All at once, his future was no longer a thing terrifying, a thing that augured the loss of all he loved and held dear. Even if he ascended—and he hoped to hell he didn’t—but if he did, he’d do so with Aodhan by his side.
“Fight or love or anger?” he said, his voice rough. “We hold.”
“We hold.” Aodhan’s voice was unbending. “Our friendship is the foundation of all we are, and it’s set in stone. I can’t imagine eternity without you. Can you?”
The answer was simple. “No.”
Then he was in Aodhan’s arms and their wings were tangled and they were spiraling down into the water with their lips locked in a kiss that, like their bond, had no ending and no beginning. They crashed into the turbulent storm gray of the sea together, went below the waves together, came up together.
Laughing into the salt of their kiss, Illium said, “I’m still fucking petrified we’ll screw this up. But I’d rather screw things up with you than get it right with anyone else.”
Aodhan, his wings sparkling even under the raging sky and his hair dripping, his skin holding an inner light, smiled that rare deep smile that had always made Illium happy. Today, it kicked him in the gut. The terror threatened again. The last time around, it had been puppy love, and he’d almost shattered. This time around . . .
There was no comparison.
“I’m not scared,” Aodhan said with that smile that was going to get Illium into a whole lot more trouble in the years to come. “I’m never scared with you.”
And his heart, it just burst open.
Locked with Aodhan, their arms and wings wrapped around one another as the storm-tossed ocean rolled around them, Illium kissed the bright, beautiful angel who he knew inside out—and who he was beginning to know in a whole different way as Aodhan spread his wings ever wider.
“Let’s do this,” he whispered against the wet curves of Aodhan’s kiss-reddened lips. “How much trouble can we get into anyway?”
Aodhan raised an eyebrow, Illium grinned, and then they were laughing as a massive wave crashed over them, taking them under. Beneath, the ocean was calm, clear. Illium’s glow lit it up just enough that he saw Aodhan’s hair floating in the water, his eyes luminous with amusement.
Then, without having to discuss it, they both erupted out of the water in powerful vertical takeoffs. When Illium felt the urge to outpace Aodhan, take the lead so he could protect his friend against any threat, he thought of how Aodhan had looked as he told Illium that he couldn’t be protected anymore.
And he thought of how happy Aodhan looked flying free under the storm, a powerful warrior who’d emerged out of the darkness not the same man he went in . . . but still Illium’s Aodhan in every way that mattered.
He angled himself to fly beside Aodhan.
Small decisions. One after the other. Forming the entwined tapestry of two lives that had always been meant to fly into eternity side by side.
About the Author
Nalini Singh is the New York Times bestselling author of the Guild Hunter series, which includes most recently, Archangel's Prophecy. She is also the author of the Psy-Changeling novels including Alpha Night, Wolf Rain, Ocean Light, Silver Silence, and Allegiance of Honor.
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