His broken tone pitched away my disappointment and fear. “Did you really think I’d leave?” I hated how accustomed he was to beingabandoned.
“I hoped you would. This world—myworld—it’s not foryou.”
“How about you let me decide where I want to go.” I walked over to him. “Where I want tobe.”
His features contorted. “You didn’t tell me you’d lose your wings if you didn’t completethem.”
I laid my hand on his bristly jaw, and heshuddered.
The scene at the spa played out again in my mind, making my wings feel of little importance. “Were you . . . were you with one of the women thisafternoon?”
His eyebrows shot up, vanishing behind his tumble of unruly locks. “Of coursenot.”
“Ithought—”
“That I fornicated with women in front of clients? I get paid to fix problems, not to screwaround.”
“You werenaked.”
His lips relaxed a fraction. “The prime minister—like many people I deal with—are concerned about wires, and I’m concerned about concealed weapons. Conducting business in our birthday suits is a win-win.” I must’ve wrinkled my nose, because he added, “Didn’t like my full frontal,Feather?”
“I was a tad too stressed out by your murderous glare to concentrate on muchelse.”
“Murderous glare.” He snorted. “Wasn’t you I wanted to murder; it was everyone else.” He leaned his forehead against mine. “I don’t like that the prime minister saw you. That any of them saw you. That bodyguard of his is a realasshole.”
“Thank Elysium, I’mimmortal.”
He straightened his neck, putting space between our heads. “Ithought. . .”
“As long as I have wings, I can bleed, but I can’t die, so you have nothing to worryabout.”
He looked at my shoulders even though my wings weren’t on display. “One more reason you need to completethem.”
I slid my hand down to his neck, capturing his heartbeats in my palm. “Let that be my choice,Jarod.”
“Fuck, you’re stubborn.” Hesighed.
“And it paid off.” I looked into his obsidian eyes. “You’re no longer aTriple.”
“So, my soul isn’t doomed afterall. . .”
“As long as you keep on doing good deeds, but you need to get your rank underfifty.”
“Why?”
I snagged my lip and slid it between my teeth. “Anything above a fifty, and you end up inAbaddon.”
“Hell?”
“Yeah.”
“It reallyexists?”
I nodded. “But there’s no devil. It’s run by Erelim—celestial sentinels. They also run Elysium. My parents are both Erelim in Abaddon. Ithink.”
Something gleamed on his shelf. When I realized it was the letter opener, a chill fluttered over my skin. Was it the same one that had stopped his mother’s heart? And if it was, why did he keepit?
“I’m imagining it’s not all licentious raves and lava-filled Jacuzzis downthere.”
