Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 121854 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121854 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
He’d felt disloyal at the start, that he was building a friendship so profound with anyone but Aodhan, but after a while, it would’ve been a disloyalty to Lorenzo, Catalina, and Aodhan to compare them in any way. Each friendship was its own living, breathing joy. And Aodhan…his Adi…was stitched into his very being.
Aodhan shifted so that his wing just brushed Illium’s, the whisper of contact an act of painful intimacy. “I’m happy you had them,” he said, his voice rough with emotion. “And I mourn that I can’t tell Lorenzo how much it means to me that he was there for you at a time I couldn’t be.”
His best friend’s expression turned stark. “Catalina will break my heart to pieces one day but to know her is a gift. Go, Blue. Spend the time with her.”
13
Aodhan’s heart had birthed a new crack in the past few minutes, and it only grew and settled into permanency as he watched Illium take flight, a stunning blue butterfly of courage and power. “Thank you, Lorenzo,” he whispered to the spirit of the man who’d been there for Illium at a time in his life when he’d needed a friend true and faithful.
As for Catalina, bathed in the warmth of her bright, beautiful…and achingly transient mortal flame, he’d already said what he had to say in person. And as he’d sat with her, he’d felt the weight of the sorrow to come—because Catalina deserved to live eons, her heart and honor a match to any revered immortal.
But Cat didn’t want to be immortal, and so she would go too soon. In doing so, she’d leave behind two angels who would miss her friendship and wisdom all their days.
You were gone for so long…
Aodhan and Illium, they’d never stopped being friends, not even during the worst times. Illium had refused to allow it. But there had been ruptures. They both knew it. Today, by exposing one of the deepest to the light of day, Illium had given Aodhan hope.
“I can take the truth, Blue,” he murmured to that dazzling dot in the sky. “All of it. No more hiding. Ever.”
14
Catalina spotted Illium the instant he landed outside the little bakery in Harlem.
Her face—far more lined now than when they’d first met, but still as beautiful—became a small sun. Her embrace was warm and strong and her. He hugged her as tight, wrapping her in his wings and wishing he could stop her body from aging, time from passing—but even if he could, she wouldn’t want it. No, Cat was ready to join Lorenzo when it was her time, her faith in a world beyond the veil unshakable.
Do angels have gods, Illium? Do you believe in a life after this existence?
One of many questions she’d asked him during those long nights they’d all spent together around the table in the back of the bakery, her curiosity opening his eyes to facets of existence he’d never considered.
“Go sit,” she said today after they drew apart. “I have a big order about to get picked up. We’ll talk after.”
As familiar in this place as he was at the Tower, he slipped through the swinging door to the kitchen. It was Lorenzo who’d installed that door soon after they first became friends, so it’d be wide enough for Illium to pass through with ease.
The kitchen was quiet and clean, all the cooking done for the day, the steel countertop spotless. Catalina’s granddaughter and baker-in-training was also gone, her after-school hours in the bakery limited by her grandmother’s decree. Soon as the clock hit five p.m., off went the apron.
“One day,” Catalina had told Illium, “our Adriana’ll do bigger things. She thinks she wants this bakery and her heart is in a good place, but that child has a bright mind and dreams big enough to power the moon. She’ll need more, and for that, she needs to focus on her studies.”
While Catalina finished out front, Illium set about making himself a coffee and Catalina her favorite fruit tisane doctored with a liberal dose of honey. He had both ready by the time he heard the ring of the bell over the shop door.
It sounded again a minute later, was followed by the click of the lock. He imagined he could almost hear the flick of the sign being switched to Closed.
Catalina was pressing a hand to her lower back when she walked in. “Why I do this, I don’t know.” She groaned. “I should be at home, watching Presa del Cazador, not on my feet all day.”
It gave Illium great delight that Elena’s most muttered-about show had not only been renewed again, but now had a Spanish spin-off, complete with a “hunter” who spent more time romancing vampire beauties than he did tracking.
He loved watching it with Catalina, so they could cackle together.