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Iris was alarmed to see Gabriel’s eyes glisten with unshed tears. She couldn’t imagine how painful it must have been to keep all of this in for so long. No wonder he liked to confide in Clement; he was probably the only person Gabriel had ever been able to share his full truth with.

“It’s okay.” Iris intertwined their fingers, her voice full of conviction. “You’re a good man, Gabriel. Whatever happened in the past, you are good.”

Gabriel shook his head as he fought off some memory. Iris wished she could pluck it straight from his head and toss it out the window into the frigid night.

“There was a witch who forced her way into our safe house. She was…forbidding. She threatened to reveal us if we didn’t allow her to stay.” He let out a ragged breath. “We had pledged to protect the innocent people in our care. If she revealed us, they would have been back out on the streets at the mercy of the mobs. So, I let her in. She said she wanted to test out some weapons. I had no way of knowing what she meant. I didn’t know, Iris, I swear I didn’t.”

Iris stared at him with dawning comprehension. Blair wasn’t a sorcerer. He was a weapon. This witch was testing weapons. “You think Blair was⁠—”

“She had two cages brought in,” Gabriel interrupted, his eyes glazing over as he was swallowed up by the memory. He tugged on Iris’ hand so that it rested beneath his chin. She could feel his throat tremble as he swallowed. “A young man and woman. I never got close enough to see them clearly. At first, they seemed normal, but when she practiced her magic on them, they…changed.”

Ebony tears slashing like blades down battered cheeks flashed to life behind Iris’ eyes as Gabriel continued. “It seemed to happen whenever she caused them pain. There would be a terrible ripping noise, and then…” He trailed off as if unwilling or unable to continue.

“What?” Iris asked, her heart skipping a beat. “Tell me, Gabriel. Please.”

His gaze was glued to the windshield, a cloud of pure white that blocked out the surrounding darkness. “Their spines would tear, and wings…huge wings…would emerge.”

Iris stared at him, her mouth hanging open in incredulity. She had a mental image of Blair, his back ripped open and giant wings sprouting from them. Blair, hovering above her like a specter, black poison tears dripping down…

She shook her head, fighting off the unsettling image. “Blair isn’t a monster.”

Gabriel’s expression was almost pitying. “He seems to think he is.”

“He’s wrong.”

Before she could stop him, Gabriel grasped her right hand and pried her fingers apart to reveal the cut on her palm.

“No.” Iris turned away from him.

After a long moment, Gabriel cleared his throat softly. “Clement was able to track down Blair’s parents to a house in Plymouth.”

Iris’ attention snapped onto him like a mousetrap. “What does Clement have to do with anything?”

Gabriel’s voice was maddeningly calm. “He was hired by the council of witches to keep track of Similars in our area. Make sure they don’t cause any disturbances.” He sighed. “Blair belongs with his family, Iris. Somewhere they can keep him safe.”

“He belongs with us.” Iris curled her knees up to her chest. “He deserves to live somewhere where he has the freedom to be himself, not some shadow.”

Gabriel’s expression hardened the way it always did when Blair was discussed. Iris’ stomach sank. She was so sick of arguing about this. Tears stung her eyes again, but she held them back. “I love you, Gabriel.” She begged him to feel the anguish in her heart. “But there’s room in our lives for more than just the two of us.”

“That’s something both of us need to agree on. You’ve decided all of this on your own.” Gabriel stared past her, unable to hide his hurt.

Iris didn't know how to convince him that Blair wasn’t a threat, not to their safety, and not to what they had together. She knew in her bones that it was true.

“What makes you think Blair was one of the winged people the witch held captive?” she asked.

What were the chances that Gabriel and Blair had crossed paths so long ago and now were living together hundreds of years in the future? It seemed implausible, like too many threads would have had to be tied into a single bow for fate to have turned out that way.

“I’ve had my suspicions for a little while now,” Gabriel admitted. “And when I saw him tonight, the cuts on his face reminded me of them. I know they were immortal, because I remember overhearing the witch questioning them about it. So, Blair could have easily been one of them.”

Gabriel was thoughtful for a moment. “When I first met Blair, all of the suppressed energy in his aura made me wonder if he was a witch holding back his magic. Now I believe his unsettled aura has to do with how hard he has to fight to keep himself human when his instincts are constantly demanding he set his true form free.”

Iris shivered. She hoped Gabriel was wrong, because if that were true…well, she couldn’t imagine anything more exhausting.

“What happened to the captives?” she asked at last, unsure if she wanted to hear the answer. “Didn’t you do something to try to help?”

“Not enough.” A muscle ticked in Gabriel’s jaw. “When we saw how she was hurting them with her magic, we knew we had to act, even if it put our operation at risk. Clement eventually managed to contact the young man’s family, and we got him out. The young woman…” He flinched, his voice cracking. “We were too late to save her.”

Iris’ mind whirled. If Blair really was one of the weapons the witch had tormented—if he had perhaps even been present for the other captive’s death—he had been through far worse than she could have ever imagined.