A Crown Of Shadows And Secrets - Sloane Murphy Page 0,8

all hell breaks loose here? What if we end up trapped? I can’t risk them like that. I’d rather go alone, just slip out in the dark of night, and go on my own. The thought of putting them at risk like that, it makes my heart turn cold,” I tell her and she smiles softly at me.

“Oh, my dear. If you think that you could slink off, and those boys wouldn’t just follow you anyway… Well, by hell or high-water as they say, you’d find them on your heels, and more than a little pissed, I’m sure. They know the risks as well as you do.”

“I know, but they’re only going because of me. They have so many other people they’re responsible for. People that need them.”

“Remington, dear. If you think any of those boys would be of any use to anyone if you were trapped in another realm, and they knew there was no chance of you coming back to them, you are sorely mistaken. Anyone with eyes can see that you’re the sun they revolve around. Where you go, they will follow, whether you want them to or not.” She takes a sip of her tea, her eyes sparkling with laughter, but I know her words are true, I can feel it, deep in my heart.

And that almost makes it worse. There’s nothing I can do to stop them coming with me, so I just need to be enough. I need to find a way to make this work. Even if getting them all back here kills me. At least I can come back, even if in the next life, we can find this place again. I hope.

I’m still sat in the kitchen an hour later when Levi appears, in his trademark morning sweatpants, and topless. It takes everything in me not to drool. It’s hard to think that I’ve only known him for like three months. It feels like forever, and in some ways it is, especially all things considered, but in this life, it’s not even quite three months. It’s insane, and yet, I hope I react like this to him, to all of them, forever.

“Morning Angel.” He wraps his arms around me from behind and kisses the top of my head. “You’re up early, everything okay?”

“I’m good, just had some things to think about, so I went running early, then Everly found me, took pity on me.” I smile up at him and he kisses me softly, but with enough heat to make my toes curl. Damn.

He lets me go and steals a bite of the toast in front of me, before giving me a cheesy grin. I laugh at him as he steals the slice and goes to pour himself some coffee. “So, I was thinking about what you said to me, about wanting a journal of Amantara’s. I had an idea, and sent word to Serafina, who pulled through.”

He pauses as he takes a sip of his coffee and I stave off the eye roll I can feel itching to happen as I wait not so patiently for him to finish whatever it was he was saying. He walks to the utility off the kitchen and reappears with a box which he places on the counter before me. “For you.”

He leans his hip against the counter, and I forget momentarily about the box as his abs steal my attention. It is not right that he looks like that, especially with the amount he eats. It’s criminal, that’s what it is.

“What’s this?” I ask, waving to the box while trying to drag my eyes from him. It’s been a little while since I had some alone time with him, and man am I starting to crave it.

“Open it and you’ll see.” His eyes glint alongside his smirk and this time I really do roll my eyes. I turn back to the box and open it, finding a bunch of leather-bound books.

Not books.

Journals.

“These were Amantara’s?” I ask, eyes wide.

“They were, but…” his smirk drops as I pick one up and open it.

“Shit,” I curse. “Is this Latin?” I ask, looking at the language, which looks familiar, but not.

“Not quite, Latin came from this for humans and Hunters. That’s the language of Angels, from an era long before now. Back then, we adopted the common tongue because it was easier with everything we were doing down here, and it just stuck, but before then, this was our language. I’m a little rusty because, well, it’s