A Crown Of Fire And Wrath (The Shadow Walkers Saga #5) - Sloane Murphy Page 0,20

to do it here in Avalon, where I spent my entire life as an outcast.

“Are you coming?” he asks as he pokes his head out of the door. I take a deep breath, mentally preparing myself for whatever he might have in here, and step across the threshold. It’s like being hurtled back in time. My house was never the biggest, or the grandest, but it was enough for me. One open living space, with a bathroom off to the side. My bed in the far corner, not too far from the kitchen and coffee pot, of course. Then the main living space to the front. There’s more clutter in here than I remember, though considering Levi has been adding to this place for a couple of centuries, that’s not too much of a shock I guess.

I stand just inside the doorway, taking in the changes he’s made, when he heads over to the far side of the living space to my old weapons cabinet. He fusses for a minute before turning back to face me with two boxes in his hands.

Oh shit.

I remember those boxes.

Even with all the dust in the house, the wood practically shines as he places them on the table and waits for me to approach.

“You kept them?” I ask, a lump in my throat.

“Of course I did. I had them made for you, I remember the first time I gave them to you, I wasn’t just going to let them get lost in the aftermath of the war.” He smiles sadly at me, and the pain etched on his face makes me want to cry. I sacrificed myself for him, and I’d do it again, but I hate how much it hurt him anyway.

I move towards the table, a slight tremor in my hands. It’s silly, being so scared of opening those boxes when I know what’s inside, but the fact that he had them made, that he kept them, it’s almost overwhelming right now.

I open the first box, and smile down at my old friends. Two black karambit blades nestled in velvet, with my angel sigil, the archer constellation, just like the birthmark I had before I reawoke as an angel, engraved into the metal on one side, and the crown wrapped in thorns on the other. His sigil. I brush my fingers across the cold dark blades and sigh. These blades got me through a lot of tight spots.

I move to the bigger rectangular box and smile up at Levi. “Thank you. Thank you for finding them, and for keeping them.” I open the second box and find the bow he had crafted for me. Black wood with purple details, with both of our sigils on again. It amazes me that I could ever have forgotten the beauty of the gifts he once gave me.

“You have nothing to thank me for,” he says softly as he moves to stand behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist as I brush my fingers along the bow.

“I have so much to thank you for, that thank you isn’t ever going to be enough, but it’s all that I have.”

“I have you, Remy. That’s all I’ll ever need.”

We spent most of the night at the house, just going through all of the bits he’d added, and enjoying being in each other’s company. We laid in the bed for a while, while Levi just held me. I think nearly losing me again, in a very permanent way, is hitting him, so I just lay there and enjoyed the peace it brought me.

“We should probably head to Michael’s soon, we also need to find your mother, then we can get home,” Levi mumbles. I lift my head from his chest and smile.

“Can we go to the markets first? I always loved the markets in the early morning, before they got too busy.” My words make him smile and groan all at the same time. The markets are on the edges of the city, near the water, and are really not easily defensible because it’s so open, but we have nothing to fear here. Not for now at least. It’s so peaceful, knowing that someone isn’t going to try and kill us while we’re here, but I will not hide, even if I am safer in Avalon.

“We can go, but not for long.”

“Thank you, but yes, not for long. I want to get home too. Though, I’m not looking forward to the whole, putting myself in danger speech I