“Gabriel and I were close and had been since we were created ten millennia ago.” My stomach tightened. “We spent a lot of time together, fucking around in Hell and Heaven, causing all sorts of trouble.”
A trickle of warmth leaked from my chest as I remembered all the stolen moments with Gabriel, and how happy he used to make me. He was a sweet angel who plucked stars from Heaven and crushed them into stardust to give to me. He used to be someone I relied on more than anyone else. If Aziel hadn’t been created...I probably would’ve married him.
But once I fell in love with Aziel, I knew what genuine love was, and I didn’t have that with Gabriel.
“What happened?” Thaddeus spat the words through gritted teeth, frustration wrapped up in his question.
Million dollar fucking question.
My tongue darted out to wet my bottom lip as my gaze cut to Aziel. “My father created my guard.”
Kai’s brows furrowed. “What did Aziel have to do with it?”
“He was my guard. His sole purpose was to protect me, and he made sure to protect me from everything. I hated that, and so did Gabriel. I snuck away a ton without Aziel. It actually brought Gabriel and I closer, at first.” I sucked in a shaky breath. My limbs were buzzing. “I started fucking around with a few hellhounds when Gabriel was too busy with his archangel duties.”
“Which kick started Gabriel’s jealousy,” Aziel muttered under his breath.
“It kick started it, sure. But what really fucked everything up was my father and his mother.”
“His mother?”
“The Queen of the North, Queen Astral. She created him around the same century King Zelek created me.”
“What did they do?” Blaise asked.
“Decided we should get betrothed.Engaged. Set to be fucking married.Then pop out the first angel-demon hybrid. All to ensurebalance.” I raked my fingers through my silky strands, planting my bare feet in place.
“They wanted you to get married and have a child?” Thaddeus’s mouth dropped open. “An angel and a demon?”
Blaise cringed, and Kai shivered.
“Yes, to give the world the embodiment of balance. But I couldn’t fall in love with Gabriel. I stopped messing around with the hellhounds and gave him all my attention. I did everything I could to fall for him, but there wasn’t any intimate spark. He was too...soft.” I shook my head. “Fuck, I can’t explain it.”
“So what the bloody hell happened?” Blaise asked. “Obviously, you didn’t marry him.”
I snorted before my eyes met Aziel’s comforting black eyes. “I fell in love with Aziel. We were...seeing each other on the down low for a while. After I realized I couldn’t see myself with Gabriel, Aziel comforted me. One of the seers you met came to me before the wedding and told me to follow my heart, so I did. I called off the wedding.”
“Only Gabriel didn’t like that,” Aziel growled. “Fucker asked to speak to her in the Gardens, and he ambushed us both. He had angels hold me down and make me watch him torture and kill her. I couldn’t fucking do anything. The things he said to her...” His voice broke.
I cleared the thickness in my throat. “It wasn’t that bad. I’m here now, right?”
Aziel’s eyes filled with tears again. “After half a millennium, my beloved. As soon as we declared our love for each other publicly, I lost you.”
My heart stuttered, and there was this falling, whirling-down feeling that took hold of me. I would’ve lost my sanity had Aziel been killed, and I wasn’t sure how he’d stayed the least bit sane without me. But I knew it was because he was stronger, stronger than I ever could be.
Blaise’s fist slammed into the wall with a distinct thud. Blood gushed from the open hole as the blood of the damned seeped out onto his arm, scalding his inked skin. He jerked his arm back as the clay molded back, and it healed slowly.
Kai’s forehead creased as he stared at me with his big, blue eyes.
A growl rumbled through Thaddeus’s chest as he spun away from me.
Each one of them had an overwhelming amount of anger wafting off them and into me like a tidal wave.
Titan, of course, chose that moment to step through the portal. “Who wants to go kick some abandoned ass before they try to crawl out of Hell?” He froze as he picked up on the tension in the room.
“I told them about Gabriel.”
He let out a low whistle. “Damn. I get it. Well, Brann and Oren wanted to come say hi, but I told them it wasn’t a good time since you’re still getting acclimated.”
