Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 131708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
Licking her lips, she gave her head a little shake. “Why … why didn’t you say anything sooner?” Where was the point in seeking her out only to keep her ignorant?
His head tipped to the side. “If I’d told you this right off the bat, how would you have reacted?”
Mostly with disbelief. And … “I probably would have thought it was a lie. That you were fucking with me for your own entertainment.”
“Because you didn’t know me. I needed that to change. Needed for you to feel safe and comfortable with me.”
“I’ve felt that way around you for weeks now. Yet, you said nothing.”
“Because, like I told you before, it’s all tangled up in everything else I haven’t yet shared with you.”
“Okay. Tell me more.”
“Before you, no one I came upon here on Earth ever remembered me after that first meeting. You did. I don’t know how, but you did. And you drew me in without trying.”
People forgot him? Jesus.
“You became an obsession for me. To the point where there was no letting you go. You were the only thing I’d ever claimed as mine.” He pushed out of his chair and then walked toward her. “When you learned of the curse, you didn’t turn me away. But there’s more to it in my case. I hadn’t yet told you that—, you were taken from me before I had the chance.” The pain of that spiderwebbed through his expression. “Taken by people who were intent on me not paying the price for falling.”
She looked up at him as he halted before her. “What price?”
“I’m not merely doomed to drink blood, Ella. That’s not even the worst part.” He wrapped his fingers around her wrist, tugged her to her feet, and then teleported her to the yard. He dropped her hand and flicked his own, saying, “Look around, Ella. What do you see?”
She scanned their surroundings a little uncertainly.
“Flowers? Fresh grass? Animals? Any signs of nature thriving? No. And you won’t see those things. Because of me.”
She frowned. “What?”
“Have you ever been at the pool hall, the club, or the dive bar when I was there and not seen a fight break out? Of course you haven’t. And again, it was because of me.”
She gave another shake of her head. “I don’t understand.”
“The strix I’ve battled who bit me … they all died. Know why? My blood is acidic.”
Her gut squeezed. “Acidic?”
He stepped closer, towering over her. “My presence stunts growth, kills animals, invites sin, incites violence, makes even friends turn on each other. That’s what it means to be the incarnation of a deadly sin. That’s what becomes of one of the Seven archangels if they fall.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Ella could only gape at him, her brain hiccupping and spluttering as it strived to process his words. Not once in the times she’d chewed over what he could be hiding had she ever considered this. Why would she have? She’d had no idea that such a fate could befall anyone, let alone a fallen member of the Seven.
Originally, she’d wondered if he was being a little dramatic in his insistence that his secrets were so dark. Oh, how wrong she’d been to doubt him.
He was the incarnation of a deadly sin. A deadly sin. Her demon, as stunned as Ella, couldn’t quite wrap its head around it.
His gaze vacant and unblinking, he watched her very carefully, seemingly intent on soaking in her every reaction. His body was so rigid he could have passed for a statue.
What was she supposed to say? Or do? Her mind gave her no answer. It was still busy struggling to work through his revelation, and so all she could do was stand there gawking at him.
No wonder he’d hesitated to tell her. His presence fouled and corrupted everything and everyone around him. What did that knowledge even do to a person? What kind of mind fuckery would it cause? And how did it even come about?
She licked her lips. “How … how can falling cause that?”
His empty gaze drifted over her face. “Each of the Seven archangels is one of the seven virtues,” he said, his voice slow and flat. “The fall, though, it warps us. Once upon a time, I embodied patience. Now, I embody wrath. I infect people with it without even trying.”
“And this is a punishment for falling?”
“It was intended to be more of a deterrent. It’s certainly effective since, to my knowledge, no member of the Seven fell before me.” He paused. “The strix came after my club because what I am draws any kind of evil like a magnet. We don’t need to hunt the hell-born. They seek us out.”
Oh, Jesus. While that would make his self-appointed job easier, it would also mean that danger constantly chased him and his brothers. And to know that evil would literally be drawn to you, would come for you, follow you … Who wouldn’t hate that?