Shattering Halos (35 page)
The words.
That voice.
My eyes shot open and found the crystallized blue from my fantasies adorning my hand. Cautious, I peeked up to the one who’d spoken.
If he was a mirage, I didn’t want to disturb, not move a single particle of the air around me.
God, those familiar eyes glimmering back at me. My lips began to tremble, but a fingertip touched them gently. A warning flickered through his stare. Then, he picked me up and held me tight.
“You remember,” he said, words quiet against my ear.
I remember you.
Such a well-known feeling, my legs encircling his waist. He buried his face at my throat, breathing me in before he kissed me. Gabriel sighed, making Luna giggle behind me—and giving Mom the cue to break in.
“Good morning, Gabriel, did you sleep okay? Sorry about the mattress. We’ve been meaning to buy a new one for the guestroom.”
“Oh, no worries, it was very comfortable, Selene.”
Gabriel withdrew just enough to smile over my shoulder, but I locked my arms around his neck. Bright and colorful, snippets of memories hit me. The first night we spent together. Winter Formal. The Café Des Artistes.
“Do you mind if I take Gaia out for breakfast?”
“Oh, not at all, Gabriel. Have fun, kids!”
“Luna, we’ll go ice skating later,” Gabriel promised. Luna fist-punched the air and ran up the stairs to call her best friend.
He lowered me to the ground. Chuckling, he uncurled my unwilling fingers from their hold.
“Shh, I promise that I won’t be leaving.”
Once the front door closed behind us, he rotated and clutched my hand between both of his. Eyes glittering, he walked me to the car backwards, holding my gaze. I thought of big cats skulking in reverse and laughed.
Gabriel strapped me in meticulously then let go of me long enough to hop into the driver’s seat. Once he was seated, he cupped my face and just studied me. The light happiness he exuded filled me to the brim.
I broke free of the seatbelt and jumped onto his lap, earning a surprised grin. When I kissed him, he responded willingly. He relaxed against the seat with his hands moving up my spine.
Supporting my nape, he let his tongue pass my lips to play with mine in slow, soft strokes. By the time he pulled away, my heart was beating too fast to be healthy.
“Sun, I’m taking us out of here.”
The smile in his voice made my stomach clench sweetly.
I sent a quick glance at the kitchen window and glimpsed at least one silhouette.
Yeah, best leave before Dad comes out.
And so it was that I found myself at The Café Des Artistes for the third time. Chunks of information, including recollection of the gnarled little bartender, rushed back into my consciousness as soon as I entered. Who knew Oscar served breakfast too?
Gabriel exhaled and leaned over the table. Unlike our visit during Winter Formal, it was him that caressed
my
arms now, him that brushed
my
cheek and stole a kiss.
“Do you remember anything from last night, sunshine?”
“No, nothing. Yesterday is gone from me.”
“Michael? The Grigori?” he prompted.
“Well, yes…I dreamed about Galdhopiggen. Angels named Yofiel, Kakabel. Do you mean…?
He nodded, studying me.
“And it’s over?”
A slow curve lifted his lips. “Yes, we stopped the insurrection in time.”
“Wow. Man, my brain is full of cotton.”
“Sun, Michael enforces oblivion for Earthlings touched by angels—”
“What? I don’t get to decide what happens in my head?”
“Sunshine…”
“Hey, but I don’t want Michael to have a change of heart and make you leave me, so I won’t ever complain.”
Suddenly, I realized that I
had
already complained, and my mind began to race. I launched into a ramble.
“Oh God, you need to block my thoughts from them—crap, you can’t, can you? Cassiel. Send for Cassiel!”
The panic escalated, and the over-medium eggs on my fork splattered to the floor. “What if Michael erases you from my head again?”
Gabriel sped out of his seat to scoop me up. “He won’t. It’s all you now, how much you want to remember.”
With arms fencing me in, he folded me against his chest. I peered up into a calm, undaunted stare. “Sun, he won’t take back his gift to you.”
“What gift—to be brainwashed?”
Crap, and I’m complaining again!
“You were able to break through the oblivion because he left you with a choice, Gaia. If your subconscious had decided otherwise, the veil would have remained intact. It would have allowed you to forget and lead a normal life without me, without this knowledge.”
The pulse thumping at my temple slowed.
“Well, here’s a thought: how about not messing with my brain in the first place? Why did he have to complicate things?”
Gabriel’s breath sieved out in a quiet waft. “I know, sunshine. Celestial logic can be hard to understand sometimes, but believe me: Michael gifted you with real, free will.”
The back of his hand stroked my cheek before he continued. “The subconscious of a mortal is wiser than the conscious mind. By letting your subconscious choose, he knew the decision would be the right one for you.”
I traced the bend of his upper lip with my finger. “When did you know what I’d choose?”
“Ha, about the time you started rearranging your room.”
His voice dropped as he laced through my hair and moved it away from my face. “If you had seen me as a stranger, I would have vanished from your sight. I would have compelled your family and friends to forget me.
“But instead you were in agony. The way you rubbed the spot where the ring used to sit, sun! When your thoughts screamed out my name in the kitchen, I could finally ease your pain.”
You’ve eased my pain before, baby…
Loosening his grip, the tips of his fingers trickled warm along my jaw line. Slowly, they moved down my throat.
“Can you live with all of this, Gaia? With me? Am I worth the heartache and pain?”
A dormant memory from Glittertind needled me. Michael shaking his head and frowning, surprised by the way we humans eradicated our own self-esteems. What had he told Gabriel? That he was acquiring the same sort of…
Oh.
No way.
“You have
got
to be kidding me.”
“No, Gaia. See, I can’t promise what the future will hold.”
“Yeah, but why are you still asking me these questions?” My hands slid up and cupped his dear, beautiful face. “You know how I love you.”
I fixed his face in front of me and met those aquamarine depths sparkling back at me. “Yes, Gabriel. Okay? Yes! Nothing—
no one
could be more worthy.”
A word about the author...
Originally from Norway, I moved to the United States in 2001.
The first awesome five years I spent in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, before moving to the beautiful city of Savannah, Georgia.
I’ve been in the Deep South ever since, where my husband, son, and I are enjoying the heat, the humidity, as well as our crazy menagerie of animals better known as the petting zoo. The only one not here is my daughter, who chose to go back to Norway for college.
I hold a Master’s degree in languages, with concentrations within literature and linguistics. For ten years, I taught at university level, before settling in as graduate adviser at the Savannah College of Art and Design.
Writing is my passion, my joy, and my addiction.
SHATTERING HALOS
is my debut novel. When I’m not writing, I read. A lot!
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