“Come on,” I frantically gestured, hating to be here any longer than we had to. “What are you doing? I thought this was time sensitive.”
His voice turned slightly somber, which sent chills down my spine in apprehension. “In case something goes wrong, I want you to hear these words before we go in.”
That did nothing to soothe my fear.
His long legs ate up the distance between us in the span it took me to blink, and suddenly his hand captured my jaw and forced my gaze up to his. I ached to see the blue transform into the emerald ones of the angel I knew.
“I need to know that if something goes wrong, that you will get the hell out of here. Don’t go down with me.” I opened my mouth to protest that, but he quickly cut me off as his eyes narrowed. “I’m not done.”
Yes, Sir.
“And I want you to promise me to let someone in. Anyone you feel safe with. I see a hell of a lot of myself in you, and maybeit’s from our similar upbringings with the pressure we faced and the weight that comes with it. You have to share the burden with someone, Kieran, or it’ll drag you to deeper depths than even having your wings stripped and being cast down to the humans could ever manage.” His eyes looked haunted as he whispered, “Trust me on that.”
A kindred feeling welled within me, and I didn’t question myself as my body propelled me forward. I wrapped my arms around him, letting my cheek hit his chest as I squeezed. I felt the pain in his words. The raw honesty to them.I saw myself in them.
He had to be Gabe, to understand the depth of our situation as the offspring of Archangels.
My words were muffled against his shirt as I squeezed my eyes shut. “I’m sorry for whatever you’ve been through that caused you to lose your home and your family.”
It took a moment for his arms to circle around me in return, and when his chin rested on top of my head, a feeling of…safety came over me. Which was insane, considering our situation and all of its complexities, but I was tired of looking at things logically like we were trained to do. Some things couldn’t be explained, and I just knew that I wanted to comfort him in this moment of vulnerability.
His lips brushed against my head so softly I questioned if he kissed me or not before he spoke again. “I know it’s easier to strap on your armor and act like an impenetrable fortress than it is to take it off and expose your scars, but you have to let someone in, and if it can’t be me…” He trailed off, and my heart beat wildly within my chest at his meaningful words. Was there a world in which we could ever explore this? I wasn’t sure. “Please ensure whoever you allow in will worship those scars.”
I couldn’t stop my gasp and the ball of emotion that found its way to my throat. Was it even possible to feel so connected to someone’s soul? To be soseen?
The thought of letting someone in terrified me, though. I’d been a let down my whole life, so why would anyone stay? It wasn’t worth the eventual heartache that would come when someone left me, be it a friend or lover. No, I’d protect my heart and peace before ever allowing that.
“I can’t promise that,” I answered honestly as I gently pushed away from him. “But if someone proves to me one day that they deserve that, I’ll consider it. Now, let’s finish what we came here for.”
We stared at each other, a battle of wills clashing silently, before he conceded with a nod. “Okay, Little Star.”
The conversation didn’t feel anywhere close to over, but it needed to be for now. There was only so much we could say to one another with the walls we each had up. Occasionally only time was the answer, but that wasn’t something we had the luxury of together and that truth was a tough pill to swallow.
We found the door, and I gestured toward the black box faintly glowing with a green light within it. “Do your thing. I told you it was a retina scan and you said it’d be no problem.”
Truly, I was curious to see how he was going to get around this one, and the smug arrogance on his face in response to my words only heightened it.
He strode forward, and I watched with rapt attention as he closed his eyes and grunted. There was a tick in his jaw as he seemed to bite down in pain.
I was close to asking him if he was okay, but a second later his eyes opened back up. Only now his eyes were the exact shade and depth of Mrs. Sadria. Even the wrinkles in his smile lines were the same.
“What…” I stammered, not believing what my eyes just saw. “What just happened?”
The door chimed before the release of the lock sounded and he stood up, yanking the door open and gesturing for me to go in. “Part of the answers you’ll get at the end. Let’s go.”
Okay, cool, no big deal or whatever. Just…shapeshifting body parts. Is that how he passed off as someone else entirely? But what placement had the power to do such a thing? It was unheard of.
More than slightly stunned by what just occurred, I forced myself to not fixate on it as I stepped into the softly lit room. The door clicked shut behind us as he headed past me, immediately scouring through the dusty shelves that looked like they hadn’t been touched in years.
I quickly scanned the small room, leaving him to look for whatever the hell it was he was stealing since he never enlightened me on that fact. My nose scrunched. For as often as I saw Text Keepers come in here, I’d have thought it would be in better order and perhaps tidier. It didn’t sit right with me.
I let out a huff of disbelief before spinning to look at him. “This can’t be the room your friend meant, or if it was, something changed since he was last here. No Text Keeper would keep a workspace this dirty. This room looks like no one’s used it in years.”
A heavy sigh fell from his lips as he stood to his full height and wiped his dirty hands on his uniform, not caring that the white material would show every little smudge that I knew would be there now. My brows rose. For trying to keep a low profile, he sure was doing a shit job of it. He couldn’t be caught in that uniform now. No army member would dare to be seen in a dirty one.
We’d cross that bridge later.
“You’re right, but what could they possibly have changed?” he mused, spinning around on his heel to glance around for answers with me, simultaneously confirming the mess he’d made with the dirt on him as my gaze traveled over him. “Is there enough room to build further into the building?”
