Was he fooling himself?
A long pause ensued, and Luc feared the worst. Had Hadri been holding back his true thoughts on the project this whole time? All the way back to when Luc had first showed it to him, right after his graduation?
Next to him, Hadri sighed.
“I didn’t find it silly at all.” Hadri clapped his hand on Luc’s shoulder, and when Luc turned his head, he saw Hadri’s face was filled with fondness and…something else Luc couldn’t decipher.
“I thought it was brilliant,” Hadri assured him. “You know, it takes a lot of skill to design something so intricate, with so many moving parts. But more than that, it takes courage to design something where nothing has existed before. Most of the architects only improve on the designs of each other, and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. But you’ve come up with something truly original. It’s hard to do. And I hope you can make your world a reality.” Hadri patted his shoulder.
“Really?”
“Really.”
“You don’t think it’s a foolish desire?”
“Well, desires are simply the price we pay for having a soul. There’s no need to apologize for them. Should we then apologize for existing? Don’tgive up,” he admonished. “The only thing we can be certain of is that nothing will stay the way it is forever. Not even the Council.”
Luc nodded. He tried to find reassurance in Hadri’s words, but how easy that was for Hadri to say. His desires always—or most always—lined up with the majority; he was so easygoing that even Michael couldn’t pick a fight with him. He had never wanted anything that was forbidden to him.
One Aeon Pre-Great War
The last thing Luc wanted to be doing after his disaster of a proposal to Lila was moving into his new home outside the dormitories and then touring the Council architect’s workspaces. But there he stood before the door of his custom-built house—a rectangular stone building painted white with blue trim—watching a group of carpenters heave an oak bed frame through the door’s tight opening.
“Master Lucifer!” one of them noted with grating cheerfulness. “Welcome to your new home!”
Luc dipped his chin in acknowledgement. A nod, but barely. He did a double take at hearing ‘master’ in front of his name. It sounded strange, even though he’d been waiting to be called that since he could remember.
The bed, too, took him aback. Compared to most of the house, it had an extravagant design. Four wood and marble pilasters. A canopy of burgundy cotton chiffon. Foliage carvings on the headboard and footboard that he’d sketched out himself. An impulsive addition to his house’s blueprints that he’d made right before turning them in. Seeing the bed now, he scoffed under his breath.
Luc slept little. What use could he have for such a frivolous thing?
Now Lila would sit in Castor’s workshop for the rest of her existence, crafting beds just like that. And yet, he’d requested a bed in those particular dimensions because he’d been expecting Lila to join him.
How witless. How naive.
Born beside darkness. Witnessed by darkness. Theirs was not a sweet, innocent, triumphant love. How had he expected it to survive the blazing light in the center of Heaven?
Still, he’d started to picture Lila living with him in this house. She’d fall asleep at one of the worktables with her head on her sketches, her fingers stained with ink. Sometimes, they’d take their meals while working, and she’d fling grapes at him if he attempted an experiment she deemed preposterous.
They’d lie awake in bed, whispering their dreams to each other. She’d call him a fool, and he’d let her. He’d let her say anything to him, anything at all, if he could keep hearing her voice. Because she was right—he was a fool on this one count. This one count only.
There would be no more meetings at the obelisk, no more ideas he scribbled down as soon as he woke, that he couldn’t wait to share with her the next time he saw her. Lila had gone. She was Castor’s now, and as far as everyone else was concerned, she’d always been Castor’s. She’d gone, and it was as though they’d never been. No one could know, not even Hadri.
He stepped into the bedroom. The oak frame bed screeched across the marble floor as the carpenter angels angled it into the right position along the wall.
He thought of Lila, stretched out on Castor’s bed. Her robes falling off her perfect body, piece by piece.
He’d never seen all of her. Or even most of her, considering the long sleeves and long skirts and high collars of their student robes. Sometimes he’d touched her over her robes, but mostly, they’d just kissed. Lila had never wanted to take things further, and he’d assumed they would have time.
And now Castor would…
But perhaps that was further proof that she’d never been serious about him, that she’d always planned to return to Castor.
Luc clenched his fist. Suddenly, he couldn’t bear the sight of the bed.
“Take it back,” Luc demanded.
“Sorry, sir?” one of the carpenters asked. The carpenter who’d greeted him before. “Do you have a question?” He popped his head up from the slats being laid into place. A curly-haired angel with a pointed nose.Costas,Luc recalled.
