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“Bryn adores Nina, and Cosmos will slaughter as many as he needs to in order to keep me safe.”
“Interesting. Men are rarely that dedicated, in my experience,” Katya replies.
“Maybe one day you’ll meet someone who loves you the way they love us.”
She smirks at me with a sort of cynical expression. “I very much doubt that, my dear, but it’s a sweet sentiment. And I appreciate the apology. You should probably go back to bed. I don’t think being caught down here with me is in your best interest.”
“I just wanted to know, the wings. Are they like the fire? Are they something you just got when you realized your true nature? Or are they something you worked on?”
“You want to know what you might yet become,” she smiles. “It’s almost a pity the abduction didn’t work. I could have taught you a great deal. Now, unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll have the opportunity.”
“You could teach me now?”
“Not from inside a cage, dear. And not while you are kept in a repressed state of marriage. These men that defend you also keep you small. It’s a tradeoff you make when you accept protection. You must not become too strong to protect.”
“I don’t think Cosmos would mind if I got stronger. He’s been encouraging that this whole time. I’ve been the one who didn’t want to learn or to change. I’ve been sticking to what I know.”
“I’d love to have an ongoing discussion about self-actualization,” Katya says. “But these bars are hardly conducive. If I were free…”
“Would you run away? Would you bring back a small army to crush us?”
“I think I’d snap you up like the sweet little thing you are and take you home,” she smiles.
I blush. It has been a long time since I met anybody who embodied what I want to be as a grown up. Yes, I’m an adult, but I’m not adult like her. In her presence I feel sort of stuck, and I don’t like it.
“Cosmos wouldn’t like that.”
“He’s the blue-haired reckless one, isn’t he,” she says. “He’s very cute too. I guess we will see what happens. I am sure Bryn’s desperate need to banish and control me will resolve in some way soon. In the meantime, you should keep your distance, little angel. I would not like to see you hurt.”
It’s good advice, and as I hear movement around the door and steps down to the basement, I also decide this is a good time to slip away.
“Where have you been?” Cosmos reaches out and snags me into bed, cuddling me up against his tattooed muscles. He’s warm and I am immediately cozy.
“I went down to talk to Katya.” I could lie to him, but I don’t want to.
“Oh? Why?”
“I was curious. She’s… she’s incredible. Did you see her wings? Just being in her presence is…”
“Aw,” Cosmos smiles. “You’ve got a girl crush.”
“Don’t you think she’s kind of amazing?”
“Sure. She’s dangerous as hell. Bryn doesn’t know what to do with her. We’re supposed to protect angels. None of us knows what to do with one who doesn’t want or need our protection, let alone leads our enemies.”
“So cool,” I whisper under my breath as my eyelids start to get heavy. I am exhausted, but my imagination is alight. Katya is the first person in this place to inspire me. “Can we start training again tomorrow?”
“Yes,” Cosmos chuckles. “Yes, we can.”
13
Elise
It is a pleasant evening at Direview. It has been twenty-one days since I cut a hole in the wall, a hole that has since been boarded over. Thor has returned from the icy climes of his homeland, and we are enjoying a post-evening meal all together, the eight of us sitting around a big, round table playing cards. Crichton and Crocombe have joined us, and a gramophone plays olde timey music almost loud enough to block out the sounds of the furious angel in the basement demanding to be released.
I am perched on Cosmos’s lap. He keeps cheating and looking at my cards, but he’s not that great a player, so it doesn’t actually matter. He’s about as good at cards as I am at swordplay. I’m trying to learn, and he says I am getting better, though whether that is true or not is up for debate.
A knock at the door makes Crichton rise from his chair and head for the door. We all put our cards down and listen. Everybody at Direview has become a little more concerned about guests of late.
“Fathers, we have a guest,” Crichton announces as he returns with the knocker in tow.
The man who walks in behind him is a big, broad, bearded monster. He has to be at least six and a half feet tall. Spurs jingle on his boots, which kick up dust that isn’t here, but somehow that happens anyways.
