Page 64 of Grave Revelations (Prophecies of Angels and Demons #3)
Chapter 63
Rebecca
Rebecca stirred, a deep ache settling in her chest. When she blinked, opening her eyes, it was night. She couldn’t have slept more than a few hours, but it was enough to restore her. She stretched her arms overhead, yawning.
Sitting up, she glanced around the still-dark room, searching the corners for one shadow in particular. Her shadow.
The thought made her smile before she wiped the grin from her face. She wasn’t sure what they were. Comfortable in each other’s company, drawn to one another, but…
The ache in her chest intensified.
“Az,” she whispered in the dark. The silence that followed sliced through her.
He wasn’t there. Not that he owed her all his time, but she had fallen asleep in his arms as he carried her up the stairs. Somehow, she’d expected him to stay. After another dream about Elizabeth and the shadow she now knew must be Azazel, she longed even more for his comforting touch. She felt safer there, like nothing could harm her.
Sliding her legs over the side of the bed, Rebecca noticed she’d slept in her shoes. She must have been truly exhausted… or just that content. She scrubbed a hand over her face. At present, her life was too complicated to worry about her growing feelings for Azazel .
She stopped at her bathroom door. It had been days since she’d bathed and brushed her teeth. Yet she wasn’t dirty. Perhaps her seraphim abilities were to thank for that. Still, the human comforts of a hot shower and clean teeth sang to her soul, beckoning her forward.
Heading into the room, Rebecca peeled off her clothes and let them drop to the floor as she hummed to herself and turned the shower on with a sigh.
She stepped in, letting scalding water dampen her hair, and closed her eyes as it ran in fat rivulets over her face. Reaching for her shampoo, she squeezed drops of viscous liquid into her palm. The scent of lavender and eucalyptus assaulted her, and icy fingers brushed along the back of her neck, prickling the hairs there.
Her eyes flew open as she peered through the steam in the small space. It was a daydream or a premonition. A warning of something to do with Simon. But what?
Az , she said in her mind.
The shower curtain ripped aside, and he was there, glaring down at her.
“Hey! I’m naked!” she protested.
“As am I,” he countered. “What happened?”
She wrapped an arm over her breasts and another across the apex of her thighs. “Close the curtain.”
His brows dipped low, but he let the curtain fall back. “I’m not offended by your nudity, Rebecca.”
The words tasted sour in her mouth. They weren’t a lie, but he wasn’t being honest. “Something offends you.”
A growl came from the other side of the curtain. Simon.
The name made her shiver. Did you feel my premonition?
You’re wearing his scent.
Warmth tracked along her chest and neck, creeping onto her cheeks. “It’s the only shampoo I have.”
His grumbling reply was too low for her to make out.
“I had a vision. Or… something. About him,” she continued.
Azazel pulled the curtain aside again. “What did you learn? ”
Rebecca rinsed the soap from her hair quickly as she tried to wrap a hand over herself again. “Pass me a towel. My shower is obviously over.”
The curtain fell back and, a moment later, ripped aside again as a dark green towel was thrust into her face. It was oddly reminiscent of the night he’d shown up in her apartment nearly six months ago when he told her she would lose all memories of him.
Gabriel thought it best you forget him.
She wrapped the towel tightly around her frame, stepping around Azazel as she inched toward the door and out of the suffocating space, too small for a creature his size.
“And you? Do you wish I hadn’t learned the truth?” She wasn’t sure why she asked the question. Perhaps because, in her long life, it seemed that everyone wished her to remain in the dark.
He trailed behind her as she left the bathroom. “No.”
She went to her closet, sliding hangers aside as she searched the items Allie had bought in her three months at the estate. She found a cream turtleneck and pulled it out. It reminded her of the outfit Azazel had worn when they’d gone in search of her coven and… Rhea.
Even thinking her name hurt.
Turning, she jumped as she nearly smacked into Azazel, who was standing just behind her.
He held out his hand. She glanced down at his outstretched palm, then back up into his piercing blue eyes.
“Rebecca, I swore I’d never walk away again. I would never let my fear control me.”
She swallowed. “I…”
He let his hand drop. “But I won’t force you either. This bond doesn’t mean you have to choose me. You have free will.” He turned, pacing toward the door. “Get dressed. I’ll be downstairs when you’re ready.”
Rebecca stared at the space he’d occupied for a long moment. Every time she thought she’d figured him out, he said or did something that swept her legs out from under her. He had said they couldn’t be. Said he was on one path, and she was on another, yet here he was, telling her he wanted her to choose him.
But that wasn’t what he’d said.
In fact, he’d never once said she should choose him. He’d acted like he wanted her and flirted frequently, but he’d never opened his mouth and said the words.
Heat licked along her arms as her temper rose to the surface.