something that resembled a forest of tumbleweed trees, of all things. We seemed to be the only people in the sky, to my relief. If I’d seen swarms of flying Fallen, I might have passed out on the spot.
If the history of the Fallen was true, then I should have been paralyzed with terror right now. But, inexplicably, I wasn’t. Rafael’s arms were tight around me, but not with the careless, bruising force Ashton had used, and the knot of bitter despair that had resided in my gut since I’d woken up in the river had eased into a nervous fluttering. Rafael might take out some payback on me for drugging him, but I didn’t feel in danger of being murdered. That had been my first thought when I’d seen his wings, true, but if Rafael wanted me dead, all he’d have to do was let go. At this height, I’d splatter on the ground in an indistinguishable pile of goo.
All of a sudden, Rafael swooped downward, causing my stomach to lift in a way that made me glad I hadn’t eaten recently. Who knew how a Fallen would react to puke all over his wings? I might not be in imminent lethal danger, but I didn’t want to push my luck, either. Through eyes narrowed into slits, I saw we were headed right for a big crystal mountain. As the seconds passed, I waited for Rafael to swerve, but he flew in a straight line, his wings cleaving the air to eat up the distance between us and that huge, solid obstacle.
“Rafael….” I began, tapping on his chest.
His mouth curled, but he only flew faster. My tapping turned into a frantic pummeling as less than a hundred yards remained between us and that crystal tower of destruction. What was the matter with him? It wasn’t like the mountain was going to swerve first!
“Rafael!” I screamed, bracing for the unavoidable impact—
At the last second, he tilted, flying us sideways into a fissure I didn’t see until we were already in it. From then on, I kept my eyes shut, deciding that was the wiser course of action or he’d have more than puke to clean off his dark gray feathers.
After several more abrupt turns and swerves, all motion stopped, and I felt something solid beneath my feet. For a long moment, I just stood there, panting and trying to quiet my ominously rumbling stomach.
“Please tell me there’s a gateway back to my world inside this mountain and that’s why you brought us here,” I said when I felt settled enough to talk.
“No.”
I opened my eyes, meeting his hooded cobalt gaze. “No, there isn’t a gateway? No, that isn’t why you brought us here? Or no, you won’t tell me?”
He shrugged, releasing me from his grip. “Either way, the answer is still no,” he replied in an intractable tone.
That stiffened my spine. Okay, I owed him an apology—several, in fact, plus a huge thank-you for killing Ashton—but if he hadn’t been sneaking around and lying to me in the first place, I wouldn’t have jumped to all the wrong conclusions later.
“I need to get back to my realm,” I said, trying to sound very reasonable. “There are some issues I have to clear up—”
“They’ll wait,” he said, both words spaced while his brow ticced up in challenge.
Recklessness made me forget that I should try a sweet, charming approach. I jabbed him in the chest, stepping forward until our toes were almost touching.
“I need to go back so I can help clear your name, damn it, so you might want to—oof!”
Rafael picked me up, throwing me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. I would have screamed, but he’d done it so suddenly that the breath had been knocked out of me.
“Put me down!” I managed, kicking him as best I could.
“No,” he said calmly, keeping me steady with only one arm. “This way, I know you won’t be going anywhere until I’ve said what I need to say.”
From my position, with his wings cradled around me, I had a great view of his muscled legs as he strode down what looked like a long hallway. Then he stopped right as I caught a glimpse of another set of legs ahead, but these were distinctly feminine. I tried to angle myself upward to see whom those legs belonged to when Rafael began walking again, jostling me.
“Rafael,” a clear voice demanded. “What do you think you’re doing with that female?”
“Taking her to my room to ravish her, Mother,” he replied shortly.
My jaw dropped, both at his words and at the ebony wings I caught a glimpse of when Rafael turned a corner and I saw more of the woman. Then nothing but walls met my vision when he rounded another bend.
Not just one Fallen but
“Eh, I’ll see you afterward, then,” she replied in a disinterested voice, adding credence to the harsh rumors I’d heard about their race.
Yet they couldn’t all be cruel. Rafael had saved me. Twice. If I had to make a judgment now, Fallen would outrank Purebloods on a kindness scale, no matter their fearsome reputation.
As for the ravishment, I took that as sarcasm instead of nefarious intent. Rafael might have blown my mind by revealing that he was a Fallen, but I didn’t believe he was a secret rapist, too. No, he was the type of man who relished sensual surrender instead of brute force, as he’d proved in the carriage. The memory of that, combined with how long it had been since I’d had sex, made the prospect of being alone with him more enticing than daunting, Fallen or no.
Rafael deposited me inside a large, triangular room with crystal walls forming a point at the high, high ceiling. Light glowed from some of those crystals, bathing the room with a soft bluish tinge. A pool of silver water took up one corner, an assortment of thick pillows was piled in another, and a desk that looked formed from the wall took up the final corner. I didn’t wait for Rafael to speak but walked over to the shining pool, kneeling by it with a questioning look.
“Is this safe for Partials?”
“Yes, but there’s no barrier in there, if that’s what you’re thinking,” he replied in a silky voice.
I kicked off my shoes. “I’m thinking that I still smell like a sewer and I’d like to change that. You should be all for this idea. It’ll make your whole ravishment plan a lot more palatable for you.”
His mouth quirked, confirming my belief that he’d never intended that, before his expression became stern. “Don’t try to joke your way out of this, Mara. I’m still very angry with you.”
“I don’t blame you.” Spoken as I began to unbutton my shirt. Nothing put a man in a better mood than watching a woman strip, as Rafael’s fading scowl proved. Jack and Ashton had already taken my vest, gun belt, and weapons, so I had less to take off than what I’d started out with.
He watched me, his wings shifting and then folding back in a compilation of movements that somehow shrank them until I couldn’t see them anymore. How could he hide them so completely? True, I hadn’t seen Rafael’s bare back before, but he’d never looked like he’d had a large hump under his clothes.
“Turn around,” I said, wondering if he’d refuse.
Slowly, he turned, revealing wide, muscled shoulders, a narrow waist, and a set of odd, slight ridges that ran along his spine from its base to his neck. Impossibly, that was all that remained of the wings that had reached from his head down to his feet.
“How?” I asked, my voice coming out throatier than before.
“Magic,” he replied, facing me once more.
I swallowed at the intensity in his eyes, their vibrant blue shade already dusting over with tiny little lights. “I’m serious,” I told him.
“So am I.” He spread his arms, and those incredible wings unfurled again, their dark span reaching a foot past his fingertips and their breadth twice as wide as his body. Then he lowered his arms, and just as swiftly, those wings curled up, disappearing from sight.
