A very large, very white wing. And someone was fitted against her back, his nose buried in her hair. But it couldn’t be Phenex. This was some kind of weird delusion. Maybe she was in a coma, or—
“Oh my God. I died.” She whispered the words, but the chuckle that rumbled through her from behind said that she hadn’t been that quiet.
“I hope not. I love everything about you, Sofia, but I might have to draw the line at spooning your corpse.”
“Phenex?” Her eyes widened, and she’d rolled over to wrap herself around him before she even managed to register what he’d said. She showered his face with kisses, laughing and crying, unable to articulate a single coherent thought. All she knew was that he was with her, and that he’d finally told her he loved her. Right this second, those two things, plus the fact that she was alive, were all that mattered.
“How did you find me? How did you get us back here?” she asked. “The place he took me…it hurt so much.”
“I know,” Phenex said. Lying there at her side, shadow and light playing over his face, Phenex was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. He brushed a lock of hair out of her face.
“Hell was never made for humans still in their bodies. Belial took you there so I could watch you die. Years ago, I freed an angel he was torturing from the cage he put you in. Celestine. She begged me to kill her, to end it, the night I found her. Instead, I let her go. They couldn’t prove anything, but Belial knew it was me.” He smiled, just a lazy lift of his lips that was sweet and sensual all at once. “We’ll just say he was extremely pissed. And he held a grudge.” The smile faded. “You were the perfect opportunity to make me hurt, and he took it. I’m so sorry, Sofia.”
Sofia stroked a hand down his cheek, still trying to come to terms with the fact that they were both here. That she was breathing.
She paused in mid-stroke, finally registering his apology. She was alive, but there was no way she should have been. Something had happened. Her eyes widened, and she looked to the window, suddenly certain that she would see a sky just past sunset, bruised and darkened. That Phenex had saved her life the only way he knew how.
She would never be able to hold it against him, Sofia knew. But she would never be the same. So much lost…
But when Sofia rose up on her elbows to get a better look, she saw that while it was sunset, the sun hadn’t finished its descent, only just beginning to touch the sea. The sky was full of glorious shades of pink and red and violet. It wasn’t yet night.
She didn’t understand. But she knew she was going to treasure the memory of this sky more than any she’d ever seen.
“How?” Sofia asked, sinking back down to look at Phenex. “How is this possible? I was dying. I could feel it.”
His expression was inscrutable. He still looked unsure of her…what had he managed to do?
“Some things happened when I was fighting to get you back.”
“Things?” Sofia murmured, and then remembered that his wing was still draped over her, soft and warm. He’d just been waiting for her to notice it. Really notice it. She ran a hand over the feathers, the purest white she’d ever seen, and then looked into his fathomless blue eyes with wonder.
“Yes, I guess some things happened. That would be one way of putting it,” she said.
Slowly, haltingly, he tried to explain what had happened to him. “I’m an idiot,” he said. “It took me up until the moment I realized I was losing you to figure out what I should have already known. I love you.”
Hearing him say it was sweeter than she could have imagined. Sofia breathed in, catching the wonderful scent of him, and splayed her fingers over the cloudlike softness of his wing. This was real. She had to keep reminding herself. She’d never expected to get exactly what she wanted…but here he was.
Phenex stroked his hand over her hair. “When I figured it out, the second I accepted the truth, I felt this weird…” He trailed off, looked pensive for a moment, and then shook his head. “I don’t even know what to call it. Like Meresin had thrown some of his lightning at me, I guess,