Page 43 of Where the Light No Longer Follows

He’d been lied to.

Maybe not.

Maybe something had happened to her because of his reckless behaviour.

He could not even find out because his brother had done what he’d never done.

He’d closed the gate between life and death entirely, leaving him there desperate on the other side of the river while his ruin was right across, refusing to show herself.

Gabriel tried to not worry, that she was not an idiot like him, that when she worried she stayed home, busied herself and took care of anything that needed taking care of and made pretty things out of the most unusual objects, not tempt the wrath of every God and Goddess, moon, star and sun there ever was, destiny and fate.

He almost jumped right up when her front door slowly drew open and she came out, wearing something strange—a yellow dress that fell just to the middle of her thighs that were bare except the tall black books cutting at her knees. There was no scarf. Her hair was up in a long tail except the two white front pieces dangling at the front.

Gabriel had been wrong. Silene was tempting—she was tempting him to commit things that would endanger every living thing there had ever existed.

“He’s not letting me in.”

She came to a stop right at the very edge of the river. “Can you blame him?”

“Can’t you take my side just this time?”

When she smiled, he realised she’d been on his side all along. “What did you do last night exactly?”

“Besides almost mauling you?”

She pressed her lips tightly together to hold in a smile Gabriel almost begged to see, and nodded.

“Things I shouldn’t have done. Things I didn’t regret doing. Things I’m regretting doing now that I can’t have you close.” He waited for a few heartbeats, watching her head to toe, inspecting every visible inch of skin in her body. “Did I hurt you last night?”

Her teeth dug on the corner of her lip before she shook her head.

“Liar,” he breathed.

“It was nothing.”

He started backing away, but she stepped on the bridge and crossed it before he could back away too far. Throwing a ribbon around his neck, she pulled on both ends to lower him to her before she said, “You’re an absolute idiot.”

He blinked. “Do you like idiots?”

“I don’t mind them.”

Gabriel smiled. “Good enough.”

Pulling the ribbon off his neck, she wrapped one end on her hand and offered him the other. “You’re still to take me to a zoo.”

“You’re always all business with me.”

“Are we taking it slow today?”

“As slow as you want to, my little bee. Are we stopping at your hive beforehand or straight to the zoo? Or is your hive there?”

She sneered at him. “Thought you liked yellow.”

“I like you. Whether you make honey or not.”

She’d fallen asleep in his car, still wearing the ridiculous hat and shirt they’d bought from the zoo’s store, his jacket thrown over her lap. She lay on the passenger seat like a splatter of colour, a sight he thought he’d never see. A sight that made him so acutely happy it terrified him.

She stirred, peeling her sleepy hazel eyes to stare up at him. “Should you not take me back?”