music began to play from inside the habitat behind him. Severn frowned. Surely Mikhail hadn’t deliberately put some music on? He pushed open the door. The single lamp in the corner barely illuminated the room, but the shadows it painted across Mikhail were the soft kind. Mikhail approached and wordlessly handed him a glass of… wine?
As Mikhail turned away, Severn sniffed it, checking for poison. “All right, what’s going on with you?” He tasted the wine, finding it strong and sweet and exactly what he needed to settle the strange sense of being unbalanced by this new Mikhail.
“Nothing is going on. I’m trying to make things right between us.”
Severn let the front door swing closed and sauntered across the room to place his wine on the small kitchen countertop. “You being nice is unnerving.”
He’d meant the words to be a joke, but when Mikhail looked up, his gaze was briefly full of hurt, and Severn’s grin fell away. Severn leaned against the counter because if he didn’t use it to hold him up, he’d pull Mikhail into his arms and kiss that sadness from his lips.
The music played on, soft and soothing in the background, coming from concealed speakers somewhere. Human music, Severn guessed, although he couldn’t be sure. Humans were full of creativity like this. It was kind on the ear and warm in the soul. He liked it.
On a whim, he took Mikhail’s glass from his hand, placed it beside his, and took Mikhail’s hand in his, then led him to the middle of the room. The fact he allowed himself to be led along tugged on Severn’s heart. He placed Mikhail’s hand on his hip and the other on his shoulder, and then mirrored the gesture, and began to sway in time to the music.
“What are we doing?” Mikhail asked softly, his breath tickling Severn’s forehead.
“Dancing.” Severn winced at the roughness of his voice. “We can’t in the sky, so this will have to be enough.” It started out awkwardly, but Mikhail’s fingers tightened at Severn’s words, and he pulled Severn close. His body, his strength, Severn wanted to wrap himself up in it all. He leaned close, chest-to-chest, and fell into a rhythmic sway.
This.
This moment was everything.
No lies, no battle, no spilled blood. Just him and Mikhail, in each other’s arms.
Mikhail’s hand roamed from Severn’s shoulder, down to mirror the other at Severn’s waist, and Mikhail’s breaths tickled his ear. The warm, tingling sensation simmered where they touched, and Severn smiled into Mikhail’s shoulder. They’d fought and fucked, but never just stood together in a single moment.
“I’m afraid of love,” Mikhail whispered. “Of us.”
Severn tilted his head back and peered into Mikhail’s dark eyes. A guardian’s love was a powerful thing. Severn had abused it before, and he might never forgive himself for that. “That’s how you know it’s real.” The angel’s gaze burned with a new fervor. Severn rested his head against his shoulder again, savoring the moment while he could, because it wouldn’t last. This world wouldn’t allow a demon and an angel to love, not without divine intervention.
Mikhail shifted his hips, probably adjusting for the impressive erection pressing into Severn’s hip. Severn smiled, breathing in the smell of sunshine and Mikhail. His big, naïve angel.
“I have no control over my member,” Mikhail grumbled. “It used to do as I commanded, now it does as it pleases.”
Severn barked a free and sudden laugh. Only Mikhail would refer to his own cock with disdain. He rose onto the tips of his toes and gently molded his fingers around the trickster in question in Mikhail’s loose trousers, instantly making Mikhail still. “I’m glad,” he said against Mikhail’s lips. “Because I’m very fond of its free will.”
“Hm.” Mikhail turned his head a little and brushed his cheek alongside Severn’s. His warm mouth suckled at Severn’s neck, and he began to sway with the music again. Severn let his head fall back, relishing the feel of Mikhail’s lips gliding over his skin. He kept his hand where it was, absorbing each pulse from Mikhail’s betraying member. Gods, he was so very precious.
“Do you think Seraphim ever danced with Aerius?” Mikhail asked, so softly Severn almost didn’t hear.
What a thought… the Rayvern King and the god Seraphim, dancing in the skies. “It would have been wonderful.” Demons would have loved it, once they got over the angels-are-assholes hang-up. Angels would have despised it.
“I would dance with you.” Mikhail’s words brushed Severn’s collarbone, pouring pleasurable shivers down his spine.
“Knowing who