In one of my past lives, I’d been a servant in a tiny village in Croatia, and some Hapsburg duke or other came into the town. We literally swept the streets for the guy, and he never once looked down. He had a bulbous nose, squinty eyes, and liked to kick his servants from horseback. I knew then that royalty was a scam.
But the Celestial who approached our motley group now was true royalty. A king, or a prince at least. He shone so brightly my eyes ached, but I couldn’t stop staring. Mikhail and Ry dropped their gazes. Sunny narrowed hers, taking Precious from me.
“Where is the Beautiful Sacrifice the Dreamer of Dreams showed me?” His voice was so glorious, each syllable breathtakingly formed and perfect, that my heart raced. I heard weeping. Alarmed, I looked around. Ry and Sunny were inexplicably crying. Precious wasn’t, but she was focused on the puppy. Mikhail sniffled slightly, but I was almost certain he was just sucking his man-tears back in.
I stepped forward, wondering about this stranger’s sexy magical powers.
“Stop thinking so loud, Scrap,” Ry warned, and Mikhail pinched my butt as I moved past him.
I jumped slightly. “Don’t worry. It’s not like I have a vitamin D deficiency. Although if I did, this guy would be just the cure for that.” Mikhail pinched me again, harder, and I hissed at him. “I meant he’s like the sun. Bright. Vitamin D for real, sheesh.”
Bad girls can get spanked in the Celestial Realm, too, little soul,Mikhail warned, but his eyes were twinkling almost as brightly as the glitter on his bundle of shirts as he smiled at the shining man. “You must be the Choir Leader,” he said, dipping his head in respect. “We are honored. This is my mate, Feather.” He took my arm.
“And my mate,” Righteous added, taking my other arm. Except I was still holding the girthy pink dildo, meaning it was now being pointed ominously at the guy. I tucked it under Ry’s armpit instead, ignoring his grunt of displeasure.
“Feather, you’ve brought more excitement to this realm than we’ve seen in ages. Welcome. I am Imriel, one of the First Children of the Singer of Songs, also called the Choir Leader.”
I tried to focus on his face, but looking directly at him this close made my eyes burn. “That’s a great name. I’m Feather, the Beautiful Sacrifice…” I began, but Ry nudged me to stop. “Um, are we in trouble?”
“Of course not. I felt a disturbance…” His voice overwhelmed me again, and I whimpered slightly. Precious growled.
Sunny had scooted behind me, hiding the baby, and Imriel craned his neck slightly to see around us. I could smell marshmallows, and I peeked back at Precious. She was creating them in her tiny palm, using a flick of power to light them on fire, then feeding the blackened, gooey blobs to the puppy, who was happily gobbling them as fast as his floppy jowls could move.
Imriel spoke again. “I sensed…”
“A disturbance in the force?” I asked, trying to distract him. “As if a thousand angels were suddenly crying out for pants, or at least boxer briefs?” I squinted at him, my eyes still blazing, trying to see if he had pants on. By the time my eyes adjusted, he did.
Dang.
“Not precisely,” he said with a laugh so filled with joy, I knew if he did that on Earth, every flower would bloom. Every stream would burble, every firework would go off in the sky. It was almost orgasmic.
With a quiet groan, Mikhail poked me gently in the ribs. “Think less,” he murmured.
For some reason, that made Imriel laugh harder, and I wilted at the sound. “What was the commotion here, sweet sacrifice?”
The name, so close to what Rumple called me, brought me back from the near-swoon. “Jeez, how’s anyone supposed to concentrate with that voice going on?” I muttered.
“Mama. Dado,” Precious announced and flapped out of Sunny’s arms, handing me the puppy. Her eyes fixed on Imriel, she smiled, her two little teeth poking through the gums. I tooka breath to try to explain that Imriel didn’t want to play, but she was already zipping across the space.
He backed up a step, breathing, “It can’t be. Nother,” but Precious just chased him down. She babbled something in demonic—at least, I was pretty sure it was that, since all the Celestials besides Imriel grabbed their heads, moaning like their eardrums had burst—and held out her hand. With a small pop of dark glitter, an enormous marshmallow appeared in her palm. Imriel opened his mouth, maybe to tell her to get away, maybe to ask what she was doing, but before he could speak, she’d used her incredible speed to zip to his face and stuff the marshmallow in his open mouth.
“Oh, shizz,” Sunny whispered beside me. We watched in horror as he choked, then chewed, then swallowed, Precious bobbing in the air in front of him the whole time.
Once he’d eaten the whole thing, he cleared his throat and snapped, “Who in the name of the Great Singer let this creature into the realm?” The puppy let out a deep, growling bark that immediately got every Celestial’s attention, including Imriel.
“Who are any of us to question the Maker’s will?” Mikhail replied calmly, but I could feel the tension in his arm.
Imriel smiled, a tight, not-at-all-happy expression, and straightened his robes. “Indeed. Well, this is all very unexpected. Feather? You brought this dem?—”
The dog growled again. I could have sworn it grew larger with each sound.
Imriel amended his words. “You brought thischildinto the Celestial Realm? It is…Sheis covered with smut. Made of it?”
“She can’t help what she’s made of,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. Glitter fell away from my shirt at the movement, and a pained expression crossed Imriel’s face.
He held up one glowing finger. “Guards? There is glitter in our realm. You know what to do.”
All the Celestials, who had been rubbing at their ears, stood at attention, then pivoted and flew in formation off to who knows where. When the last one disappeared, I turned and stared thoughtfully at Imriel. “Your Highness, Majesty, whatever—” I began, but he just closed his eyes. It looked as if he was praying, or maybe concentrating on something. Having some sort of internal conversation, clearly.
