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“Are you going to tell me why we’re here?” she asks, pushing off the railing.
“My father told me he handpicked my soul. I’d like to know why.” I say, guiding her down the adjacent hallway toward the record rooms. It’s not a lie… It’s just not the whole truth.
Limbo itself is aseptically clean, with metal modern designs. The hallway is wide with doors lining every available surface. Most are distribution units, where souls are shuttled through tubes to The Soul Well or Purgatory to be shelved. The large double door at the end leads to The Void and the one on the opposite end, Heaven.
Then there’s the closet… Well, what used to be a closet. Now, it’s where Alice’s parents have their little slice of Heaven. It also just so happens to be right next to the record room which is where I need to go. Only a few people have access to it, and I’m not one of them. Luckily, my father was preoccupied and didn’t notice me sneaking the keycard off his desk. Which is partly why I didn’t want to chance going back when I ran into Alice in the stairwell. I’m supposed to avoid this place as much as I can, seeing as angels come and go, bringing word from Heaven or wayward souls. But none of them would know who I am based on looks alone. It’s been too long, but I try not to push it. Today, though, I need to be here, and it’s worth the risk.
We reach the record rooms and I quickly swipe the badge and push us inside, closing and locking the door behind me.
“I’m going to take a shot in the dark and say we’re not supposed to be here,” Alice says, staring at me with amused eyes. She’s enjoying watching me break the rules. Of course she would. I swear the woman lives to make waves.
“What gave you that impression?”
“Oh, I don’t know. The fact that you’re using your father’s badge. Or maybe it’s the fact you locked the door? When I came here last, it was like pulling teeth to get access to this room. Turns out there are only two names on the list of approved people who can enter, and neither are yours.”
I chuckle wolfishly, turning around and arching a brow. “You’ve broken in, haven’t you?” Alice doesn’t answer, but she doesn’t have to. I can see my answer written all over her face. I tsk my tongue, crossing to the podium in the middle of the room. “Naughty little princess… You’ve been playing with fire while I’ve been gone.”
It wasn’t my intention to sound flirty. It’s not right for me to woo her. At least not until I know she truly wants to be wooed and not the fates plucking her strings. Still, it’s easier said than done. There’s no switch I can flip off that will take away the way I feel about her. Well, there’s the spell she used when we were saving Luri, but I know better than to play around with that sort of magic. Finn does too.
It doesn’t simply take away the emotion. It stores it, and when you break the spell, it all comes rushing in at once. It can be dangerous for witches, especially, and nephilim or not, we can only hold so much magic and power before it’ll eat us alive and shred us to cinders. It’s a delicate balance of not having too much nor too little, and that spell is a wildcard.
“Are you going to share what you were looking for?” I ask, daring a glance over my shoulder as the needle rises from the podium in the middle of the otherwise empty room.
“Nope,” she says, biting her lip and watching me with intent. Her eagerness tells me she didn’t figure out how to work the record room during her little excursion. So, what did she do while she was here?
Thinking of my question, I prick my finger on the tip of the needle. A single drop of blood slips down the sloped edge and pools around the thicker base. A sound similar to a train rolling over rails and picking up speed fills the air and the walls spin around us, blurring into white. Alice rushes toward the middle of the room, squeezing her body between mine and the podium.
“What the fuck is happening?” she asks, trying to figure out where to look, and frantically whipping her head from side to side. Red curls repeatedly slap me across my jaw, and I loop my arm around her waist, dragging her back against me.
“Relax. Just watch,” I whisper, running the tip of my nose up her neck and placing a quick kiss against her jaw. Her pulse slows, and the rapid drum beat calms to a steady thrum, quieting until I can no longer hear it. “I take it you never figured out the room?”
She shakes her head no. “I found the written logs in the storage area and searched there instead. I couldn’t get in.”
The room screeches to a halt, showing two strings of numbers hovering above the surface of the wall, like a projection.Soul tags. Enochian symbols spill the secrets of the past, revealing the answer to my question, and the fate of our relationship.A perfect match…We’re soulmates, after all.
My heart skips as I lean to kiss Alice’s shoulder. She doesn’t even know what she’s looking at. Being raised by her aunt, the likelihood of someone teaching her our ancient language is slim to none, and with me being so busy, traveling around the seven realms… No one has taken the time to teach her. I failed there, but it’s moments like these that make me a little glad for it.
“What the heck am I looking at?”
“The answer to my question.”
“Which was?” she asks, cocking her head to the side.
“Whether we’re soulmates. My father said he handpicked my soul when he found out my mother was pregnant, and apparently, they found a match. Two halves of a whole, or in your world, they’re known as mates. When he discovered another nephilim was going to be brought into the world, he made sure the other half was given to you when you were born.”
She is silent for a beat, processing and staring at the mess of symbols before us. “So he rigged it?Us?”
“Yes, and I slightly want to scream at him for it, but at the same time… If he hadn’t, I might not be able to share this sort of bond with you. We might not have fallen in love at all. Maybe lust, for power reasons, but it wouldn’t feel like this.”
Sure, I could tell her about the deal, but what difference would it make? She doesn’t need someone throwing rocks at her glass house right now. I’ll tell her in time, but maybe knowing that we’re fated will soften the blow. It’s one less secret hanging in the air between us. I’d like to get it to zero, but things seem to constantly stand in the way of it.
“We don’t have much time,” I say as Alice spins in my arms to face me. “Is there something you want to know?”
“No…” she breathes as if the answer is just as much of a shock to her as it is to me. She always has questions. Now, with a millennium’s worth of information at her fingertips, there’s none? Not a single question?
“That trip to the paper archives did you well, huh?”
“I’m pretty sure I know the answers to the questions I have. I don’t think I like them, and for now, I’d rather they not be confirmed. Not yet.”
