And his apartment wasn't huge. It consisted of a long room that served as both his bedroom and living area. The kitchen was little more than a tiny alcove with the necessary appliances. A door at the front led to a moderately-sized bathroom. The entire thing was less than seven hundred square feet.
"It's amazing," she said. "I can't imagine so much space, so I assumed all of you lived here, but this isallyours?"
He laughed and led her further in. "Yes, this is allours.It's small, Riss. Most places are at least twice this size, but priests don't make a lot of money. The other priests you met live in this same complex, in apartments about the same size."
Once the door was closed, he pulled his armor from the first bag and dropped it on the floor. Kneeling beside it, he quickly removed the guns, knives, and everything that had been stored in the pockets, setting the items on a crate that served as his coffee table. When he reached the pocket on his arm, he paused. A gold chain fell into his hand.
Debating for only a moment, he held it up for her. "This, I believe, is for you."
She reached out for the chain, letting him drop it into her palm. When she still refused to look at him, he held up a finger and bundled his armor before shoving it into the cleaning chute.
"This is not the Legion's symbol," she pointed out.
"No, it's ours. Benedict made those for us, and I know I was going to give you my old one, but I think this is even better."
"The eye is open and the wings are bent."
"Broken," he corrected. "We're meant to see, not fly."
"Knowledge, not power," she realized.
Nodding, he pushed himself to his feet. "Can I put it on you?" he asked, moving to stand just behind her shoulder. "If you'd rather I don't touch you, that's ok, but I'd be honored."
"You don't mind?" Her voice sounded timid.
"Not at all." He took the chain and guided it around her neck. When she made no move to lift her hair, he pinched the ends in one hand and exposed her neck with the other before locking the clasp. "Rissa," he asked, still standing behind her, "are you going to be ok?"
"I just don't want to disturb you," she said.
He realized her hands were clenched before her, and every muscle in her body was tense. "Why would you disturb me? You're my angel, and probably the best one I've ever had."
She turned to him quickly and reached up for her head, lifting her hair away. "Because these don't go away!"
He chuckled and grabbed her hand, pulling it back down. "Yeah, I've figured that out. I've seen a data port before, Princess."
"Not on someone like me." When she tried to turn away from him again, he stopped her.
"Wait, is that what this is about?" He gaped at her in astonishment as the pieces finally began to fit together. "I thought you were upset about me killing those guys, or Caleb dying, or maybe even because of the bombings today."
She shrugged, the gesture tiny, almost like she hoped he wouldn't see. "But you're safe, and you're really the only person I know. I just don't want to make you hate me."
Which meant one thing. "You're worried about not having a veil?" He still couldn't wrap his mind around that. "After everything that just happened, your big problem is that a fucking beautiful woman doesn't have a veil to hide behind?"
"I'm not beautiful," she whispered.
"When was the last time you saw your own reflection?" He pushed out a laugh. "Dear God, Rissa. There's a damned mirror in the bathroom."
"I've seen it."
"Then what the hell do you have to complain about?I'mthe fucking priest here!" He laughed again, then started putting his things away. "Princess, I cannot lie to you. Trust me when I say looking at you walking around my home will not be something that disgusts me. My problems will be a little different."
"What problems?" she asked innocently.
He didn't answer until he was on the other side of the room, storing his knives in the small shelving unit. "It's called temptation. Just a few hours ago, I had this girl tell me she thought about kissing me. Then, I finally get to see her face, and my first thought was it would be kinda nice to kiss her back." Next, he began refilling the magazines for his weapons. "So, the problem isn't that I don't want to look at you, Rissa. It's that I do, ok?"
"And that's bad?" she asked.
He headed toward his bed, setting the rail guns beside his chair before placing the pair of gauss pistols on the bedside table. "It is for a priest." He looked at her with a smile. "I need to grab a shower. You going to be ok alone while I get some of this dust and mud off me?"
