In the blink of an eye, he was gone, but suddenly, in hisplace was a blinding white light, streaming into her house from nowhere, likean alien ship in a movie.
“Uh, Hawkyn?”
His expression was stony, hard, and a fresh wave of anxietyshivered through her.Couldn’t they go more than five minutes without a crisis?
“I have to go.”He stood, bringing her with him, and then heset her down carefully.“But I’ll be back.”
For some reason, she wasn’t reassured.“Go where?”
“Heaven.”He stared at the light, but it was impossible totell what he was thinking.“The Memitim Council wants to see me.”
No.Oh, no.“I don’t want you to go.”She gripped hisforearm in desperation, as if she could hold him there forever.“I have a badfeeling...”
Shaking his head, he framed her face in his big hands andmet her gaze.“This is kind of a non-optional thing.We can’t run from thelight.I’ll come back.But listen to me, if, for some reason, I don’t return,Maddox will take care of you.”
“You said you’re coming back!”
“That’s the plan.I can’t think of a reason I won’t be back.But the Council has a way of getting creative with its punishments, so we’llsee what happens.But know this, Aurora.You’re Primori for a reason.”Hesmiled, and pride thickened his voice.“The child you’re carrying is special.Ican feel it.No matter what, the world is going to be a better place because ofus.Because of you.Everything will turn out the way it’s supposed to.”
She wanted to believe him.She could tell that he wanted tobelieve it too.But when he kissed her goodbye, too much doubt filled her mind.And when he stepped into the light, she couldn’t help but fear that she’d seenhim for the last time.
ChapterTwenty
Hawkyn’s heart was heavy as he stepped out of thelight and into a completely empty room.There was literally nothing but whitenothingness.White nothingness and his mother, dressed inmorewhite.At least her ruby wings added some color.
“Hello, my son.”
She really wanted to play the family card rightnow?Okay, he could do that.“Hey, Mom.Soyou drew the short straw, huh?”
“Short straw?Is that a humanism?”
And in those two short sentences, he truly understood why,until recently, Memitim had been raised by humans.Angels who rarely left theluxury of Heaven could never understand them.
“Yes, it’s a humanism,” he said as he looked around,marveling at all the nothing.“This isn’t the Ascension chamber, is it?SoI’m guessing I’m here for punishment, and you are the onewho gets to deliver thesentence.”
“Thisismost difficult,” she said softly, and thefirst thread ofoh-shitran through his system.
What if he didn’t make it back to Aurora?What if she reallywas left by herself to raise a half-angel child?And as much as he likedMaddox, the guy wasn’t the most responsible angel who had ever existed.
“Tell me, Hawkyn.What rules have you broken?”
He snorted.There was no sense in lying, so at this point,he might as well go all in.“All of them, probably.Soif I’m here to lose my Memitim status, can we just get it over with?I havesomewhere to be.”
“Yes,” she mused.“With the mother of your child.Howsweet.”
“Says the person who tossed me away like garbage in arainstorm.”
Yeah, there was a little resentment there.It was stupid,probably, given that centuries had passed.But now that he hadmadea child, he couldn’t understand how anyone couldintentionally make a child to be given over, intentionally and knowingly, intoharsh conditions.
He would protect his child—and its mother—with his life.
Centuries of anger spilled over at the thought, hisabandonment issues rising to the surface like lake pollution after a storm.
“You know,” he continued, because what the hell—if he wasgoing to lose his angel status, he was going to make sure the Council knewexactly why it was bullshit.“Memitim deserve better than the kind of crapwe’ve had to endure for eons, starting with the day we’re born and abandoned inthe worst conditions imaginable.We suffer only to be rescued from oursituations and used as pawns in a game we aren’t allowed to understand.”
Ulnara’s blond brows arched, but if she was annoyed by histirade, it didn’t show.“And what don’t you understand?”
He nearly laughed.Where to even start…
