Remi cringed and gasped a breath, coughing.Skye knew he wouldn’t die.The flames weren’t meant to kill him, only to burn away his shadows, but that didn’t stop her heart from thudding painfully at seeing him hurt.
With her help, he sat up and brushed off the charred bits of his skin, revealing healed pink skin underneath.
“I’m okay,” he said.“I’m okay.It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
She wiped away the burnt remnants of his shadow powers from his face and searched his eyes for the lie, but his blue eyes focused on her.None of the anger or hostility that she knew she deserved was reflected in them.
“Skye,” Remi said, the backs of his knuckles stroking across her cheek.“I’d never want you to give up your wings for me.Or your life.Never.”
Desperate emotion racked her body and convulsed in her chest.Her voice shook as she said, “I’m so sorry, Remi.Everything I said before, I didn’t mean it.I didn’t mean any of it.I was trying to protect you.I didn’t want this.”There was no mask, no trying to reconcile the parts of her in order to deliver the apology.This sorry—this sorrow—though new and foreign, was true and more heartfelt than anything she’d felt in her entire existence.
“I know,” he said, smiling softly.He wrapped a hand around the back of her neck and pressed their foreheads together.A pressure inflated a balloon in her chest, further and further, until it popped as Remi declared, “I love you, Skye.”
The explosion wasn’t as catastrophic as she’d thought it’d be.Love.Warmth replaced the pressure as the word swelled within her.Was this feeling love?A concoction of desire and need and obsession and envy and warmth.It had movement within her; a truth brought to light.Remi had seeped into her, his soul, his shadows, his essence interwoven as part of her being.
She’d sacrifice her wings, her magic, her happiness, for Remi.Maybe she didn’t experience love the way humans did, but this was the closest approximation.A demon’s selfishness had met the edge of something more, a threshold, a door.The pressure had expanded to collapse the outer casing and revealed an open space filled with a warmth that she thought might be labeled as affection.
“I love you too,” she said, her tongue lingering over the way the word rolled through her mouth.
A brilliant joy erupted across Remi’s face.He kissed her, and for a dazzling moment, the horror around them fell away.There was only Remi, his lips on hers, his arms wrapped around her, his love made tangible through their kiss.She gave in to it.Their kiss became a nonverbal communication.She opened up to him, apologized, and he responded in kind with so much love and forgiveness and acceptance that Skye almost couldn’t handle it.
“It’s okay,” Remi murmured against her lips.“Everything’s okay now.”
Skye shook her head and pulled back.“Remi, you don’t understand.My mother.She got her wings clipped.The Devil took her powers, and it ruined her.She killed herself.This isn’t just like you getting your wisdom teeth out or something.It will change who you are.”
Skye gathered the ashes that surrounded them on the ground, and she could have sworn they vibrated against her hand.Remi’s power was still alive, and it magnetized against her skin just like his shadows had.
Remi furrowed his brow.“I don’t feel any different—”
The Devil’s booming laughter filled the room.“Your mother didn’t kill herself,” he said.“Why don’t you tell her the truth, Lawrence?”
Laurie struggled to stand from his position on the opposite side of the room.His clothes were a mess; blood from a large wound in his torso sputtered out.Zara was no better, lying beside him.She crawled to a seated position, propped her back up against the wall, and yanked a hunk of glass from her chest, pressing her palm to stop the wound as it bled out.
“What did you do to my mother?”Skye shouted.Cold dread hollowed out her stomach, leaving her numb.
Laurie limped forward, his palms raised.“Listen.Just listen, okay?I can explain.”
Skye stood as emotions pulsated through her.“What did you do!”
Laurie crossed the room, and Remi pushed himself up, stepping in front of Skye, blocking her, protecting her from Laurie getting any closer.
Laurie’s face scrunched up, his eyes closing as he halted in front of them.“It’s not what you think.”
“Thentellme.”
“I was there.That night.Your mother didn’t kill herself, Skye.”Laurie’s eyebrows pulled together.“She was killed.”
Skye clutched the scraps that remained of Remi’s shirt.He wrapped an arm around her from behind.It was only by leaning on Remi that she could keep herself from buckling.
“Who?”she whispered.
“A fucking angel bastard,” Laurie said and clenched his jaw.“My father.”
“You’re an angel?”Remi asked.“There’s no fucking wayyouare an angel.”
“Half angel,” Laurie grumbled.
Skye’s shoulders dropped.“My mother’s journals.Your research…” she said.“You haven’t been trying to fuck an angel.”
