Another early update because I have another late shift tomorrow. JoVersify's magic made this chapter so much better! We have been working on it all week :) Enjoy!
Poison, II
Fresh bedding and clothes had been prepared for them in Edvardiel's childhood home. The small bed had been pushed to the side and a pile of soft quilts and pillows had been placed on the ground.
Against her better judgement, she curled up on Edvardiel's chest, his arms warm and secure around her. And despite her tiredness, her mind raced, filled with Edenium, angelfire, and now Lucifer.
He was nothing like the angel in the legends. He must've grown weak from all those years on Earth.
"Edvardiel," she whispered. "You said you and Lucifer were fighting near the cliffs. Were you both flying?"
He nodded sleepily. "Mm-hm. Here and there."
"I thought the Fallen didn't have wings."
"From what I heard, Michael sent him down on a mission and he never came back. So he was condemned to Fall but they never found him."
Issa snorted. "Smart guy. You should've taken a leaf out of his book."
Edvardiel nodded again, half-asleep. "I probably should have." He shifted groggily. "He knew we were looking for him. He even knew my name. I wonder how long he'd been tailing me."
That made Issa frown. "There's something I don't get. He'd stayed hidden for so long. Why did he show himself to you if he knew you were hunting him?" Another thought struck her and this time, she sat up, all her sleepiness gone. "Edvardiel. If he had wings, he should've had glory. Are you sure he lost his glory?"
Edvardiel didn't answer.
She glanced over to find him passed out, his mouth slightly agape.
She sighed. He'd pushed himself too hard today. She'd pushed him too hard today. She caressed the stray locks of his hair away from his face and rearranged the quilts to cover him better. As she leaned over, unable to resist giving him a small kiss on the cheek, feathers began to rain down once more.
She continued to run her fingers through his soft hair, waiting. She was learning to expect the presence that came with the strange feathers. Sure enough, her dream angel spoke.
What is he to you?
She knew it was her subconscious mind, growing more and more unstable by the day, and she knew she shouldn't be speaking to it. But there was no one else. The longer she stayed with Edvardiel—the more she kissed him and touched him—the guiltier she felt. The right thing to do was to leave but she couldn't bear the thought of breaking his heart. The damn angel didn't need a Keeper bond when he stripped her defenceless with his eyes alone.
"Someone I can't have," she murmured.
He needs your help.
"He has Eden and all the Nephilim in it," she said. "I'm only a burden to everyone."
A pause. The feathers continued to rain, and this time, when her dream angel spoke, he sounded impatient. Your self-pity will help no one, child. Pull yourself together and put your mind to work. It grows dull with those useless thoughts.
Even her own subconscious was a dick. "Fuck you too," she muttered before she laid back down and nestled in the crook of Edvardiel's neck. He sighed and turned towards her, his skin glowing softly, as though he were trying to keep her warm even in slumber. She shut her eyes, and with it, she shut the feathers out.
Despite everything, her first night in Eden was accompanied by a deep, peaceful slumber. Her angel's wonderful heat made sure of it. Maybe it was Eden, but Edvardiel's heat seemed to cradle her body entirely, bone-meltingly soft and warm. She snuggled closer, wanting to sleep some more, but it was too bright.
She cracked an eye open to see sunlight streaming through the windows. The feather rain was still there, except these were neither fiery nor bloodstained.
These were a pale grey.
She blinked several times but they stayed.
One of them landed on her nose, tickling her, and she sneezed.
Edvardiel stirred beside her and she pinched one between her fingers, frowning. She knew she was hallucinating but she'd never been able to touch them before.
"Are those feathers real?" she asked.
Edvardiel looked around in confusion, as though he could see them too. As he shifted, Issa realised the feathers weren't just floating, there were more of them underneath her and these wriggled, warm and incredibly strong, as though they were lined with muscles.
"They're moving!" she said, leaping away in shock.
"They're..." Edvardiel sat up and followed her gaze in bewilderment. "They're mine..."
Issa followed the trail of feathers and realised it was indeed attached to Edvardiel's back. She blinked. "They grew back?"
She blinked again. The wings were still there.
Her jaw dropped.
"They grew back!" she shrieked and grabbed his hands, jumping up and down as though she were five years old. "Oh my god, they grew back!"
Edvardiel stretched out his wings, wonder, shock and disbelief on his face. They were magnificent and larger than life, seeming to radiate otherworldly power—the kind that made a man fall to his knees and kiss an angel's feet.
He spread them and then he was flying, the beautiful feathers fanned out. They'd seemed dull and unremarkable in the shadows but in the sun, they gleamed, a prism fracturing light into a million colours.
She watched him roll around in the air, free as a bird, and she felt her heart soar—an exhilarating, unbridled joy. It was the same feeling she'd had when she'd held Alice.
Edvardiel pulled his wings tight to his body and then shot out the window, fast as a bullet.
She followed, grasping the tops of the window frame and swinging herself up onto the roof. Putting on a burst of speed, she leapt from one rooftop to another until she reached a tall, winged monument at the centre. She climbed up to the top of it, grinning like an idiot as the wind whipped her hair.
From up here, she could see that a crowd had gathered below, exclaiming and pointing at her angel.
Something glowed in the corner of her eyes. Her palms. They were gold, shining so brightly they rivalled the morning sun. Her body lifted skywards, as though it wanted to join her Keeper in flight.
She was no longer afraid of it. This was glory. And she'd never felt more glorious.
Maybe Edvardiel saw the glow. Maybe he'd been tracking her like she was tracking him. Maybe she'd even whooped.
Without warning, he swooped down and grabbed her.
Issa made a very inelegant noise as they shot into the air, clinging to him for dear life. Her stomach felt as though it had been left behind on the ground.
Edvardiel's hold was snug as they cut through the air at breakneck speed. "I've got you," he said. Pure happiness shot through their bond. "I won't let you fall."
"You better not!"
He laughed and stopped, his wings beating powerfully as he kept them suspended in midair. She laughed too—she was more fond of the skies than she realised.
"You did it," she said breathlessly. "Look at you. You're flying. You're fucking flying."
"You did it." He sounded feverish. "I don't know how but you grew them back. Thank you. Thank you."
Edvardiel captured her lips, stealing her breath.
When she opened her eyes, it was raining fiery feathers again, but for once, she didn't feel defective. The hallucinations could come as much as they wanted. She'd done it. She'd helped her angel with his wings. She'd helped him fly.
Her dream angel spoke, and he sounded oddly deferent.
Well done, child. Consider your favour paid.
The hallucinations and the dreams, the mysterious feathers and the favours… she'd dismissed them as wishful thinking. But now that she'd healed Edvardiel, she was no longer sure.
She heard and remembered everything too clearly. Her dream angel had said he'd used his feathers to stunt her powers and her memories per her mother's wishes, and that he'd given her a single feather to undo her bindings in return for a favour.
Let your father have it when you see him again.
He'd said it with a laugh but Issa's Acolyte senses saw violence lurking behind the seemingly innocent words. Something else he'd said disturbed her too.
Believe me, you don't want your father. You want to be safe.
She needed to confront the odd presence in her mind. She needed to demand answers. But now wasn't the time. She draped her arms around her angel's neck, savouring her first true taste of joy. The sweetness was too much for her hellish heart. Her silly eyes watered again, and this time, she didn't give a damn.
From high above, Eden's colours seemed even more wondrous. The crowd had turned into a mere speck, but Edvardiel showed no signs of stopping.
"Where are you going?" she asked, confused.
"I promised we'd leave first thing in the morning."
Her jaw dropped. He was still going on about leaving? After this?
"And I said over my dead body! I don't want to leave now!" She began to struggle in earnest. "I just grew your wings and we were just getting started—"
"Issa—"
"Put me down!"
"We're—"
"Put me down, I said!" Somehow, she managed to whack away his hands, before she remembered how high up they were. For a second, she floated awkwardly in the air. Then her glow went out like a candle.
Edvardiel caught her so swiftly that she barely registered her fall.
"What is wrong with you?" he demanded. "You don't like this place." He jerked his head towards the crowd in the distance. "I'll tell you what's going to happen if we go there. We're going to land, I'm going to be swarmed by a crowd of people I don't care about while Tanya or another absurd person is going to say something to you that, I swear to the Heavens, will make me set them on fire. And all of that for what, exactly?"
Issa turned red. "I don't care about Tanya."
"Neither do I!" Edvardiel said. "I have you. I have my wings. I don't need anything else."
"But your father—"
"Would you stop it with my father already? He's not coming!"
Hurt trickled through their bond, opening up to an ocean of disappointment. And Issa realised she hadn't been the only one miserable in Eden.
It's not any different than Heaven… I've been nothing but Eden's son. No one can see past my blood.
He'd been trying to tell her. Her angel had been hoping for a home only to find his mother dead and his father missing. He'd been mourning. He'd been lonely. And she'd been trying to leave him.
"If my father were alive—if he'd cared—he'd have found me already." The glory in his eyes had never been more piercing. "Issa, he's not coming."
"But what if he is?" she asked softly.
"Then it's his own damn fault for taking so long," Edvardiel said. A muscle jumped in his jaw as his hold tightened around her, his wings beating furiously to keep them suspended in mid-air. Then all at once, his anger vanished.
"I'm sorry," he said regretfully. "I didn't mean to be so— I was just—"
She touched his face. "Edvardiel. Shut up. Stop apologising. You should get mad more often. At your deadbeat dad. At those fucking archangels. Hell, even at me. I know I'm a piece of work." She gave him a rueful grin.
The familiar, unbearable sweetness flooded their bond and he pulled her to him. "You really are," he said. "But I love you anyway."
Her heart stilled.
Trust him to pick the most mundane moment to lay his heart bare.
She shouldn't have been surprised. She'd felt it. Deep down inside, she'd known.
She knew he wasn't waiting for an answer. She knew he knew her better than that. Still, she felt like she had to say something.
She cleared her throat. "You're all right, I guess."
He smirked, the glory in his wings bathing them both in light as they landed lightly near the gates. He reached out to open them for her but Issa caught his hand.
Something wasn't right.
"Edvardiel," she said quietly. "Do you feel that?"
He stilled.
The skulls and bones that were scattered on the ground outside had vanished—as though something had consumed them—and the birds and little animals that played near the trees had gone silent.
The golden gates flickered once. Twice.
Each time, it was as though they'd dissolved, solidified glory vanishing into thin air. And each time, Issa saw the shadowy outline of Lilith's grotesque grinning spectre in the distance.
"They're here," she choked out.
Lilith's demon army had tracked them to Eden, and they were biding their time, waiting for the leftover glory in the gates to run out.
