Page 168 of As Above, So Below

I can’t look away.

Ryc… and Zuriel… arehalf-brothers.

Does he know? Has he met Gaia’s other children—his brothers and sisters? Has he seen the heavens? Retrieved blessed souls from the veil?

No.

I don’t think he has.

We would have met much sooner. We would have fought. Would I feel what I feel?

No.

I don’t think so.

Unlike me, Ryc was given a mortal life and because his father was not Netharis, he was able to keep it. Despite the hundreds of questions tearing through my head, I don’t feel the need to recoil from him.

Ryc is a haunting, ethereal creature with wings of light and hair of shadow. A majestic set of paired wings fold behind him as he waits for me to speak, to react. I step closer, reaching, and gingerly graze the feathers above his shoulder.

He snatches my wrist, lowering it, and my eyes dart to his with surprise. His usual golden gaze darkens.

“Do not tease me, little demon,” he growls, the sound a low rumble.

He releases my wrist, and his wings vanish. Starlight falls behind him where his wings had been, raining toward the ground in a glittering cloud.

“You’re so beautiful.” My voice trembles. “So much light…”

He is opposite of me in nearly every way.

What could we ever have in common?

I’m hit with a wave of mourning and it brings tears to my eyes. I mourn the time we’ve wasted, and the time we’ll never get. Robbed of it all by Netharis.

“I cannot stay,” I whisper.

Drawing me into his embrace, his arms wrap tightly around me, his fingers digging into my back.

He lowers his face to mine. “I cannot let you go,” he murmurs against my lips.

Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath.

Him not letting me go makes everything difficult—more difficult than it should be. I’d promised myself I wouldn’t do this again—that I wouldn’t give anyone my heart again. But the truth is, every time I dreamed of this fae, I’d given him a piece of it. I hung shards of it on him as a means to protect myself from demons like Kassil.

“Please stay with me, Ves.” The note of pleading in his voice unravels me, turning what little resolve I have into dust.

Fate, gods, repercussions be damned.

He can be mine.

For one night.

And when I return to the hells, I’ll dream of him again.

Pulling him into me, I offer my lips. He sweeps into me, taking my mouth in a possessive kiss. It softens as his tongue grazes against the seam of my lips, begging permission. With a tilt of my head, they part and he claims me, his tongue searing across mine.

And like the night I’d thrown myself at him shamelessly, his touch, his taste, his scent, it all sets my blood on fire. A blaze matched only by hellfire, threatening to destroy me completely.

I’m lifted against him, my legs wrapping around his hips, his strong hands under me. He moves, but his mouth does not leave mine, my arms folding around his neck tight. My back is pressed up against the door frame, and I moan as he drives his hips into mine. His hand travels over my leg, under my night camisole, stopping abruptly over the bare skin of my hip.