Balling his hands into fists, Xander made up his mind. Follow her.
Maira glanced to the left and the right.
What is she looking for?
Staring, Xander’s mouth dropped open.
Maira changed, wings – fucking wings – sprouted from her back, growing wide enough to span the tallest of trees.
“She’s an angel,” stunned, he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. “She’s a fucking angel.”
Curiosity turned to panic. Angels didn’t sleep with humans for long. They took what they wanted and then killed the human as an example, so humans didn’t dare dream they were worthy.
“She wouldn’t do that,” would she?
The woman he loved never came across callous or cruel. Quite the opposite. She was playful and seductive, but also kind and curious. She never judged him, never made him feel less than worthy of her even if Xander knew it to be true.
“Her parents.”
Everything clicked into place as a key slipped into a lock and opened a treasure trove of secrets. She’d been sent to Niall to marry him to secure her family line. Her parents would kill him if they believed he loved her.
Do you love her?
Angels could control humans – could force them to make love to them and then destroy them. Only, Maira never had. Think. In all the time they’d spent together, she’d never forced him to do anything.
“Except that second time.” She’d asked him to wait. He’d hand no intention of stopping and flirting with a woman above his reach again, but he head. “That was the only time.” Xander shook his head.
He couldn’t be certain of anything anymore. Not even the way she made him feel.
“It’s time to go, Xander. Pack up and get away. You can’t sleep with an angel for years and not get caught.” She’d been worried about his life, and now he was as well.
Chapter Five
“He couldn’t have simply vanished.” Maira’s foot tapped against the loose dirt ground outside Xander’s home.
“Lady Maira,” Hannibal, the baker, smiled and stopped to stand with her. A dot of flour-covered his otherwise black hair. “Still looking for Xander?”
“Yes. One would think I would learn to read clues after a few days of appearing and finding his home empty, but alas, I’m too smitten.” Which would be funny if it were not true.
The years went back far too quickly, but the time with Xander was never enough. When Maira could, she would stay by his side for weeks at a time. Too often, she was needed in her home. Her parents grew older, less interested in waiting for their daughter to decide to marry.
Sixteen attempts at forcing her hand went unclaimed – because, at the end of the day, they were her parents and cared too much to push her where she did not wish to be. Still, Maira dared not mention her attraction to a human.
What began as a mere need to lose herself in Xander’s arms changed quickly. Though human, he was so different from those he walked the earth with. It was not merely hit quick wit or his refusal to back down from any challenge, but his overall presence as well. He carried himself as if he were highborn, but then continuously rebuked any attention or praise for his skills.
Every so often, he cooked and gave to those who needed it, though he had little to take for himself. He was proud – too proud. Anytime Maira brought Xander gifts of food or clothing, he threw them out. They would fight, and she would leave.
When she’d left him four days ago, she’d known things were on thin ice. With her love on the line, his life would be as well. If any ever learned who she was, they’d report him to the current king, and he’d forfeit his life to him or her parents. Still, she couldn’t stay away. Not even for a few days, not with knowing his heart matched hers. Maira wanted to tell him everything. She wanted to let Xander know the danger he flirted with in saying he loved her – because she was tired of hiding him away.
So why does it bother you so that he has left now? Simple answer. You told him you loved him and he ran. The burn of the action sliced through her, causing her lips to dip into a brief frown. “Do you know where I can find him?”
Hannibal shifted his weight from his right to his left foot.
“You know something.”
“I promised him. He’s one of the oldest friends I’ve got.”
Then you leave me no choice. “Hannibal, tell me what you know of Xander’s location.”
Dark brown eyes widened as the control turned him into a sort of prisoner of his mind. “I do not know his whereabouts, but he left to outrun you and the danger you bring you to him.”
“Excuse me?” She blinked, uncertain she understood, but fearing she did.
“That is all I know. He requested I keep up requests for his shop and told me he would return in time – but not until he was safe.” Her command over Hannibal wore off with the truth spoken. Hannibal shook his head, clearing the fog, and shrugged. “I told him the only thing he had to worry about with you was getting his heartbroken. Nothing life or death in that.”
He can’t know.
She forced a small, trite laugh past her lips. If she looked uneasy, Hannibal would undoubtedly pick up on it. The spell she cast to hide the glow of her eyes was all she had to conceal her identity.
“There is one thing.” Again, the man shifted his weight before putting his hand in his pocket. “Xander said if you came around asking for it, I should give you this.” His hand emerged, her golden heart on its chain dangling from his fingertips. “I know you didn’t outright ask for it, but if he was worried you thought he stole it, maybe it’s why he ran.”
Her hand went to her neck before Hannibal even finished speaking. Sure enough, the locket was gone. Maira was so used to the gentle weight against her neck, and she’d not notice it missing four days ago. Nor had her parents, but they were distracted with court.
“Thank you. I did not know I’d lost it.” Maira’s smile faltered as she grasped the chain and placed it over her neck. He couldn’t have thought so little of her right after she declared her love for him. Love she shouldn’t feel, but did with every fiber of her soul. “If you see him if he should return, will you pass him a message?”
“Anything for my favorite lady.” He winked playfully, bowing to royalty as a joke, not realizing he truly bowed to a princess.
They’d struck up a friendship long ago when she caught him fondly eyeing a man leaving town. Hannibal’s secret was hers and hers alone. Something about the human being indebted to her silence felt wrong, but she did enjoy his company and saw no reason to destroy his life by something he clearly worried would be troublesome if public.
Now, she would relegate him to a messenger.
“Tell him I came – for him, not the necklace. Tell him I love him and to journey to castle Pire to speak the truth. My truth.”
Hannibal let out a short whistle. “So, you are as important as he speculated.”
If the baker suspected Maira was an angel, he didn’t let on. Wealthy humans often occupied the palaces as a way to keep the peace between angels and humans. It was rare, and certainly unheard of in Yeld, but it happened nonetheless.
“I am a woman in love with a man who fled without cause.” Lie.