then disappeared in the greenery.
It was time, then.
She climbed to her feet, Eri rising beside her, and searched the valley for Reu and the other lions. It would take the others at least a day to cross the grassland to where she and Reu had made their settlement. Still. It was good she had seen this.
She placed her hand on Eri’s head and looked down into his golden eyes. “Can you call to the others?”
His fur shivered under her touch and he looked into the distance, his nose twitching as he drank in the scent of the wind. Then he turned unerringly, his tail flicking against her leg, and roared.
Even expecting it, the sound still made her tremble, and she was glad Eri and his pride guarded them, for she would not have been easy knowing the cats hunted for their flesh. She slapped the lion on the flank and turned her attention back to the Garden.
There were fewer angels outside, now. She wondered if Michael had sent them off, or if the Garden had swallowed them. She wished she could see or hear what was happening. Maybe if she closed her eyes and focused…
Reu and the lions were the first thing she felt, familiar presences, clear and crisp. Reu had already been on his way back, and now moved more quickly at the sound of Eri’s roar. The females did not hurry, unconcerned by Reu’s human anxiety, but Tzofi kept pace with him. Eve probably could have called Reu herself, but she found the idea was distasteful to her, too similar to Adam’s methods of control.
She pushed beyond them, opening her mind to the rest of the valley slowly. Birds hunting and soaring high above them, and more on the ground with the rodent-kind, looking for bugs and seeds and flowers to eat. Then the larger beasts, prey animals, skittish and wary, ready to flee at the slightest noise or movement.
She pressed further, visualizing the Garden in her mind, the path through the trees from the gate to the caves Adam had made their shelter, until she felt the others there. Hannah’s quiet calm, even as the angels surrounded them, their faces hard as stone. Lilith’s terror, colored by Adam’s fury, as she cowered before the sword of fire. And Adam himself, arrogant and unmoved by the demands and the threat in Michael’s eyes.
She wondered at his conceit. It had not taken more than the sight of the angels massed above to inspire fear of God’s Law in her heart. Yet, she felt Adam’s dismissal of these beings, powerful in their own right, and their judgment of him.
The impressions were more confusing than enlightening. A blend of perspectives growing more entwined the more she tried to see, colored heavily by fear and trepidation. She could not hear the words spoken by the angels, though she could clearly see their lips moving, nor could she hear Adam’s verbal response. But his anger was like a beacon to her, burning bright in her mind. A flash of surprise was her only warning before the focus of his mind narrowed and she cried out in pain, her eyes opening as she lost what connection she had managed to create.
Eri rumbled under her hand, more a vibration than sound. She dropped to her knees and pressed her face into the fur of his neck. She felt drained. It was more than she had done with her power since the lions had been tamed. Too much to have attempted all at once.
“Eve?”
She leaned over the ledge. Reu stood below it, a small gazelle across his shoulders. He frowned when he saw her face and dropped the kill to the grass. She let herself fall from the edge of the precipice and he caught her around the waist to set her lightly on the ground.
He searched her eyes. “Are you well?”
She nodded, rubbing the back of her neck. “The angels have entered the Garden. Michael is speaking with Adam right now.”
“How do you know?”
“I saw them, and then I felt it. They’re all afraid. Except for Adam. How can he face them without fear?”
“Adam spent time with the angels before God’s death. Before the rest of us were made.” Reu frowned slightly and picked up the gazelle again, carrying it to the area where he dressed the kills.
The lions were already there, waiting with gleaming eyes for the offal he always shared with them while he worked. Tzofi was washing blood from her whiskers, and she greeted Eri with a chuff and a purr. Eri rubbed his head against hers and lay down in the grass, rolling onto his side with lazy grace.
“I’m not sure I can lead, Reu. I’ve only just learned to live.”
He smiled at her as he set down the carcass and squatted in the grass with his flint knife. “In all Adam’s days in the Garden, he did not do what you’ve accomplished in just seven. You’ve done more than just learn to live, Eve.”
She sat down beside Eri across from Reu, wrapping her arms around her knees and watching him as he began his work, carefully peeling the skin from the flesh and throwing bits to the lions as he went. “Instead, he cowed our people into submission. I think his accomplishment is still the greater.”
“Have faith, love.”
“If God is dead, Reu, what is there left to believe in?”
He stopped and looked up at her. She could feel his thoughts as they swirled around her question, and she knew his answer before he spoke. “I believe in you, Eve. God’s Grace is in you.”
She shivered and wished once again she had known God. To know his plan for her firsthand. To know what it all meant. But Reu didn’t have those answers either. “They could be here as soon as tomorrow.”
“And we’ll be waiting,” he said, confident. His thoughts were so calm. Things would be as they were meant to be. The angels had said they were meant to lead, and so they would.
She sighed and stroked Eri’s head while he purred beside her. Watching Reu work the skin from the animal could be mesmerizing, especially combined with the attention of the lions. It tugged at her so strongly she even felt their hunger for the meat. She shook her head to clear it and stood up. “I’ll start a fire.”
Reu nodded. “I won’t be much longer.”
After they ate and arranged the rest of the meat to dry, they climbed the rocks to the overlook. It was her favorite part of the day with Reu, when they took this moment just to be together, putting the day and all its work behind them. It had become their ritual to watch the sun set behind the mountains each night, painting the sky with the reds and oranges of flame. The stone held the heat from the sun for hours after, keeping them warm enough from the night chill. When it was clear they slept there, under the open sky, and Reu would tell her the stories of the stars as they came out, one by one.
She rubbed the back of her neck. Her skull still ached from her earlier effort to discover what was happening in the Garden with the others. Reu noticed and brushed her hand away, taking over with his strong fingers and working the knots from her neck that she hadn’t known were there.
He chuckled softly at the noises she made, and kissed her shoulder. Eve curled up against his body, her cheek against his bare chest, and listened to his heartbeat in the fading light. Tonight might be the last night they had alone together, without fear, without worrying about Adam.
“Sometimes I wish we could stay this way forever. Just us. Without any of the others.”
Reu kissed the top of her head. His hand slid from her neck to her arm and then the curve of her waist. “As long as we’re together, as long as I can hold you in my arms at night, it doesn’t matter how many others are with us.”
She smiled and tilted her head to look up at him. “Not just hold me, I hope?”
He laughed and brushed her hair from her face. “Hold you and love you and protect you and treasure you always, Eve.”
His kiss distracted her from the realization, sudden, sad and complete, that his always would never be hers.
Chapter Thirty-six: 15 AD
Thor spent as little time in Asgard as he could, frequenting Thorgrim’s village to ensure their safety, and
