Velvet Haven

across his lips. “That’s why you sometimes talk . . . old-fashioned.”
    “Jargon and slang change over the years. I learned quickly not to rely on language to appear mortal. Although I do have a fondness for certain words involving the female anatomy.” He leered down at her. “For instance, you have the most beautiful pussy I’ve ever seen.”
    She laughed. “Be serious.”
    “I am.”
    She sobered. “Will you really live . . . forever?”
    He laid her back down with a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I live an extremely long life. But I can choose to end it, and I will. I will go to the Summerlands when you do.”
    “I’m mortal and I’m thirty.”
    He kissed the tip of her nose. “And you’re a worrywart. Do not be anxious about such things, Mairi. Time moves much slower in Annwyn than it does in your world. We will have many years together. Perhaps more than you want.”
    “But you can’t die.”
    “I can choose to end my existence and follow my Chosen Fate.” She looked up at him, her huge brown eyes glistening with tears. “And that is what I will do when it is your time. I will follow you to the Summerlands. Now, then, that is your two questions.”
    “No.”
    He looked up from her shoulder, which he was kissing. “There is another?”
    “Yes.” Her eyes were dancing with amusement. “When you’re in your bird form, what do you eat?”
    He laughed and pinched her bottom. “Not worms or mice or garbage. I assure you.”
    She laughed with him and nestled deeper into his hold.
    “Watch the fire, Mairi,” he whispered. Then he closed his eyes and reached out to the flames, harnessing its powers, bending it to his own. She would find this amusing. It was a youngling’s trick, but he sought to please—and surprise her.

    Mairi watched the orange flames begin to dance, to meld into shapes, twisting and twining, then separating. They became distinct. People. A man and a woman. The shapes came closer to each other, a spark reaching out like a hand to grasp what looked like the breast of the woman.
    She sighed, watching as the shapes became her and Bran.
    “What do you want him to do next?” he asked.
    She smiled, liking his magic trick. “What does he want to do?”
    The shape of the man pressed forward, kissing the woman. She fell back and the man pushed her knees up, parting them.
    Mairi’s breath hitched. “You like to do that, don’t you?”
    “I love your taste on my tongue, my lips.”
    She rolled onto her back, giving him her arms. “I’m starting a new tradition. The queen gets to ask for whatever she wants while she’s lying before the fire, and the king must see that she gets it.”
    “What does my queen want?” he asked.
    “The king, buried deep inside. All night.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

    “You have made a grave mistake, brother.”
    Suriel pressed his forehead to the cold stone. He’d been kneeling so long that his knees were numb, his back stiff, his fingers bloody from gripping the stones as he patiently waited for this audience.
    Gabriel pulled at his hair, lifting his chin up from the floor. “You should have let the woman die. This is not your war, Suriel.”
    How he hated the pompous, self-righteous Gabriel. God’s messenger, he silently mocked, who always thought himself above Him . “Is it His war, Gabriel? Is it yours? If it is, you’re not fighting it very well.”
    A stinging slap across his mouth was made to silence him, but Suriel could no more hold his tongue now than when he resided with his brothers in heaven.
    “Truth hurts like a bitch, doesn’t it?” he asked as he licked away the black blood from his lips.
    “You’ve grown arrogant in your banishment, Suriel.”
    Glaring at his brother, Suriel made to stand, but Gabriel put his foot between his shoulders and slammed him down.
    “On your knees!” Gabriel shouted. “You’re corrupt. Sinful. Fallen. You no longer have the right to look upon me.”
    Defying Gabriel, Suriel rose slowly to his feet, to stand inches above his brother, who was forced to look up at him. “What brings you to Earth, Gabriel?”
    “I have a message.”
    “Don’t you always?”
    “You will forsake the mortal Mairi.”
    Suriel pressed his eyes shut. “No.”
    “Her fate is preordained and you have interfered. You will not interfere again. You gave her a gift she was never intended to have.” Gabriel circled him, taunting him. “Now take it back.”
    “Why don’t you, Gabe? Go get the gift if that