I stared past her at the silken sashes hooked around the heavy drapes, letting in the morning sunshine. Even though the fountain wasn’t carved from polished stone, the angel seemed toshine.
“Now you just have to get him to pick you so that you can—so that you can keep changingthings.”
I blinked away from the statue. “I’m not goinganywhere.”
Celeste’s dimples made an appearance. “You’re not going to be able to change the century-year rule untilafteryou’remarried.”
“Celeste, I’m not getting married, and I’m not goinganywhere.”
“But—I—what?”
I slid my lower lip between my teeth, trying to decide how best to explain my self-inflicted predicament. “Last night, I decided I wasn’t ready to leave so I . . . so I chose tolightenmywings.”
Her dimplesvanished.
“I made a lot of feathers fall. I’m not certain how many . . . just enough that if Asher changed his mind, I wouldn’t be dragged away from Earth. I’m not ready to leave.” Jarod’s face flashed behind my lids—his crumpled hair, his heavily lashed eyes, and his chiseled body. I shivered as I recalled the gentle strokes of his hand and his not so gentlelips.
Celeste’s mouth poppedopen.
I smiled. “So, you’re not losing metoday.”
She neither closed her mouth nor said athing.
“Ortomorrow.”
As I watched my confession work itself through her, I wondered if Asher had changed Jarod’s score because he realized he’d made a mistake or because he’d sensed my growing affection for the sinner and wanted to take me away from him. Then again,Ihadn’t sensed it, so the archangel probably hadn’t either. Unless the Ishim had somehow watched me interact with Jarod and told Asher I’d smoldered the sinner. I chose to believe he’d unlocked Jarod’s score out ofrighteousness.
I magicked my wings into existence, curious to see if their weight had changed. Bringing them out awakened a shallow ache. I stretched them out under Celeste’s watchful gaze, casting tinsels all over her dazed face and the heavily upholstered dining room. Their weight hadn’t changed so much as their breadth. Even though my new feathers were mere puffs of down, they edged my wings like the softest fur, prolonging their gilded range. In a few days, they’d be fullygrown.
I stroked them, pondering what memory of my time with Jarod each one contained. How did the Ishim slip memories into the shafts? Did they sift through my mind and allot memories, or did their well-oiled system attribute memories at random? I suddenly wished I’d asked more questions about the Ishim instead of focusing on the Malakim, whose ranks I’d wanted to join since I was a pintsizedFletching.
The doors of the dining room opened, and Jarod swooped in, hair combed and slicked back, body ensconced in a tapered navy suit and white dress shirt which he wore unbuttoned at the collar. My breath caught. Would it ever stop catching at the sight ofhim?
Celeste twisted around in her chair, then twisted back toward me as though on a spring. She still didn’t say anything, but her jawstiffened.
“Good morning, Celeste. Hope I’m not interrupting any idle chitchat,” Jarod said, and I rolled my eyes. He’d perfected his dull and dominant pitch to such perfection that, had I not tasted the honey beneath all the snark, I might’ve takenoffense.
“And here I was, almost missing you,” I said, beaming at him over Celeste’sshoulder.
He answered me with a smile that barely dented his smooth flesh but made his eyes glow. “To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit,Celeste?”
Celeste’s brows drew together at my grin. “You did it for him? You trashed your wings forhim?”
“I did it to stay,” I said, picking my wordscarefully.
“To staywithhim.”
“And with you, Celeste. You know how much I like ithere.”
My words mustn’t have reassured her, because she blanched. “You can’t fall for a sinner. That’s notright.”
My grin flattened. I hadn’t expected her to pat me on the back and hug Jarod, but I also hadn’t expected her disgust. “Tell me, Celeste. Why isn’t itright?”
“You’re supposed to fix people, not play house withthem.”
Jarod slid me a look but didn’tintervene.
“I don’t expect you to understand.” I skated my hands off hers. “But I also won’t tolerate you criticizing my choices. You’re my friend—my only friend—and I value your opinion . . . I valueyou, but you’re not allowed to judgeme.”
