the sound pitched too high to be casual. “No. Nothing like that.” Heat touched his cheeks, making his freckles glow. Oh, this was… interesting. Solo wet his lips, looking down, and Severn narrowed his eyes, picking up on the very real and potent scent of lust radiating off an angel who was not supposed to feel. What, by Haven, had happened in his absence? Were angels crushing on Mikhail now? Impossible. Solo had always been sensitive, but angels did not feel, at least not until Severn had become one. “Do you have something you want to confess?” he probed, adding a thin, authoritative note.
“What? No.” Solo abruptly turned away, as though to leave, but hesitated. If he’d had his wings out, they’d have drooped like his shoulders. “We kissed.”
It was a good thing Solo was turned away because there wasn’t a chance in Haven that Severn could have kept the shock from his face. They fucking kissed?
Solo turned back, and Severn froze his expression into cold detachment. “Well. That’s…” he stammered, and Solo looked pained, like he needed someone to tell him he wasn’t catching emotions from Mikhail. What the fuck was Severn supposed to say? Remiel would probably string Solo and Mikhail up by the wings and have them whipped. Severn cleared his throat. “Whiskey?”
Solo puffed out a sigh, having clearly expected the worst. “Whiskey?”
“Gin will do.”
Fuck it. Severn needed a drink. He sauntered into the front room where humans sometimes kept their alcohol for entertaining and began to rummage through the cupboards either side of the fireplace. Mikhail and Solo had kissed. His Mikhail had kissed another angel. Who had instigated it, was it Solo? Did it matter? They’d fucking kissed, and shit, Severn knew jealousy. Hadn’t felt it in a while, but it was sure burning him up now. Concubi didn’t get jealous. But Mikhail wasn’t concubi, and he was Severn’s angel, despite their… disagreements. Major disagreements. Either-side-of-a-war disagreements. But Solo?
“Am I sick?” Solo asked behind him.
Severn snorted. Sick? Stupid angels. He found a bottle of Russian vodka and a few glasses, ripped off the top of the drink, and poured two drinks. One, he handed to Solo. Solo considered not taking it for a few seconds, and then snatched it from Severn’s fingers and gulped it down, then spluttered and coughed in a way that had Severn smiling into his own glass.
“I think I might need to go to Haven,” he wheezed.
Fuck Haven. The more he heard of it, the more he was sure it was a prison. “Who kissed whom?” Severn leaned back against the sideboard.
“What?”
“It’s an important distinction. If Mikhail kissed you, well, then, it’s nothing more than his continued madness. If you kissed him, then…” You’re normal, and life goes on. “Maybe Haven would be for the best.” Severn’s heart thudded.
Solo swallowed and looked into his drink for the answer. “I don’t think it matters.”
“Then, you liked it?”
Solo sent his gaze out the window and stayed silent. His cheek flickering answered for him. He was hot for Mikhail.
“Was it just a kiss?” A part of Severn wanted them to have fucked because it would mean the allyanse was complete bullshit, as he’d suspected, and angels were a bunch of hypocrites who could do with some reality checks, but it also meant Mikhail had replaced Severn with Solo, and that thought made Severn want to drink the bottle of vodka dry.
“Just a kiss,” he said softly. “I, er… I left him on the roof, afterward…” He winced. “He said it was wrong. He was sorry. I don’t want to get him in trouble. This is as much my fault as his.”
Severn rubbed at the bridge of his nose. Fucking angels. If he were Severn, he’d tell Solo to rub one off, or go get laid. Solo could visit what was left of the cauldron and find the more than eager nephilim who’d be very happy to suck angel cock. But he wasn’t Severn. He was Remiel. And Remiel was a bastard.
“Finish your drink,” he said. “And then don’t speak of this again. To anyone.”
Solo breathed a little too hard, no doubt worried he’d just gotten himself and Mikhail in more trouble than they already were. He nodded and downed the remaining vodka, grimacing afterward. “Will you tell him I told you?”
“I’ll do what’s necessary,” Severn said, hating the fraught look on Solo’s face. Someone needed to save these angels from themselves, and Severn wasn’t sure that someone was him, given how he was lying