Touched by Darkness: (Sins of The Fallen Book 2)

The cobblestone is damp and cold beneath my bare feet. My blood has long since dried between the cracks. Darkness surrounds me, as thick and heavy as the silence. Turning in a circle, I gaze around the town square. The fountain is absent of water, and the cherub follows me with its eyes. I rub my hands over my arms to stave off the cold.

“You can’t help yourself, can you, Angel?” Amenadiel steps out from the shadows, his intense eyes burning with hatred. “The darkness calls you.”

My head snaps his way. Danger clings to him like a fog, swirling in front of his body and crawling along the cobblestone.

Swallowing down my fear, I watch it inch closer to my feet. My hair sticks to the cold sweat on my cheek despite the cold air. “How am I back in Eden?”

He hums, tipping his head back, his eyes roaming over the mended crack in the veil. “You’re asking the wrong questions.”

The sky is dark, filled with twinkling stars. Rubbing at the pang in my chest, I focus my attention back on Amenadiel. “Not only am I back in Eden, but I’m back in time. It’s as if I never left.”

“Time,” he repeats, tasting it on his tongue. “What is time?”

“Stop with the philosophical bullshit!”

He tsks, stepping closer.

Inching back, I release a strangled cry when the congealed blood beneath my feet turns liquid.

“It’s too late, Angel. Paradise took you back, but the darkness already has a hold on you. Slowly tainting your soul and seeping through the cracks of your heart, it feeds on your light.”

“Why won’t the gates open for me?”

Closing the distance between us, he smirks. “So eager to whore yourself out to those boys.”

I grit my teeth. “Just tell me.”

“What makes you think I have the answer?”

“Do you not?” I counter when he begins circling me.

“Unlike you, Angel, I didn’t return to Eden.”

My shoulders slump. I had hoped he would hold the answers to my questions. But it was wishful thinking.

His heat presses up against my back. Reaching up and sliding my hair from my shoulder, he whispers, “Looks like we’re both stuck.”

I squeeze my eyes shut and swallow down the emotions clogging my throat.

“You’ll never see those boys again.”

I shake my head. “You’re lying.”

“Heaven’s own angel is in love,” he taunts, chuckling.

Turning around, I start to speak, but his hand shoots out and grabs my chin. “It’s only fair that you get to spend eternity pining for something you can’t have after you took everything from me. You see, it’s about more than love. Once you taste the sweetness of sin, you never forget. It will haunt you, call you to it like a siren at sea, and drown you in your own self-pity.”

I sit upright in bed, breathing heavily, my hair sticking to the sheen of sweat on my skin. Freya is snoring softly on the cot next to mine. Sunshine pours in through gaps in the straw roof, and birds sing in the trees outside. It’s moments like these that make me miss the nighttime outside the gates. I had no problem sleeping in the sunlight before I left, but now my nightmares always wake me.

Placing my feet on the ground, I peer over at Freya. She’ll stay asleep for another couple of hours. Nothing short of the end times would wake her now.

I pad outside and gaze around at the small dwellings, each housing two angels. Flowerbeds fragrance the air, butterflies fly from one rose bush to another, and the warm breeze moves my hair across my body, the strands tingling my bare nipples.

As I draw in a trembling breath, my eyes seek out the wall towering over the trees. My feet follow, carrying me across the soft grass. Before long, I’m running, my blonde hair flying behind me. My heart pounds, throbbing in my ears, and my lungs burn with every shaky inhale. Please, let me out. I fall to my knees outside the gates, startling the deer to my right that’s forever munching on the soft grass. Even the hare darts away.

“Please,” I sob, head bent. My long hair shields me from the world, protecting me behind its blonde curtain of wavy strands. “I don’t belong here anymore.”

Swiping at my wet cheeks, I sniff pitifully. I never thought I would feel this way. I’m a foreigner kneeling on the grass, which once softened the shriek of my baby cry and carried my toddler feet.

Anger surges within me, a feeling I didn’t know before I slipped through the gates the first time. “Fuck you!” I scream, glaring up at the golden gates. “Fuck you for keeping me prisoner here!” Banging my hands against the shimmering surface, I release a wracking sob. Everything is hopeless. I miss Daemon, Alaric, and Ronan. Even Dariana. Are they coming for me yet? Are they searching for me? Going out of their minds with worry?

Rising to my feet, I hurry over to the tall tree closest to the wall and begin to climb it, using my arm strength to heave myself higher. I can’t risk anyone seeing me fly, so this is the safest way to peer over the wall, hidden behind the green leaves.

When I finally reach the top, I’m sweaty and my heart is pounding against my ribcage. I swipe my hair out of my eyes and lean back against the trunk, gazing out over the wall. Storm clouds light up the darkness in the distance, rolling over the treetops like a sped-up recording. The silence is complete, despite the flash in the sky.

Aurelia… The forest rustles my name, rolling the soft vowels off its spindly branches.

Shifting onto my hands, I slowly crawl forward, careful not to slip. The soft bark peels away beneath my fingers, and the leaves rustle in the warm breeze. Somewhere out there beats the heart of three kings. The only royals in my kingdom. They claimed me, stole my innocence, and shackled it in the darkest corner of their castle. My soul calls out to them on the wind, carrying its song across the distance. Pleading for black-winged angels to scale these walls and rescue me from my torment—to steal me away from perfect love. I don’t want redemption. This Little Red Riding Hood pines for the wolves in the woods, their lethal bites, and fierce snarls. And the evil witch who leads the pack.