Page 24 of Divine Intervention (Black Rose Auction #2)

TLALLI

“ I ’m sorry,” Tlalli blurted out the moment the silence got the best of her.

It had been poised on her tongue since Elias had shown up in the forest the night before, but she hadn’t been able to say it aloud.

Elias waved his hand dismissively. “You don’t gotta be sorry, Tlalli. It isn’t like I gave you a whole lot of reasons to trust me with your escape plan. I’m just glad you made that decision for yourself in the end.”

She stared at his profile for a long time. She wasn’t sure what she had expected or what she would have wanted him to say, but it wasn’t this. Maybe she wanted him to be angry. Maybe that would be easier to dismiss.

This whole emotion thing never got easier, did it?

“Okay, what the fuck is this?” she snapped.

He whipped his head around so hard that she feared it might come off his shoulders, his brow cocked and his eyes filled with confusion.

Guilt mocked her from just behind him, a monster he could not see even as it clawed at her viciously.

“What is what?” he asked slowly.

“Were you already planning to leave yesterday when we fucked in the conservatory?”

Her filter had been fried, and she had no use for tact anymore. This shit was messy, and they were on a clock.

A wry chuckle left him as he looked back out toward the lake.

“Nah,” he answered simply. “But if I’d known you were gonna leave, I would’ve given it more thought.”

“What does that mean, Elias? What—what does any of this mean?”

“I don’t know, all right? I never—I didn’t let myself look at you like that. See you that way. I was already a lost cause, and you—you were angry enough to do something about whatever the Dominion was heading toward. I knew that, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop you. Eventually, I knew I wouldn’t want to, but I also knew I wouldn’t know how to help you, so I stopped thinking about it. I stopped thinking about a lot of shit, Tlalli.”

“Don’t I know it.” She huffed out a breath, pulling her knees up to rest her arms and chin atop them as she, too, stared out at the water. “You never seemed to care about anything, Elias, least of all me.”

“Yeah, that was by design. I’d cared too much in the beginning. I lost—I lost everything for it.”

She turned her head slightly, inspecting him again. There was a stark grief that blanketed his features, one that permeated the air around him and reached out for her too. He seemed to rein it in some when he realized he was being studied, but she didn’t let it go. “Tell me what that means.”

It wasn’t a demand but an invitation, and to assure him of that, Tlalli reached out and took his hand in hers. It was cool to the touch, his heavenly light dim beneath his skin.

“Obviously, you have a history with the Puri,” she went on. “I knew that a long time ago. You’re—you’ve been in Heaven forever, and the few times you’d talk about it, I could see it in your face. Something hurt you.”

Something between a smirk and wince lined his lips, but he didn’t answer right away. All of a sudden, she was acutely aware of Cahuani’s approach, his energy growing stronger in her blood. She assumed it was why Elias wouldn’t answer, but then, once Cahuani drew closer—and Tlalli realized he wasn’t alone, although she didn’t know who was with him nor did she risk turning to see—she realized Elias wasn’t shutting down. He was waiting.

Cahuani came to a halt a foot or so behind them, and Elias at last offered an answer.

“I was there at the beginning,” he said, his eyes far away. “I was there when the Puri... ‘fell.’ I’m sure Greed could tell you the whole story better than I can?—”

“We’ll tell it together when the time comes.” Greed’s voice came from beside Cahuani, confirming that it was him who had accompanied the Nahualli back down here.

Elias nodded and continued. “But they were my friends. We were friends long before the Garden, before the Dominion, before the Righteous God was known as the Righteous God.”

“How is that possible?” Cahuani questioned, voicing Tlalli’s own thought.

“In time, brother,” Greed repeated.

Elias chuckled. “But I doubted them. I doubted everything they believed in, all that Lucifer said. I doubted them, and I was wrong for it. I made a mistake, and I paid for that this entire time. And so did a lot of other angels who listened to me when I said to suck it up and trust in the Dominion.” He turned to Tlalli then, his eyes soft as flower petals. “I never should have told you to trust them. I’m sorry for that.”

“You already apologized for that, Elias,” she said. “And I already told you not to. It’s behind us now. All of that is behind us, and I’m just really glad you’re here.”

They stared at each other for a long while, and although they said nothing, she could feel everything he felt, hear everything he was thinking. And it made her heart swell. Oh, she was so damn glad he was here. She had been quick to deny it before, but leaving him... It would’ve broken something inside her she never could have repaired, not even with Cahuani there to help.

“On that note . . .” Greed sighed as if this had been his conversation all along. Tlalli was gonna have to get used to him. “All I wanna know is if you’re finally coming home, brother.”

Elias stood then, pulling Tlalli up with him before he released her hand and faced Greed. Years of history passed through a singular glance, and she really hoped Elias didn’t expect her to just be waiting on the scoop. She was gonna grill him again as soon as they got home. Wherever that ended up being now.

“Yeah, I think it’s time,” Elias said.

Greed grinned the biggest grin Tlalli had ever seen and placed his large hand on Elias’s shoulder. Then he moved it to Elias’s neck and pulled him into a bear hug. Okay, maybe it wouldn’t be too hard to get used to him.

“I missed you,” Greed admitted while pressing his mouth to Elias’s temple.

Elias playfully pushed at Greed’s chest but didn’t actually try to break away. It was endearing to say the least.

“Yeah, yeah,” Elias grumbled as they pulled apart. “Just remember that when you start putting me to work.”

“Don’t worry,” Greed said. “We offer vacation time, unlike your last employer. Speaking of which, there is no way in Hell I’m calling you Elias.”

Tlalli snorted in spite of herself, and Elias rolled his eyes. Though eventually, he nodded.

“Then you can call me by my name,” he returned. “The one I came into this world with.”

“That, I can do.”

“But—” Elias said, holding up his hand. “—only after you’ve dealt with my wings.”

Greed nodded and hugged him again, and Tlalli accepted that now was not the time for questions. Regardless, she was more excited about this whole starting over thing than she had been yesterday. The world didn’t seem so strange anymore. She had Cahuani, and she had Elias, and that was more than enough for her. She didn’t care if they ended up in a cell in Hell so long as they were together. Maybe that was what her mother had always wanted for her—contentment.

“Ready to go then?” Greed asked them.

The three of them nodded. Tlalli slipped between Cahuani and Elias, taking each of their hands in hers.

“All right,” she sighed. “Let’s get a look at this ‘Hell’ everybody’s always talkin’ about.”

Greed’s massive grin returned. “Oh, I am gonna enjoy this.”

From one moment to the next, they disappeared from the mortal realm, Tlalli shedding all that she could of Heaven on the grounds of the Reyes Estate. Whatever the angels found there, they could have. She was theirs no longer. She was her own.

Though she could admit she was looking forward to sharing with Elias and Cahuani.

Thank you so much for reading Goldie, Elias, and Cahuani’s story! If you enjoyed it, please consider leaving a review!