Tempting Nora (34 page)

"
But I love you too," Gideon said. "How can you beg me to let you die?"

"
I don't have another choice," Nora said. "If you really love me, you have to go back to God. Do you understand? Amon is going to kill me no matter what you do. That's why you can't let him convince you to condemn yourself. Then he'll win."

"That's enough." Amon
tried to place his hand on her lips to silence her, but she jerked her head to the right.

"Who
do you trust more?" Nora said. "God or the demon who's trying to kill me?"

Finally, Amon succeeded in
placing his hand over her mouth. Still she stared into Gideon's eyes, thinking,
Trust God, Gideon. Please trust God.
Gideon looked from her to Amon, his fists clenched at his sides. The man was afraid, but not for himself.

He was frightened for her.

"I'll kill her," Amon said. "Her death will be your fault."

Have faith, Gideon,
she thought, staring deep into his eyes.

"You'll hear her neck crack," Amon said, sounding a bit panicked now.

Faith, Gideon, faith!
she screamed in her mind.

"
You'll never look into her eyes again," Amon persisted.

Faith!

Even though it was impossible that he heard her thoughts, Gideon sunk to his knees.

As Gideon lifted his head heavenward, she heard Amon
mutter, "No, how can this be happening?"

This is happening b
ecause God is more powerful that you'll ever be,
she answered in her mind.

"God, I'm sorry for my sins with all of my heart," Gideon
said. "I turned my back on you because I lost my faith. I know that I have no right to ask for your forgiveness, but I'm doing so anyway. Please, God, forgive me."

Nora wasn't sure what she expected. A choir of angels, maybe, or at
least light coming from the ceiling. Instead there was nothing. Still, despite the lack of fireworks, she knew one thing for certain—she'd done her job. Gideon was going to be saved because God always forgave no matter what.

When she smiled against Amon's palm, the demon hissed in rage.

"You'll regret this, woman," Amon growled, releasing her mouth and wrapping both hands around her neck again.

Even as terror shot through her,
she had to say one last thing.

"I won't regret this. You can
kill my body, but you can never have the most important part of me—my soul," Nora said. "God is the only one who'll ever have claim to that."

Amon was so angry he was shaking. She could feel awful pressure on her neck.
As she cried in pain, Gideon's eyes widened in horror.

"God
, give me the power to save her," Gideon said.

Just as she was prepared to
hear her own neck snap, she heard something else instead—a loud sigh that echoed throughout the basement. Even Amon, who'd been intent on murdering her, stopped. She looked up, wondering what had caused the strange sound. It was as if the earth had exhaled. Or maybe, just maybe, it was God. Perhaps he'd breathed a sigh so loud that everyone in the room could hear. At that moment, she was willing to believe it.

"Nora," Gideon cried, taking a step toward her.

"Don't you dare come closer." Amon backed up, still holding her tight.

At that moment
she heard an ear-splitting groan. The ground trembled at her feet and the walls creaked all around her. It was an earthquake. She thought of Gideon and the woman he'd failed to save. Panicking, she looked deep into his eyes.

"Gideon," she
cried, reaching out to him.

Unfortunately, the
earth shook so hard that the only reason she remained upright was because Amon was holding onto her. Strange cracking sounds came from below. She looked down, her eyes wide, just as thin crevasses appeared on the floor. The fissures became wider and wider, deeper and deeper. Even Amon yelped as the earth split. The demon released her, sending her flying to the floor. Her hip hit the cement, making her cry in pain.

Still her agonies were the least of her worries. She watched as the fissure widened and Amon,
Kali, and the other demons were swallowed by an impossibly deep hole. Yet she experienced no relief as they disappeared. No, the earth was still shaking, terrifying her to her very core. As she panicked, she heard yet another loud cracking sound. A slab of ceiling the size of her head was about to break lose.

She found the time to glance at Gideon
just before the ceiling crumbled. The moment the slab broke free from the ceiling, time slowed down.

Nora screamed as she covered her face.
In that suspended moment in time, she didn't cry out alone. It was as if her voice was joined by another woman's. Unfortunately, impending doom allowed her little time to contemplate such a phenomenon. She expected to feel impact coming from above, but instead something hit her from the side instead. When her eyes snapped open, she realized that the force she'd felt was Gideon scooping her up in his arms. The piece of ceiling landed on the ground exactly where her head had been moments earlier.

"I've got to get you out of here," Gideon said.

As she buried her face in his neck, Gideon carried her out of the room and up some steps. He brought her down a foreign hallway and then burst outside. The moment they were safe, he laid her on the grass. She looked up, shielding her eyed from what she believed was the sun, but then realized it was still dark out. The bright light she was seeing was coming from Gideon.

While
Gideon kneeled at her side, wings unfurled from his back. Showers of black feathers rained down upon her. Once the black feathers were stolen by the breeze, his white wings glowed gloriously. And it wasn't just his wings that glowed. No, it was all of him. His light was being restored. God had answered her prayers—and his too.

"Thank you," Nora
said, staring heavenward.

At that moment, the earth sighed again. The world stopped shaking and everything came to a standstill. Nora, her breathing ragged, slowly sat up, even as her head throbbed. She met Gideon's eyes and felt every inch of her body
fill with the most all-consuming love she'd ever known.

"Gideon, you're
glowing," she said.

"What?" Gideon cocked his head.

"Look at you." She somehow managed to smile, even as tears streamed down her cheeks. "And look at you wings."

Gideon tilted his head enou
gh to see his white feathers.

"
I look like I did back when I was good," Gideon said.

"Oh, Gideon." As her bottom lip quivered, she reached out and stroked the side of his face. "You've always been good. God wouldn't have tried to save you otherwise."

As Gideon gazed into her eyes, his face filled with sadness.

"I'm sorry that I
lied to—"

Before he could even finish, she wrapped her arms around his neck and held him close.

"It's okay," she said. "Everything's okay."

Gideon wrapped his arms around her
too. In that moment, she felt as though she was coming home.

****

Nora didn't know how long Gideon held her in his arms. It could have been seconds or it could have been hours. All she knew was that she could no longer see his wings and that her panic was gone, leaving her exhausted instead of jittery. She pulled back, her hand trembling, as she gazed into Gideon's face.

"I think I owe you an apology for running away
from you," she said. "When I saw your wings, I freaked out. I couldn't think clearly."

Gideon traced her cheek with his finger.

"I expected you to panic when you learned what I was," Gideon said. "Who would accept something like this without getting upset?"

"A crazy person," she said.

"Well, you're pretty crazy, so maybe you should have accepted it," he said.

"Hey." She punched him in the shoulder, even though she embraced him again seconds later.

As she laid her head against Gideon's chest, he curled his fingers in her hair.

"Does this mean we're okay?" Gideon asked.

Nora pulled back just enough to look him in the eye.

"We're more than okay," she
said.

"Oh, Nora," he said.
"I'm so glad."

Gideon slowly bent his head to kiss her—she had a feeling he was giving her the opportunity to reject his kiss—
and she shut her eyes. He took her mouth gently, his lips moving against her own. As she was overwhelmed by rapture, she melted against him in a way that was sheer perfection. She ran her fingers along the base of his scalp, feeling the tickle of his hair against her fingers.

I'm kissing an angel
, she thought in disbelief.

Still she didn't care what he was. All that mattered was that Gideon was the one who she loved, the one who
loved her in return. As she sighed against him, their lips dancing to the song of Gideon's kiss, she groaned. There were no more secrets forming a barrier between them. No, it was just her and him, loving one another desperately.

Nora wouldn't have had it any other way.

As she held him close, Gideon's mouth journeyed from her lips up to her cheek. His kisses were feather light and his breath was soft enough to tickle. While he tenderly stroked her neck, his lips meandered along her jaw, her forehead, and even over her delicate eyelids. He treated her as if she was made from porcelain. Still those tender touches were enough to make her winded. His soft, soothing pecks finally came to a stop as he rested his forehead against hers. With a sigh, she placed her hands on his shoulders, loving how they rose and fell with each breath.

"I was so scared I was going to lose you," Gideon said. "
I thought I knew fear before tonight, but now I know I never really did."

"
I felt the same way," she said. "When I learned what Amon was going to do to you, I wanted to claw his eyes out."

The words made Gideon still against her.

"Were you really willing to die for me?" he asked. "When Amon threatened to kill you, you didn't even flinch."

"
I was willing to die as long as I could save you," Nora said. "To be honest, I was barely thinking about myself at all. My mind was only on you."

Gideon looked awed by her words.

"You really still love me, don't you?" he asked. 

At that moment, she did something
she never thought she'd do. She grabbed his hand and pressed it against her chest, wanting him to feel the pounding of her heart.

"I still love you," she said. "
Whatever you are, it doesn't matter to me."

Gideon searched her face for only a millisecond before capturing her lips
once again. This time his kiss was passionate and dripping with love. She could feel his devotion seeping into her skin, mending the broken parts of her that had been shattered. As he kissed her, his fingers dug deeper into the skin over her heart. At that moment she was certain he could feel that her blood pulsed only for him. By the time he pulled away, she was breathless all over again. And she could tell by the hurried rise and fall of his chest that he was in the same boat.

It was unfortunate that he chose that time to run his
hand over the back of her head, making her suck in air and wince. She'd half forgotten about the bump.

"You're injured," he said, seeing her pain.

"Kali hit me." She ran her fingers over her skull. "I'll live, though."

"
We should go to the hospital to make sure it isn't anything serious," he said.

"I think I'm okay."
It just hurts like the dickens.

"
We should still go." Gideon stood up and pulled her to her feet too.

"Wait," she said. "You're an angel, right?"

Gideon met her eyes and nodded.

"Don't you have some
sort of magic to make the bump go away?" She waved her finger like it was a wand.

Gideon
laughed and gently kissed her on the forehead.

"Is that a no?" She raised an eyebrow.

"It's a definite no," he said. "There are some things I can do and some things I can't. Unfortunately, magical healing is beyond my range of capabilities."

"Bummer." She winced.

Gideon tugged her forward a step, but she dug her heels into the ground.

"Wait," she said. "What about Amon and
Kali?"

"What about them?" Even
saying their names made Gideon tense.

"What if they come back?" she asked. "They have wings. Just because they fell down a pit doesn't mean that they can't come
flying right back out again."

"I'm pretty sure that wasn't just any pit they fell into," Gideon said.