Eternal Sin (Primal Sin #2) - Ariana Nash Page 0,58

wing from body—history repeating.

The delightful human couple left them near the ancient town of Bath and bid their farewells. Severn promised to check in and fix their roof if they had any more trouble, and away they went, leaving Mikhail and Severn on a grassy verge, the occasional car rushing by. “We’d best get out of sight.” Angels didn’t hang around roadsides, and Mikhail was too distinctive to go unnoticed for long.

Severn vaulted a fence and strode into a field. Mikhail trailed in the flattened grass behind him. This could have been the perfect moment to mention his new additions. The field was large enough, with no houses in sight. Haven was a few days’ walk away. But if they flew, they’d arrive in hours. Assuming Severn could fly. He hadn’t been born with these wings or this body; trying to make both work together wasn’t going to be intuitive.

“I’ve been thinking about what we say on arrival,” Mikhail said.

Severn glanced behind him and slowed to allow Mikhail to walk beside him. “The truth?” Severn ventured.

“That you’re Konstantin?”

“Not that much truth. We’re bonded, we’re emotional, Haven is our only hope at redemption, yadda yadda.”

Mikhail mused over that for a few strides. “That is true.”

Grass heads swayed around them, so high they reached Severn’s waist. He stroked his hands over them. Flying over the fields would be so much easier. Just spread his wings and take to the air… “Mikhail… there’s something—”

Mikhail jolted to a halt, his face tilted skyward. “Angels.”

They looked like a distant flock of birds dotting up the sky, but their formation was too tight to be birds.

“Shit.” Severn checked the hedge line running around the outside of the vast field. The only nearby cover was a copse, its huddle of trees breaking the smooth line of rolling hills. “There, the trees. Go.” If they had to fight, the tightly packed trees would limit the angels’ movements. Severn was used to fighting without wings, most angels were not.

They waded through the grass and dove inside the cool shadows beneath the trees. Mikhail leaned back against a tree, and Severn crouched, looking out. The angels were incoming, but there was still a chance they’d fly over. “It could just be a routine patrol.” If the angels had seen Severn sprout wings, or if anyone had seen him glide out of London, they’d surely be looking.

Mikhail thumped his head back against the tree trunk with his eyes closed and his hands clenched into fists. Whatever was going on inside his head, he was controlling it. For now. But if he broke cover and tried to fight his angels, or talk with them, more would come, and their chances of getting to Haven with their story intact would be slim.

The sound of wings beating the air grew louder overhead.

Mikhail opened his eyes, his gaze far away. He was going to intercept them, because he was a damned stubborn guardian angel who hadn’t yet realized most of his own forces wanted him gone.

Severn moved in front of him, blocking his view of whatever he saw inside his mind.

“Don’t,” he said.

“This isn’t right,” Mikhail ground out between his teeth.

“No, it’s not. But we’re going to make it right.” Moving closer, he watched Mikhail’s gaze track his face. Some of the icy madness melted from Mikhail’s eyes. His soft, mildly confused frown returned, and Severn touched some of it at the corner of his lips. “I told you once, how we might end this war.” Severn swallowed and stepped closer to his guardian. Heat throbbed from the angel—his rage, no doubt. Potent enough to give rise to a hint of ether. “I said it wouldn’t be tomorrow, but it would happen. Together. I still believe it.”

Mikhail’s fingertips brushed Severn’s cheek. He leaned in, hovering close as though to kiss, and whispered, “I wish I could believe you.”

The sound of angel wings faded away until just the sound of the breeze disturbed the leaves above. Severn stayed close to Mikhail, fingers resting on his face, stroking downward, marveling at his warmth and strength, all wrapped up on the body designed to guard and protect. If Mikhail told him to drop to his knees now and suck him off, he’d do it. If he told him to leave, he’d do that too. He’d do anything this angel desired, just so long as it made him smile again. But all of this was too fragile, and they were about to go to Haven, to perhaps uncover truths