“She’s sleeping?”Mikhail’s voice was quiet in the blue-white room.
The bed was still sending energy into us, and Righteous had fallen back to sleep next to our little mate. I peered at them, but could feel them in my soul, both dreaming. I nodded and folded my wings, which made them vanish. The humming energy stillfilled me, though, and I knew they would return when I needed them.
“Tell me everything that happened, Gav,” he said, his gaze sorrowful as he looked at the empty space behind my shoulders.
I sketched out the events for him, from the moment he’d left Sanctuary, ending with, “I was glad Rafe was there, even if he did try to kill me at first. He had the skills to make the swords we needed, and I had the material.”
“Revel is still there?” he asked softly. “Trapped more surely than he was as the Great Gate.”
“I don’t know,” I replied truthfully. “He was alive when we left.”
“Gav, you have the realm’s power in you. Sanctuary might as well be a part of the void now. There’s no way for him to survive, or find his way here.”
“Come here? No. But there is an oasis of sorts still there,” I said, sending a mental picture of Precious’s nursery to him. “Enough of my old power for one castaway gate, I would think.”
His turquoise and black eyes flashed. “You used your soulfire and made her a nursery. Of course you did.”
I nodded. “It has a lock on the door, but I have a feeling a resourceful Celestial could find a way in. He would be safe there, if alone. I’m doubly glad I gave my feathers to create that pocket realm.”
Mik had turned his face toward the floor and when he lifted his head, his eyes were shining. “I failed you as a friend, Gav. I’ll never be able to apologize enough.”
“Mik, no. What do you mean?” His distress filled the air between us, but I could also feel it vibrating through the feather I’d pressed into his chest. “I was acting a right ass when we were on Earth together. I threatened a little baby, your child. You were right to doubt me.”
“That’s not true. Not only did I believe the worst when we returned to Sanctuary—after you’d already sworn to care for Precious—but I failed you long ago. You never felt worthy to lead Sanctuary?”
I sighed. “Rafe said it best. I was a harp, forced to act as a sword. I was never fit for that job.”
“Brother, I’ll work for the rest of my long life to help you see what I have always seen. Your strength and creativity, your willingness to put all you loved aside to do what needed to be done. Your work to maintain the balance against unspeakable odds was as much a sacrifice as the flesh I carved away. You are and have always been a treasure, and the finest High Angelus I haveeverhad the privilege of serving under.”
I fidgeted, not knowing what to say. Or how to feel. I hadn’t realized how much I’d needed this sort of validation, from someone I loved and respected. I’d spent centuries upon centuries believing I wasn’t enough. That the work I had done didn’t have real value. That I was a placeholder, not… atreasure.
“I want you to know this, Gavriel,” Mikhail said quietly, his eyes fixed on mine. “I have looked up to you for as long as I’ve known you. I love you.”
“Aw, you love him?” a small voice from the bed interrupted. “You have to say that, Mik. You’re his mate and all.” Suddenly, a warm body flung itself at me, and slender arms wrapped around my shoulders. She batted her long eyelashes at me, her brilliant green eyes sparkling with mirth. “So, Grumpy. When’s the piercing scheduled?”
Chapter 37
Feather
The guys kept telling me I needed to sleep, that I wasn’t healed, and I knew they were right. Gavriel claimed our energies needed to jell, or align, or some woo-woo shizz that reminded me of the time a meditation coach’s assistant in Santa Fe had wanted to align my chakras with his tongue. It had been a lot less appealing than it sounded, especially since he hada head cold at the time and had sneezed a big booger right on my Svadhishthana chakra.
But I couldn’t stay in the cloud bedroom. Not when Sunny, and Precious, and the rest of my friends were outside. So, after round twelve of what I’d decided to call the Inaugural Limen-palooza Tour de My Pants—which was funny since I had no pants or clothes of any kind, except for the ragged scraps of the toga I’d been wrapped in when I’d arrived—I snuck out.
I was actually pretty proud. Apparently, I’d worn out three High Angeli, though I saw Righteous’s anaconda twitch a little when I slid off the bed. Mikhail opened one eyelid and closed it again when I blew him a kiss.
I had just reached the door when I heard a soft voice right behind me. Gavriel. “Where are you going, little nemesis?”
“Out.” I leaned back into his warm body, and saw a bundle of white appear in front of me. It was one of Mikhail’s shirts, and I hugged Gavriel in thanks, luxuriating in his warmth.
The fire he was carrying around from Sanctuary made him run hot, making me curious about how fast chocolate might melt on him, if he was tied up and covered in slabs of the stuff.
“I like that idea,” he murmured as he pulled on his torn leather trousers and slipped the t-shirt over my head, escorting me out the door and leaving the others to rest. “We should do it later.”
I sighed as he carried me away from the bedroom building and through what looked like a bank lobby made of white cotton candy. “Gavriel, they might not even have chocolate here. And if they did, did you feel those sheets? They’re maybe 200-thread-count, max. The chocolate would probably be like the cheap stuff from a gas station.”
“Birch, I would have already left this place if there wasn’t chocolate.”
I pulled away from Gavriel, and saw Sunny, sitting on a cloud bench and eating… “Truffles?” I gasped.
