Her words were truth.
Her words sent me over that precipice between sanity and insanity, of love and hate, of kindness and cruelty.
I bent and scooped the silver hairpin from the cold stone floor. "You think you know pain and hardship in your twenty-odd years? You've only just begun to taste the torture of existence."
"Whatever." She turned and gave me her back. "Just get out." Her shoulders slumped.
That instant rage in my head cooled a tad. Yes, I could take her vision, leave her in the dark once again, yet I would not.
My job was to judge, to see into the heart of man, and Anna Sill's soul was true. Perhaps not entirely free from sin, yet cleaner than most.
I didn't come here to punish her. I came here to apologize, and as usual, I fucked that up, too.
A deep longing quenched the fire in my heart, and I yearned for nothing more than to gather her in my arms and feel her sweet lips on mine, her soft hands tracing my wings, her beautiful soul joining with mine.
She'd earned her right to sight, and I would not take back the gift she'd gained.
I reached out and trailed my fingertips through the strands of her hair one last time.
How I wish I could change the past.
"Anna," I whispered. "I truly am sorry. I do not know how to love a human properly, but I tried my best. With you and with Cain." I tucked the pin back into the spiralled curls.
I would not take back any gifts I'd given.
Before she could finish turning around, I blinked away.
Her sweet scent followed me through the vortex and a plan began forming.
Not all is lost.
Though the thought of what I was about to do terrified and disgusted me to no end.
But if my plan succeeds, then it won't matter how it came to fruition because I'll have the one thing I desire most.
Love.
Chapter 30
Lucian Elysium
Present Day
Onewouldn'tthinksnowhad a smell, but it does. It was a mix of fresh water and ozone.
Too pure for me.The scent of sulfur and fire fueled my blood. I didn't miss this place at all.
I flicked a few snowflakes from my black armor and inspected the domed building in front of me.
The highest part of the curved palace shone silver in the bright daylight.
It wasn't Earth's sun that reflected from the otherwise pristine white building, but it wasasun. Heaven and Hell existed in their own planes, out of time and not a part of what humans would consider the universe.
A frozen lake surrounded the structure and reflected the light in dizzying arrays.
How long has it been since I've visited this plane?It had been my home once upon a time, yet now it felt more like a prison.
Tall, skinny trees with smooth white bark lined the bridge leading to God's Citadel.
