“Gavriel, did you know Feather is a tactical genius?” Rumple said, tousling my hair again as he swept past. I felt the squishy bag, fashioned from a crib sheet from the nursery and still filled with glitter, pressing on my back. I relaxed my eyelids. He’d understood.
Rumple kept running back and forth, grabbing things. He tucked the crystal feather-knife in Gavriel’s belt, and tucked the other feather—the one he hadn’t made into a knife—into my toga top. “For you, my love,” he whispered, and something in his tone raised my hackles. Gavriel went even more still as Rumple reached out, stroking my hair away from my face with one clawed hand. He cupped my chin, angling my face toward his, and pressed a kiss to my unresponsive lips.
In another life, this feather of mine would lie alongside Gavriel’s mark.His words dropped like stones into the silence of my mind, his galaxy eyes whirling.Or be the twin to Righteous’s feather. If we had time enough, if I knew for certain I would return to you… I could use it to tether your spirit more firmlyto your form. Or bind you to me, and take the love you have offered me for so long.The corner of his lip trembled, as he pressed the feather into my skin with a shaking hand.At least now I know my soul hasn’t been corrupted entirely. If I were more selfish, if my love for you hadn’t kept my heart tuned to you as my true north and saved me from the void’s despair, I might not be able to resist the urge to be one with you.
But I can resist. I can be the sacrifice you need now, because I love you more than myself. I always have. And I always will.
Helpless, silent, I stared into his gleaming eyes, hoping he would see the love I felt for him shining in my own gaze. Couldn’t he see that I needed him as much as I needed the others? He was my first love, my teacher. My mystery.
How would I live without my Rumple?
I felt a single, cold tear leak from one eye. He caught it with his hand, and stroked my hair one more time, shushing me. “My beloved, thank you for the very best years of my long life. Thank you for showing me how to love. For giving me the chance to stand in your sunlight for a moment. I will go to my end knowing I had more love with you in these short days than most will ever know.”
And then, while my heart was quietly dissolving into dust, he moved away and spoke to Gavriel. “Hold the sheet around the top; I’ve already untied the cord. As soon as I get outside and engage them with the swords, I want you to race through. Throw the glitter as you go, and let your light shine, Gavriel. All of it. Pull on as many of Sanctuary’s threads of power as you can bear, and run as fast as you did in Egypt that time.”
“We agreed never to speak of that,” Gavriel growled, but Rumple’s humor had his shoulders relaxing. If they could still laugh, not all hope was lost, right?
Though I knew all was lost. Or was about to be. As I thought that, the feather on my chest burned like an ember,but somehow, made me feel less despair than I had a moment before.
Gavriel must have felt the pulse of heat because he cursed and called out, “Rafe? Why is your feather reacting?”
Rumple’s gaze fell on me. “That’s our little one’s fault, I would think. You never knew my whole name, did you, imp? I was named Seraphiel, First of the Celestial Children, Bringer of Hope to the Hopeless.” He smiled somberly. “Don’t give up hope. You may not be able to move, but I know your heart, and it’s stronger than any other in existence. Keep hoping.”
The feather burned again, but now I relished the sting of it on my skin. It felt as if a tiny current of energy moved from it and into me, and I sucked in a shallow breath, feeling my heart speed back up.
Rumple had given me a battery. A tiny generator of Celestial power that kicked in when things seemed bleak.
Suddenly I had hope, buckets of the stuff. Squirting fountains of hope. Hurricanes of it. Gavriel, Rumple, and I were going to get back to Mikhail and Righteous, kiss them alive on whichever body part would do the trick, and we were all going to live together in the Celestial Realm, exploring new ways to combine my love for chocolate, naked Twister, and all four of my guys.
I held onto that hope as Gavriel shouted a word of power that made the doors to the Maker Hall crash open, and as Rumple dove into the roiling mass of shadow beasts.
And then I just held on, as the world exploded in great blooms of glitter and fire.
Chapter 30
Feather
The next ten minutes were the equivalent of going to a massive rave while tied in a warm sack. It was the worst trip I’d ever been on, and I’d gone to the void and back twice, and the Chicago Lollapalooza for sixteen hours once, after someone slipped me a powerfully bad brownie.
Rumple’s war cries mixed with the roars of shadows, and glitter flew in great clouds around us. Gavriel shone brightlyenough that it was truly blinding. His distraction worked, at least for a while. I could tell we’d gotten out ahead of the pack of shadows as he ran and, from the gathered darkness over his shoulder, that they had converged on Rumple. I tried to count hallways, but Gav was taking a very odd route to the gate—possibly to avoid traps or ambushes.
So, I tried to pray instead. But the only thing my mind would produce wasn’t a hymn of praise. It was an earworm.
Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall,I hummed to myself.Ninety-nine bottles of beer… I’d only reached sixty-two bottles when Gavriel stopped, leaning against a wall. He didn’t speak, just panted silently as he caught his breath.
Almost there, Feather,he thought.The gate is just ahead. I can see it. But I had no idea there were this many shadows inside our realm. Rafe is coming behind us, but without his armor he took a lot of damage. It appears they’re very angry with him. I can’t see how he’ll make it through, but we’ll wait here. And pray.
He stepped into a recessed bit of the hall. With my head listing to one side, I could see a smaller shadow creeping down the wall toward us. Sneaking, as if it didn’t want to be seen.
I couldn’t close my eyes, and I was horrified when the shadow caught up with Gavriel, leaping onto his back where the mostly empty glitter bag was slung over his shoulder. It was weightless, and Gav didn’t notice its clawed edges on the cloth. I glared at the thing, wishing I was the superhero I’d imagined myself all those years… no, months ago, before Gavriel found me. I’d laser eye this guy right in the…
Wait.The shadow wasn’t attacking. It was waiting. For what? I stared at it, and began to see strange lines, slight depressions on its surface, as if it had fallen asleep on a macramé project.
This was my beast bunny! The little submissive shadow who’d waited for me to come and untie him, and he was… Whoa.He’d stretched himself out and begun to extend into the space behind Gavriel’s back like a thin, semi-transparent gray sheet. Did the shibari shadow want to wrap himself around us? Maybe he thought he could cover us up.
It was a great idea. I only needed Gav to pick up on it. I started thinking of one of my less-used fantasies, the one with the burly security guards, the person-sized roll of plastic wrap and the baby pool full of jello shots. I could tell when Gav finally dipped back into my thoughts because he went still.
What are you trying to say? You can’t be wanting sex. For one thing, you’re paralyzed. And we just merged.
