A tall, chain-link fence marked the boundary of the parking lot, and I steered her down the pathway, toward the park’s entrance.
“When’s your birthday, Lucian?” Her eyes moved in my direction, her long, dark lashes framing her brown irises.
“I honestly do not know. Unlike you, I was never born, so to speak. One day there was nothing, the next day God and I found ourselves in this universe. She adapted more easily than I.”
“God is a woman?” Anna froze in place, only a few feet from the back of the line of people leading to the entryway.
In the distance, a male voice poured from speakers, daring people to visit his booth. Kids screamed and laughed, and the sweet scent of cotton candy wafted through the air.
“Yes.” I laughed. “Shocker, isn’t it?”
Anna’s mouth opened and closed, as if she couldn’t quite think of what to say.
Amusement poured through me as she tried to adjust to this latest information.
“Wow,” she breathed, seeming to get her shock under control.
“Before…” I cleared my throat. I’d never revealed my entire past with anyone, yet I found it easy to share things with Anna I’d never uttered before. “Before my rebellion, she and I were the only entities in this universe.” I put a hand on the small of her back and gently guided her forward. “We created the catalysts—the science, if you will—for everything you see, from the stars to the planets, to plant life and animals.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes.” A small line formed between her eyebrows. I fought the urge to delve into her mind, to see what she thought, to learn every secret she held in her heart. Never had I wanted so badly to know everything about her, yet today the urge nearly overpowered me.Why?
We waited in line behind the humans at the gated entrance. Anna remained quiet, nibbling her bottom lip.
“Do you feel differently about me now?” I hated the uncertainty in my tone, but I had to know. It irritated me to no end that her opinion had become so precious.
“What?” She twisted in my direction, her bare arm brushing against mine. Shaking her head, she raised her chin toward me. “Lucian, I’ve always known you were”—she swallowed and ran a hand through her brown curls—“extraordinary, not just to me, but to this world.”
The line moved and she and I paced forward, only three people in front of us. I could have blinked us inside, yet she wanted to experience everything her human world had to offer, even the annoying transactions that came with it, and I would deny her nothing.
I moved my palm up the tender flesh of her upper arm to rest on her shoulder. “You are the only human, besides one other, I can tolerate. When your people truly see me, they cannot bear my presence. I suppose, in a way, I am lucky you can’t experience my divinity in the same way.”
“You mean you’re glad I’m blind.”
“No, but Iamrelieved—in some strange way—that you do not know me as others do. I look forward to our visits. With you, I can truly be myself.”As I once did when God and I were together…when she’d loved me—onlyme. I banished the thought, the pain too much for my heart to bear.
“Even if I couldsee, Lucian, I would never view you in a bad light. There’s nothing you could ever do to make me fear or not love you.”
Ether rushed through my veins at her mention of love, and my mouth hung open. For once in my miserable existence, I’d been struck speechless.
“Next,” called a young guy waiting at a window, his long, brown hair hanging limply.
She only means it in the same way she loves her precious priests and sisters. That’s all. Nothing to get worked up about.
With a shaky hand, I paid the entrance fee and bought two wristbands.
He moved to put one on Anna, but I snatched it away, gently wrapping it around her wrist, not wanting any other male putting his hands anywhere near her lovely skin.
She rubbed the thin plastic band. “Can we ride the Ferris wheel? I’ve always wanted to know what it feels like at the top.”
“Yes.” Taking her fingers into mine, I led her through the turnstile entrance and toward the ride. If she had asked me to take her to Heaven, I think I might have seriously considered it, and not given two fucks for the consequences.
“It smells so good in here.” Her stomach growled. “Can we stop for some roasted corn? It smells delicious.”
The only time I had ever been to a place such as this had been when I’d hunted a soul to claim. Mixing with humans for the sheer pleasure of the experience had not been something I’d have ever entertained.
Not until her.
