I will tell you. Now, put your arms around my neck,” Zacharel commanded, his voice rough with expectation.
Had anyone ever told him no? she wondered as she linked her fingers at his nape.
“Good. Now close your eyes.”
“Why?”
“You and your questions.” He sighed. “I plan to whisk you through the walls and into the sky. The view might disconcert you.”
“I’ll be fine.” Closing her eyes would make her far more vulnerable than she already was.
If he was impressed by her bravery, he didn’t show it. His lips, those gorgeous red lips, pursed, even as his wings burst from his back to glide up and down, slow and easy. Mesmerizing. “Also,” he added, “I do not wish to look into your eyes and see the taint of the demon.”
She had a demon’s eyes? That’s why her irises had turned blue? “But I can’t be a demon,” she gasped out. “I just can’t be.”
“You are not. You are tainted by one. As I said.”
Gradually she calmed—despite the fact that his tone shouted, If you had listened, you would have realized that. “What’s the difference?”
“Humans can be influenced, claimed or possessed by demons, but they cannot become one. You have been claimed.”
“By who?” The one who had killed her parents? If so, she would… what? What could she really do?
“I do not know.”
If he didn’t know, there was no hope for her. “Well, I don’t care if you find my eyes repellant.” She so cared. She disliked the fact that a part of her appeared demonic. “You can deal.”
Several seconds passed in silence. Then, he nodded and said, “Very well. You have only yourself to blame.”
A strange sensation coursed through her, chilling her blood another degree and icing over her skin. The tile beneath her vanished. Suddenly she was in the air, seeing room after room whiz past her, then the roof of the building, then the sky, pinpricks of light scattered in every direction.
Oh, my. Tears of happiness welled in her eyes. She had been liberated from what had seemed to be a life of endless torture. She was truly free. And for the first time in years, she had something to look forward to rather than something to dread. A joy like she’d never known flooded her, consumed her. This was… this was… too much.
The sheer splendor of the night overwhelmed her, and the tears splashed onto her cheeks. The most amazing perfumes fragranced the air. Wildflowers and mint, dew and freshly cut grass. Milk and honey, chocolate and cinnamon. The subtlest hint of smoke, curling on a gentle breeze.
“I had forgotten,” she whispered, hair whipping against her cheeks. But even that was a delight. She was free, she was free, she was finally free.
“Forgotten what?” Zacharel asked, and there was something strange about his voice. The first hint of emotion, perhaps.
“How beautiful the world is.” A world her parents had left far too soon. A world her parents would never again enjoy.
Sadness threaded through the joy.
She’d gone from helpless victim to murder suspect to tormented convict far too quickly to mourn the passing of her mother and father. She couldn’t help but wonder how they would have reacted to this moment. No question, Zacharel would have flabbergasted them both. Not just because of what he was, but because they had been an emotional, volatile couple, and had fought as passionately as they’d loved. They would not have known what to make of his coldness. But this… this they would have welcomed. A flight through the glittering stars, breathing air that dripped with emancipation as she glided toward a future now brightened with hope.
Forget the sadness. She would deal with that later. Right now, she would simply enjoy. For the first time in four years, Annabelle threw back her head and laughed.
CHAPTER FOUR
ZACHAREL RELEASED THE GIRL the moment he was able, depositing her in the center of an empty room and stepping away from her tempting warmth, the sweetness of her scent and the gentle caress of her hair against his skin. He’d liked touching her. He shouldn’t have liked it on any level, but no matter how many lectures he’d given himself, the like had only intensified.
During the flight, the changes in her expressive face had entranced him. He’d watched her go from rapture to sorrow, then back to rapture again. He, who had long-ago battled back his emotions until he no longer experienced them, had actually found himself envious of her willingness to reveal all she thought and felt.
She had looked so uninhibited, utterly caught up in the moment. And when she’d laughed… oh, sweet heavens. Her voice had washed over him, enveloping him, embracing him.
She had intrigued him, perplexed him, transfixed him, and he’d marveled about what had brought about those quicksilver changes, but he’d had too much pride to ask.
She was the consort of a demon, his enemy. Not by choice, no, but a consort nonetheless. She was also a human and therefore beneath him; her emotions could not matter to him.
He should not have brought her here, he realized. He should not have accepted the pleasure of having her in his arms.
He should not be looking at her now, wondering if the delight she’d found in the midnight sky would extend to his home. He should not want her delight.
“Why did you laugh?” he asked. So much for his pride. He had to know the reason.
“I’m free, I’m free, I’m finally free,” she replied, with a twirl.
The tumbling length of her hair flew around her, slapping him in the face. He barely curbed the urge to grab on to the strands and rub them between his fingers, just to remind himself of how soft they could be.
Her head tilted to the side as she looked at him. “What?”
“What do you mean, what?”
“You’re frowning at me.”
“I frown at everyone.”
“Good to know. So this is your cloud, huh?” Her brows scrunched in confusion. She studied the walls that looked no more substantial than mist. The floor was as thick as morning fog, clinging to her ankles, and seemingly just as flimsy.
“This is my home, yes.”
“I gotta say, it’s exactly as I predicted.”
Was that derision in her tone? “What do you mean?” he asked, trying not to reveal how insulted he was. Another reaction, now? When they weren’t touching? Truly?
“Mist, mist and more mist. I’m only surprised the foundation is solid.”
“The entire enclosure is solid.”
She extended her arm to the side. Awe consumed
