When her breathing evened out and she sighed in contentment, I kissed her neck, her jaw, rubbing mine against her smooth skin.“I know angels don’t have mates, Urs,” I said roughly when her hand covered mine and held on.“But this is what it feels like, I know it.I may have lost my gift of foresight, but I know it with everything in me.You are meant for me.Everything inside me is roaring through my skull that you are mine, that this is exactly where I’m supposed to be, where we’re both supposed to be.”
“You really think so?”she said, her voice soft and completely unguarded.
My heart squeezed, and I rolled her to her back and looked down at her.“Baby, I know it.”I traced the curve of her cheek.“I ache, I fucking feel as if part of me is missing when you’re not right here, Urs.”I shook my head.“You’re all I need, hellcat.I hope you know that, that you believe it.”
She hadn’t said it yet, that she loved me, and I hadn’t said it again, either, not since the day she brought me here, afraid I’d push too hard too fast and freak her out, but I knew she felt it.I didn’t need her to say the words to know how she felt about me.It was broadcast loud and clear whenever we were together.
Her hands slid up my chest, over my shoulders, higher, so her fingers rested against the sides of my throat.Something shifted in her eyes.They softened in a way I’d rarely seen before, because Urs always hid her feelings.She wasn’t hiding now.No, she looked up at me, wanting me to see her, all of her.Vulnerable, laid bare.She licked her lips and pressed one of her hands to the side of my face, then slid it over my cropped hair, her gaze following the movement before coming back to me.“I’m not…good with the love stuff.”Her throat worked as she swallowed.“With showing how I feel.I never have been.”
“It’s okay, baby.You don’t?—”
She pressed her fingers to my lips.“But with you, it feels different, you know?After everything we’ve been through, being with you now, like this, it feels…easy.Right.”
I nodded, my heart squeezing in my chest.
“I love you, Silas,” she said, her voice cracking.“In case you’re in any doubt.I’m…I’m in love with you.You’re mine, too, my mate, my partner, my everything.Just so you know.”
I dragged in a breath, trying to find my bearings because I felt as if I’d left the ground, like I was fucking floating.“Fuck the clouds,” I said, running my thumb over her perfect lips.“I don’t need wings, or Heaven, because this, you, you’re my wings,” I choked out.“You’re my home, Urs.”
She curled her arms around my neck and held me to her, shaking against me, saying those three words to me again.She loved me.
Epilogue
Silas
Three months later
The wind blewthrough my shirt and ruffled my hair.Zen, Tobias, and Chaos were out on patrol.I had been as well, but I’d told them I’d catch up because something strong had drawn me up here.I breathed the cool air deep into my lungs as I looked down at the city below, all lit up.
We’d finally heard from Felditch about Lucifer’s complaint.We’d hoped the angels would be disqualified, but they weren’t.Disqualifying them would require Felditch to admit he’d conspired with them.That wasn’t going to happen.Instead, he’d admitted that in my and Ursula’s case, there was an error in the execution of the event, and ignored the rest of the complaints from the other teams completely.As recompense, the angels would be given a penalty, one that would come into effect for the next tournament.Which was bullshit.He’d also refused to strip them of their prize.They still got their favor, and after experiencing the demigod’s power for myself, I was seriously concerned, especially with Uriel’s power grab.The archangel had wanted that prize badly, and had sent angels to compete who were willing to do anything to get it.Uriel was determined to set the forgotten prophecy in motion, and he was going to use Felditch and his favor, to help him do it.We had no way of knowing what it would be, or when it was coming.
That wasn’t the only thing playing on my mind, though.The fates had played a part in all of this, they’d seen this coming.There was a reason they’d given me the condition they had when I’d gone to them about Zenon to ask for help.Their stipulation had prevented me from killing Nathaniel, and because of that, had cost us the tournament.Nothing was random.Every action had a reaction.What if it wasn’t Uriel who had set this all in motion, what if it was me?What if changing Zenon’s path had set us on the course towards the forgotten prophecy?
Even if that were true, I had to believe we had time, that there was always another path.We could fix this.We had to.
I shoved those thoughts down deep, and letting my eyes drift closed, I imagined I was flying through the night sky.That ache never left.I was created with wings on my back, and living without them wasn’t something I would ever get used to.It helped that I was insanely happy, that I would do it all again if the end result was Ursula and me.
She made my world right.She made living without that vital part of myself possible because she was more vital than anything.I could live without wings—I couldn’t live without her.
I turned in a slow circle, searching the shadows.I’d come to this rooftop many times in my life.This was where Zenon and I would meet when I’d been the only one who knew his secrets.Something else had called me here tonight, though.No, I couldn’t see what was coming, but somethingwascoming, and this rooftop was where I was meant to be.
“I wondered if you’d show.”
I turned as Lucifer strode around an air-conditioning unit.
“You?I’m here because of you?”I asked, frowning.Lucifer rarely left Hell, and I’d literally seen him this morning.“What can you have to say to me here that you couldn’t while we were in Hell?”
Lucifer slid his hands in his pockets and stopped beside me, looking down at the city below us.“Well, Si, that’s what you’re about to find out.”
“I’m confused.”
“Of course you are,” he said.“I like to do mysterious shit, but all is about to be revealed.”
“You planning on throwing me off the roof so you can have Urs all to yourself?”I said, only half joking.
His eyes sparkled and he chuckled, and it was dark and a little unhinged.“Oh, Si, if only.But no, my handmaid’s happiness is all that matters to me, well, that and my grandson and his family, which is why we’re here.”
“Is something wrong?Are Zen and Mia okay…” Cold washed through me.“Oh fuck, is something wrong with Zeph?”When he said nothing, only stared at me, my heart smashed inside my chest.“What the fuck is going on?”