lowly ranked and wasn’t told why there was a war until he could be used for something. It would all be quite sad if I weren’t the one being tortured. He’s telling the truth though. I went to the deepest corners of his mind and to the second before he met with us and there is absolutely no reason not to believe him. He thinks that we’re the new gods.” She ended with a shrug. “This opens up a lot of possibilities for us and how we handle things.” I rested my chin on her shoulder and sighed. “Do you trust me enough to trust him?” she asked me.