Eternal Sin (Primal Sin #2) - Ariana Nash Page 0,65

into a feathered cocoon and fell asleep with Severn in his arms.

Chapter 27

Severn

He hadn’t intended for this to happen, but when Mikhail had demanded to be fucked, he’d been helpless to resist the guardian’s order. The sex hadn’t begun as love, nothing as perfect as that. Mikhail still raged inside—hurt, insecure, vulnerable—but the fact he’d allowed Severn to fuck him meant everything. And then, sometime in all of the heat and lust and raw need, the rage in Mikhail’s eyes had faded, replaced by a softness Severn had rarely seen in any angel, and certainly not a guardian. Maybe it had happened when Mikhail had seen the wings Severn hadn’t realized he’d exposed. Whatever the reason, when they were both lying spent, with Severn tucked inside Mikhail’s wings, he’d never experienced peace like it.

He wasn’t as naïve as to think their problems had miraculously been solved by sex, but things had changed, and hopefully for the better.

The morning came, and with it, the harsh light of day. Severn would have preferred to spend the next few days revisiting Mikhail’s body and dozing, wrapped in black feathers, but Mikhail had left the bed and showered before sunup.

He’d spoken little, and he was quiet now, too, looming by the window. Distracted, he buttoned his loose, white, linen shirt.

Severn opened his mouth to ask if he wanted to visit the park for breakfast when Mikhail said, “We should split up today. We’ll cover more of Haven that way. I’ll try and access the subground levels.”

The words were spoken with an angel’s typically cold efficiency.

If he was going to distance himself from last night, Severn had no intention of calling him out on it. He could wait for Mikhail to unpack everything going on in his head. Gods knew they both had enough shit to work out.

He agreed to split up, told Mikhail he’d take the north and east sections of Haven’s domes, and headed for the shower. Mikhail was gone when he emerged.

It was fine. The wings, the whole Konstantin betrayal, losing Aerie, getting stabbed in the back by the very people he’d spent his life protecting. All of that would be hard enough for anyone to deal with. And Mikhail still had to navigate his emotions around all of it too.

Severn just had to make himself available for whatever Mikhail needed to heal. They’d get through this. He believed it. They hadn’t come this far and overcome so much to fail now.

Diffused sunlight dappled all of Haven. The enormous domes sheltered different islands, and each island dealt with a different aspect of running Haven, from residential to administrative, and it all looked so fucking perfect that it made Severn’s teeth ache. Angels nodded politely as he passed them by, fountains trickled, and palms swayed in the air stirred by vast fans mounted on slim, white poles. The more Severn wandered, the more unsettling the apparent utopia became. Few angels laughed. They talked and smiled and gestured, but compared to the ruckus of a demon neighborhood, Haven felt hollow.

Maybe just the two of them coming to Haven unarmed hadn’t been such a good idea. He’d hoped to play at being obedient, poke around, find the book, steal it or whatever information was in it, and leave. Now the itch between his shoulders was growing, his instincts ringing alarm bells. He was beginning to wonder if he should get Mikhail away from Haven before it swallowed them both whole.

He hadn’t found the book, or any books. Looking for a library—the normal place to store books—yielded puzzled expressions from the pairs of angels he’d asked.

He returned to the large park and sat by one of the sparkling fountains. Mikhail may have had more luck. As a guardian, every angel naturally listened when he spoke. He’d find the book because he succeeded in everything he put his mind to.

Unless he hadn’t come to Haven to find the book.

Severn squinted into the flowing water, following his thoughts into its depths.

What if Mikhail had only agreed to come here to have the allyanse dealt with? He had hardly argued, agreeing to Severn’s idea to find this book. A book he didn’t believe existed.

What if Mikhail came here, to Haven, to surrender?

No, he wouldn’t.

Severn frowned at the direction of his thoughts and glanced about the park, skimming small groups of angels, their wings touched by sunlight. So pretty, like lovebirds in a cage.

So wrong.

Severn stood and strode toward the nearest section Mikhail had agreed to search. It was all