Chapter 31 - Wings of Lies

Aspen.

Relief washed over me like a tidal wave, and tears streamed down my cheeks as he draped his cloak over my body.

I cried for the close call, for my helplessness. I cried for Aspen’s safety, though I should have been fleeing from him. I cried for myself, for what my mom did, and for all the pain I endured in Elora. Every bit of it.

Aspen sank to his knees, wordlessly brushing my hair from my face and tears from my cheeks. Flames engulfed his eyes, and his jaw muscle pounded with lingering fury. Minutes passed, yet he remained by my side, soothing me with his tingly touch while I grieved. Even after I cried myself out, he continued to comfort me, like he needed it. Like he needed the reassurance that I was safe and here. When the flames finally dimmed in his eyes, I worked up the courage to speak.

“Aspen?” I rasped.

“Yes, sweetheart?” he whispered, brushing his knuckles down my face.

That nickname. Damn, I loved that nickname and shouldn’t.

“Can I ask for a sliver?” I almost started crying again, but I held the ache back.

“If I could, I’d give you the moon,” he responded, reverently taking in every inch of my face.

“Back on Earth. Was any of it real?” My voice was small and broken, scared of the truth.

“Yes, Lucille. Every second.”

I swallowed and nodded. “And Elora?”

He bowed his head, and I sensed his pain flickering along with the red rune under his chin. “Some.”

“What changed?”

“Everything.”

“Was it because I tried to follow you?” It was ironic how I desired to go to Elora when I was on Earth, and now all I wanted to do was leave.

“No.”

“Can you tell me why? Why on Earth you were… you. And here, you’re…”

“An evil bastard,” he filled in for me. At my silence, he nodded. “I’ll try. I can’t always say what I want.”

I brushed my finger underneath his chin, feeling a zap. “Because of this Hell Rune?”

Confusion and clarity waged a war in his gaze. The rune beneath his chin attacked my finger, but I kept it there, taking the pain to see if it’d allow him to talk. No matter how painful it became, I pressed my thumb into his chin until he unclenched his jaw, and the clarity won.

“I know she carved something there. Sometimes, I can remember the pain and the ebony feather moving against my skin, but then it fades away like a bad dream.” He took my free hand and interlaced our fingers. “But around you, its influence dulls. I found that out the first time I met you.”

“Why were you there? You said it was because you were my guardian, but you never explained further.”

“That’s because I’ve only been slowly figuring out what it means after you showed me the sentences from your mom’s book.”

I scrunched my brows. “I found it? What did they say?”

“Born of imbalance, destined to right the wrongs of the past, a force written in ink shall emerge. Sacrifice will pave the way as voices whisper the secrets of the Fallen. I’ve figured out—” He started to stand, and I panicked, releasing his hand, and cringing as I reached to clutch his face. “What happened?”

He didn’t know my ribs were broken, and right now, I didn’t want to derail the conversation and lose whatever clarity he had.

“It’s nothing. But I think touching you helps more than just being present.”

“It does,” he said, still gazing at me with questions in his eyes.

“Then why are you moving?”

“I wasn’t going to let go of your hand, Lucille. But I need to show you what I’ve figured out.”

I put more pressure on his face, refusing to let go. “Can you do it down here?”

He looked ready to refuse, but either from how tightly I gripped his face or from the worry he saw in my expression, he nodded. “Okay. But I need to move.”

One of my hands dropped as I slowly settled back on the ground, holding back my cringe so Aspen didn’t notice. But by his expression, I had a feeling he did. With my hand on his face, he sat back, unbuckling his stiff uniform. Shucking them off, he noticed my furrowed brows. “Just wait. It’ll make sense in a second.”

When he untucked his undershirt, pulling his arms through the holes, heat flushed my face at the view of his sculpted body. It brought me back to the moment I writhed against him, wanting to feel his skin, and the terrible words he threw in my face after my power released us. Shame pulled my gaze away. Ever since I met him, I was attracted to him, and each time he returned to the forest on Earth, those feelings only grew. When I tackled him off the carriage, and the music amplified, my feelings amplified for him. I may have felt his desire, seen it in his eyes, and heard it from his lips, but I wasn’t sure I believed it. And if I forced those feelings onto him, if I made him want me, made him kiss me, then I was no better than the redhead.

“Lucille,” he said, gently tilting my chin back toward him. I attempted to resist, but he didn’t allow it. “I don’t want to see that shame in your eyes. If anyone is going to feel shame, it’ll be me.”

“I almost raped you like⁠—”

“Don’t you dare compare yourself to the piece of shit. You hear me? Your powers elevated emotions that were already there. I’ve always wanted to share that moment with you. I just wasn’t sure you wanted your first time to be in a forest crawling with eyes or under the influence of your power. I wasn’t worried for myself, only you.”

“But you said I wasn’t worth it.” Out of all the things he said to me, that one hurt the most.

He grimaced. “Because I couldn’t stand the thought of Brock even thinking about you that way. You are worth it, Lucille.” He dropped a kiss on my forehead. “You are worth it. I’m sorry for ever making you think you weren’t. For everything.”

His warm, tingly lips mended my shame, at least a little.

“Now let me give you a few more slivers and explain the rest. But know that not everything I did was influenced.”

“Okay,” I whispered.

Aspen took my hand from his face and shifted around. Two giant indigo wings inked his back.

“Can you see them?”

“They’re hard to miss,” I said.

His shoulders seemed to relax at my words. “No one else can see them, Lucille,” he sighed. “They appeared nearly twenty years ago during my training. The searing pain was so abrupt and intense that I thought someone had attacked me from behind, but there was no one there.

“The infirmary found nothing wrong and assured me I was fine. It wasn’t until I returned to my chambers that I saw what no one else could.

“I searched through old texts and discreetly questioned others but found no answers. Frustrated, I gave up searching, even as the sensation prickled sporadically over the years. Then, on Earth, during a mission for”—he tensed, hesitating before spitting out—“Lilith, the tingling erupted, bringing me to my knees. I could no longer ignore it. Desperate, I confronted the Drunes, threatened their forest, and demanded they tell me the origin of the tattoo. They did.

“When I returned to Earth, intense tingles scorched down my back as I entered a rainy forest. The sensation stopped when I found you surrounded by melting frost and mud.”

As he placed his arms back into his sleeves, before he let his shirt fall, I noticed raised scars hidden within the wings tattooed on his back.

No, not scars, Hell Runes. Hundreds of them.

With my free hand, I winced as I reached to touch one, relieved to find them devoid of ominous power. They were all inactive.

“I saw that,” he said, turning around and glaring.

He positioned himself beside me and returned my hand to his face, where the rune flickered with light. I covered the vile glow as Aspen placed a hand on my ribs. I gasped at his touch, and he immediately removed it.

“I should’ve made him suffer,” Aspen muttered, casting a sidelong glare at the redhead. I sensed the tumult of his rage, worry, and guilt through our bond.

Pulling him away from the gory scene, I smiled weakly. “Decapitation is close enough. Explain the tattoo.”

He frowned, his lips tightening, but eventually gave a reluctant nod. “When I was with you in the forest on Earth, there was a moment I didn’t understand. One where I had a quick flashback of a face I didn’t remember.”

From the despair in his tone, I could guess who.

“Nalini?”

“Yes. And when you gave me your necklace, I don’t think you realized, but it glowed black. The moment I touched it, the amulet unlocked more of the memory I had been forced to forget. Somehow, it countered the rune’s power.”

But I used all my mom’s power up unless it absorbed mine when I erupted.

“When I left you, I had more questions than answers. I couldn’t return to the Drunes, so I went to a witch, and she gave me some answers and a word.”

“Guardian,” I guessed.

He nodded, playing with a piece of my hair, lost in the past. “Your amulet gave me the memory of Nalini’s murder. But every time I thought of who did it—” He hissed, and the rune burned my thumb. I gritted my teeth, refusing to let go. “It’d burn through the power, making me forget until the amulet no longer worked. After that, I decided I needed to see you again.”

“How’d you find me?”

“Through the tattoo. A force written in ink shall emerge. Our bond began when I received this tattoo. That’s the only part of the sentences I’ve figured out. We’re tethered together through my ink. I can track it to you at any time. Except for when you almost escaped, and I found you next to that Soulhound.” Seeing my puzzled expression, he elaborated. “They’re ancient creatures related to Hellhounds, though less dangerous since they’re usually bound to an angel that keeps them in line. I thought they were extinct, but after almost losing you to Hellhounds, I didn’t care what creature it was. I lost it. So, I fought it until I scared it off.”

I sighed, relieved he didn’t kill the Soulhound. It seemed sweet until Aspen showed up.

He bowed his head to mine, his voice thick with emotion. “God, Lucille. A month after our fight, I felt the tether between us shrink, like you were moving further away. I thought nothing of it until I decided to search for you and couldn’t find you. I couldn’t fucking find you.”

My eyes stung with the intensity of his voice and the pain I could sense.

“Something blocked the ability, and then our tether faded as if you were slipping away from me. The panic I felt didn’t go unnoticed. And then she sensed you come through the portal just as the tether reestablished.” He shook his head, rubbing it against my forehead as if trying to erase the memory. “She knew she found her next power source to drain and knew my behavior was connected somehow.

“That night, she carved the rune on me as she had done for years, but this time with more commands. When Brock and I portaled to The Divide and saw you...” He pulled back, locking his glowing gaze with mine, gripping my face. “When I saw you, stick-thin and all bruised, I nearly leveled everyone in the clearing.

“But I’m under orders not to kill those loyal to her, and I didn’t want to hurt you or the Nephilim. Except, when I discovered Marcus was a turncoat, I happily killed her soldiers and almost Marcus, but he jumped back through the Earth portal. In my rage, I accidentally obliterated the portal to the Tenebrous Kingdom’s boundary line.”

“To buy more time until you had to hand me over,” I stated, putting the puzzle together.

Sadness doused the blue glow in his eyes, and he nodded. “I was so enraged—with you, myself, our situation, the fact that you couldn’t remember anything, and her fucking commands. I couldn’t fully protect you, yet I had to ensure you stayed alive. I couldn’t intervene with Brock, but I had to prevent him from accidentally killing you. I couldn’t remove your cuffs or allow you to escape. The only place I could take you was the Tenebrous Kingdom, so I destroyed the fastest way there. I couldn’t show any sign that you meant anything to me, not with Brock monitoring my every move. Yet, every time I played that role, it hurt you, and I just wanted someone to stab me in the heart and get it over with.

“I wanted to resent you for stepping through the portal, so I took it out on you, but deep down, I resented myself for failing to protect you. Then your presence stirred up memories that the rune repressed.”

I wiped away the tears trailing down his cheeks, not sure what to say to all that. His confession didn’t exactly excuse his behavior. He didn’t have to say the horrible things he did. It didn’t sound like that was one of his commands. Even if Brock was watching his every move, Aspen took out his rage and fear on me for coming to a world he couldn’t save me from. I understood it but didn’t forgive him for it.

“How long until you’re back to the evil bastard,” I joked, kind of.

“Maybe if we continue to always touch, he’ll never come back.”

Oliver groaned a few feet away, and a shot of guilt hit me. I forgot about him. “Not sure how that’ll work, seeing as Oliver’s waking up, and soon his knife will be at your throat.”

Aspen sat back, sweeping a deadly gaze over Oliver’s moaning and groaning form. At his severe expression, I looked at his rune under my thumb, relieved it wasn’t glowing. This was a facet of Aspen. The utter confidence, as he sized up Oliver, that I once thought was arrogance was really self-awareness. Aspen grew up in Elora. He knew this world. He had years of experience. And yeah, maybe he was a little arrogant, but most of it was backed up by the fact he could kill someone without a thought.

“You can’t hurt him,” I said, not exactly sure where we stood but hoping he listened.

Aspen glanced back to me and nodded before taking my hand from his face, placing it on my chest and almost releasing me, but I squeezed it in a death grip.

“What are you doing?” I panicked.

“You’re right, we can’t touch forever. I need to put my gear back on if your friend is gearing up for a fight, and you need to put your pants back on.”

Dirt and sticks dug into my exposed skin. I swallowed. If Aspen hadn’t shown up or he was even a second later… I squeezed my eyes shut.

Warm, calloused hands smoothed away the frown between my brows.

“Hey, sweetheart, look at me.” I did, staring into his vibrant blues. “I will always come for you. I will always find you.”

“Can you sense my emotions?”

He cocked his head to the side. “No, but I’m intelligent enough to put two and two together.”

I was wrong. He was arrogant.

“I can sense yours,” I admitted, knowing he needed to know the other facet of our bond. But why couldn’t he sense mine?

“What?”

I nodded. “It’s true, but I think your rune affects when I can and can’t sense them.”

“For how long?”

Thinking back to my dream-walks, I remembered a couple of instances I sensed emotions that didn’t feel like my own. “From the beginning.”

“I wonder⁠—”

“Ahh, fuck-a-duck, how did that twig knock me out?” Oliver groaned, interrupting our conversation.

Aspen grabbed my chin, turning my attention back to him, and ignored Oliver. “The male I decapitated was an Archangel bounty hunter. Grab the feather from his belt and the cuffs from his pocket. I want you to cuff my ankles. They’ll stop my power and make it harder for me to take you.” He fished something out of his pocket and handed me a black key—the one that matched the color of my cuffs. “Then I want you to run as fast as you can back to the Earth portal and get the hell out of Elora.”

“And leave you?” I asked, pocketing the key so I didn’t lose it.

He nodded, earnest.

I smacked him across the face.