“I have better things to do.”
“Like what?”
He opens one eye and looks at me. “Like convince a stubborn girl to admit she’s madly in love with me.”
“If I were I human, I'd plow the nicest farm for you.”
“Power is best held by the ones who don’t want it.”
“So if it’s not a pig farm that you want, what is it?” he asks.
I swallow. “How about a safe place to live where we don’t have to scrounge for food or fight for it?”
“It’s yours.”
“That’s it? All I have to do is ask?”
“No. There’s a price for everything.”
“I knew it. What is it?”
“Me.”
“That’s who you are— my brave, loyal, lovable Daughter of Man.”
“Come on. Say it, Raffe.” I give him a half smile. “I love it when you say Pooky Bear. It’s just so perfect when it comes out of your mouth.”
“She might kill you in your sleep one of these days just so she can get rid of that name.”
“OkayIwaswrong. Now let’s move on. Where do you think would be the best place for the angels to stay until they leave?”
“Whoa.” I burst out laughing. “Did you just say that you were wrong? Was that the word? Wrong?” I smile at him. “I like the sound of that coming out of your mouth. It’s lyrical. W-r-o-n-g. Wroooong. Wrrrrong. Go on, sing it with me.”
“If you're worried about pervs breaking into the house, it's not going to make a difference whether I'm in this outfit or in baggy jeans and a sweatshirt. Either they're decent human beings or they're not. Their actions are on them.”
“If I were human, I’d plow the nicest farm for you.’ He sounds completely sincere. ‘Better than anyone else’s. It would have golden pineapples, the juiciest grapes, and the most flavorful radishes in the entire world.’
I just stare at him, trying to figure out if he’s joking. I think he’s serious. ‘You haven’t been to a lot of farms, have you, Raffe? Most of us aren’t farmers anymore anyway.’
‘That wouldn’t diminish my little human commitment to you.”
“It turns out that she's the only one I can trust to watch my back.”
“Dedicated to readers like Penryn who have it tough at home, who had to grow up fast due to life circumstances, and who have no idea how much potential they really have. You are being fire forged, just like Penryn. And like her, you can turn your greatest trials into your greatest strengths.”
“My Watchers have helped me realize that angelic rules are for angels. Without our wings, we can never be fully accepted back into the fold. There will always be talk of taking a newly Fallen's wings and transplanting them onto us. Angels are perfect. Even with transplanted wings, we'll never again be perfect. You accept me just the way I am, regardless of whether or not I even have wings. Even when I had my demon wings, you've never looked at me with pity. You've never wavered in your loyalty. That's who you are—my brave, loyal, lovable Daughter of Man.”
“I thought you said you've slept on rocks in the snow.'
'I have. That's why I sleep on soft beds whenever I can.”
“Who knew? I had no idea that someone could be such a thorn in your foot during a death march and still be irresistibly attractive in some magical, undeniable way."
"So is this what people call sweet nothings? Because somehow, I expected it to be a little more...complementary.”
“Maggots are freaky hideous,’ I say, getting up. I try to salvage some dignity, but I can’t help but shiver and shake my hands in the air. It’s an instinctive impulse, one I’m not up for resisting right now.
‘You’ve fought off a gang of men twice your size, killed an angel warrior, stood up to an archangel, and wielded an angel sword.’ Raffe cocks his head. ‘But you scream like a little girl when you see a maggot?’
‘It’s not just a maggot,’ I say. ‘A hand burst out of the ground and grabbed my ankle. And maggots crawled out of it and tried to burrow into me. You would scream like a little girl too if that happened to you.’
‘They didn’t try to burrow into you. They were just crawling. It’s what maggots do. They crawl.’
‘You don’t know anything.”
“Lately, I seem to be all about you.”
“He looks down at me with sincere eyes. 'If I were human, I would have been the first in line for you...' He looks away. 'But I'm not. I'm an archangel, and my people are in trouble. I have no choice but to try to set things straight. I can't get distracted by a Daughter of Man.”
“He leans down, and his lips hover a hair’s breadth from mine. I close my eyes, feeling the tingle of anticipation.
Then he presses his lips to mine. His warmth spreads out from my lips down into my chest and stomach. Time stops, and I forget about everything else – the apocalypse, my enemies, watching eyes, monsters in the night.
All I feel is the kiss.
All I am is Raffe’s girl.”
“Raffe arches his brow at me. ‘You should be with a nice human boy. One who takes your orders and puts up with your demands. Someone who dedicates his life to keeping you safe and well fed. Someone who can make you happy. Someone you can be proud of.’ He waves his hand at the Watchers. ‘There’s nobody like that in this lot.’
I glare at him. ‘I’ll be sure to pass him by you first before I’ – settle for – ‘choose him.’
‘You do that. I’ll let him know what’s expected of him.’
‘Assuming he survives your interrogation,’ says Howler.
‘Big assumption,’ says Cyclone.
‘I’d like to be there to watch,’ says Hawk. ‘Should be interesting.”
“I challenge you to come find us.’ ‘This is Penryn Young, Daughter of Man, Killer of Angels." Penryn”
“Just this once,’ he says almost more to himself than to me. ‘Just one moment.’
Then he leans down and kisses me.”
“He sighs as if a little disgusted with himself. ‘Lately, I seem to be all about you.’
‘What makes you say that?’ I wish my voice didn’t sound so breathless.
‘I’m sitting on the hard floor outside your door while you take a cozy little nap, aren’t I?”
“And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that trying to make someone stay with you when he doesn’t want to is a recipe for heartbreak.”
“Why not?” He sounds resigned. “Might as well fly into the heart of the enemy where the primitive natives can tear me to pieces, sell my body parts for money, and grind the rest to be consumed in teas for sexual potency.” I tighten my arms around his neck. “We’re not that primitive anymore.” He arches his perfect eyebrow at me, sending waves of skepticism. “We have Viagra now.” He gives me a sideways glance”
“Call me a sentimentalist, but I like the idea of you in one piece. Besides, she’s not the only one who might be interested in your tasty flesh.’
I tilt my head. ‘Who told you I was tasty?’
‘Haven’t you heard that old saying? Tasty as a fool?’
‘You made that up.’
‘Huh. Must be an angelic saying. It’s to warn the foolish about things that go bump in the night.’
‘It’s daytime.’
‘Ah. So you don’t deny that you’re foolish?”
“What are you doing?’
‘What?’ Ugh. I suck at this.
‘Are you batting your lashes at me?’
‘What, me? No, of course not. What . . . spell it.’
He squints his eyes suspiciously at me. ‘This is awkward.’
‘Yes, it is.’
‘You’re not going to make this easy on me, are you?’
‘You’d lose all respect for me if I did.’
‘I’d make an exception for you.”
“What would you do if you had to make a run for it?’ His voice is husky as he stares, mesmerized, at the unraveling thread.
‘I’d grab my shoes and run.’
‘Dressed like this? In front of lawless men?’ His eyes drift up to my midriff.
‘If you’re worried about pervs breaking into the house, it’s not going to make a difference whether I’m in this outfit or in baggy jeans and a sweatshirt. Either they’re decent human beings or they’re not. Their actions are on them.’
‘It’ll be tough for them to take any action while I’m pummeling their faces. Disrespect will not be tolerated.’
I half smile at him. ‘Because you’re all about respect.’
He sighs as if a little disgusted with himself. ‘Lately, I seem to be all about you.”
“What’s wrong with going with me?’ I ask.
‘No one wants to be stuck with love birds.’ Howler shakes his head.
‘Awkward,’ says Cyclone, already walking toward Thermo.
‘You think I’d do something to risk a fall?’ asks Raffe.
‘You can’t fall for anything you do here, Commander,’ says Thermo. ‘You’re already in the Pit, so technically, it’s equivalent to being in a Fallen state during the time you’re here.”
“All I feel is the kiss. All I am is Raffe’s girl.”
“You seem to bring out new and unimagined dimensions from both me and Kooky Bear.”
‘Pooky Bear.’ ‘Right.’
I step over a hole that someone must have crawled out of. ‘Come on. Say it, Raffe.’ I give him a half smile. ‘I love it when you say Pooky Bear. It’s just so perfect when it comes out of your mouth.’
‘She might kill you in your sleep one of these days just so she can get rid of that name.”
“People who know what they’re talking about don’t need PowerPoint.”
“One day you will hear the sound of time rustling as it slips through your fingers like sand. Remember me then. I wish you luck.”
“now he knew that there were communities everywhere, sprinkled across the vast landscape of the known world, in which people suffered. Not always from beatings and hunger, the way he had. But from ignorance. From not knowing. From being kept from knowledge.”
“Somehow, even in the worst of times, the tiniest fragments of good survive. It was the grip in which one held those fragments that counted.”
“How can so much beauty hide such a bruised and steely heart, and why must I love him, why must I lean in my weariness upon his irresistible yet indomitable strength? Is he not the wizend funeral spirit of a dead man in a child's clothes?”
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