Blessed by Sapphires (A Dance with Destiny Book 2) (38 page)

“You do
not
belong in hell.” His words carried an eerie finality to them.

“Do you love me still?”

“Yes. If I cared nothing for you, I would beg you to stay with me. Jenevier, listen. Hell will never be your home. We cannot allow perfection to taint our miserable world. Hell is a place of darkness and destruction. Where shall I place a lovely rose so its petals won’t be singed by the flames? You tell me, my love. Where shall I place the golden throne needed to hold your glory where it shall not be sullied by filth? Where in hell is such a place?”

“By your side,” I whispered through my sobs.

“I only wish it were so. I have freely surrendered all the power and status that defined me. I subjected myself to any curse, any punishment fit to my millennia of sin. Yet, you were denied me. The only thing I have ever truly wanted… I cannot have.”

“Who would deny you? Who would be able to keep me from your side if you did not will it to be so?”

“God.”

“God? I don’t understand. You asked
God
for me? Why do you tease me so, my love? Can you not feel the pain weighing down my soul? And now you would jest with me?”

“I do not jest, tiny Princess. Not about this. Now, no more words until you can see my face once more.”

His grip upon me did not falter as we made our way through what I presumed by the sounds and smells to be hell, and out the portal. I instantly knew when we stepped into the woods of Vanahirdem.

“How is it I feel you and the sunlight at the same time?” I asked.

“Shhh, not yet,” he said quietly. “Grab hold of me. I will wing you to the healing pools. They await us now.”

I could hear all the familiar voices as we entered the training dome, someone tried to pry the broken wings from my bent arm.

“No! Don’t touch them!”

I burst into tears and released Vindicus’s hand so I could use both arms to hold them tightly to my chest. My husband tried to reason with me, yet, I would not be dissuaded.

“Jenevier, they do this for your friend. Please, let them heal him.”

“I no longer trust my ears. I no longer trust my mind. I cannot release such a treasure as this unless I can see Vittorio with my own eyes and he ask them of me himself.”

“Then take my hand once more and I will lead you to him. They have taken him to the sacred waters. He waits only for you, my love.”

I smelled him before I even heard his throaty, strained voice.

“Aye, beautiful sister, ye’ve saved me.”

I fell to my knees and reached for his face. Vittorio took my searching hand, placing it upon his cheek.

“Come closer, wee Angel. I wish tae give ye something I took from ye long ago. Close yer eyes.”

I leaned forward. Vittorio gently kissed me on each closed lid, and then blew his sweet breath upon my face. My eyelids flickered and the glorious sunlight caused them to shut again.

“Be healed, my love,” he whispered.

When next I opened my eyes, my mangled brother was before me.

“Aye, there ye are. Can I have those back now?” He smiled and pointed to the billowy treasure still locked tightly to my chest.

Vareilious tried to gently pry my arms away from the bloody feathers. I could only sit and stare at my broken, beaten friend. My tears would not cease. I reluctantly loosened my grasp, took a shaky step back, and was received by Vindicus’s strong arms. He picked me up and carried me outside.

My loving Prince of Hell held me there upon his lap… and let me cry until the tears would no longer come.

Chapter 46

Vindicus

(VIN-dah-kuss)

I gasped for air when my head popped up out of the steaming water of the hot springs.

“Ugh, I feel I will never be able to wash the demon filth from my skin. I should have brought soap for my hair as well. I was in too big a hurry to get in the water.”

“Mmm, I can see why. I never knew how you would glow in the
real
sunlight. I’m mesmerized by how it catches the place where I touched your scarred cheek. It sparkles like magic.”

Vindicus’s voice was that of an amazed child as he washed my back and kissed my shoulder.

“You should just stay with me here,” I said.

“My love, you know I cannot,” he whispered.

“Tell me what happened. How did you come to me? How was it you got to leave hell? I want to know every detail.”

“I have been able to feel your every emotion since the moment we parted. Tell me. What brought you so much joy after I left you crying by the portal?”

“I swore never to tell of it, but… Vittorio, the one you just saved, he saw our farewell and took pity on me. He tried to cheer me by playing games and laughing. Finally, he winged me to a secret grove no one else knows about. It’s on layer one, hidden by mountains all about. He gave it to me. Named it after me. Swore never to tell another soul. It has been my little paradise, my happy place. That’s where we were when the demons tracked me down. They snatched me out of my own heaven.”

“Then I owe him a great debt,” he said, his lips tickling the side of my neck as he spoke. “The joy you feel when you’re there is gloriously intense. I would love to look upon your face while you were in your happy place.”

“Oh, I wish you could, too. If I could be granted but one wish, it would be that you and I could live there together… untouched by the seen and unseen worlds alike.”

“Yes, that
would
be heaven,” he whispered in my ear. I could hear such sorrow in his voice.

“How did I come by the good fortune of seeing you this day? Tell me, please.”

“I will. But first, I wanted you to know I received your message. The one you sent by Cashiel. He told me your words. He was furious, as were Jago and Decimus. I must say, all of hell froze when they heard my roaring laughter. You are one vicious little Angel, my love.”

“When need be, yes. Especially since we blended, you and I. I credit you with my new…
darker side
.” I blushed then. “I will admit, though. I
was
a bit dramatic and theatrical with those fallen wretches. Can you imagine? They wanted to
sacrifice
me. I took offense to that.”

Vindicus laughed. “Like I said, I feel what you feel. I knew before word reached me that you were terrified beyond reason. As soon as I got the news about Shabriri and his ransom demands, I went to God and pleaded with Him.”

“God? You can speak to God? You can see Him?”

He gently stroked my sodden curls. “I may be a dark Angel, but I am still an Angel. Yes, I spoke with Him. I pleaded with Him. I even tried to bargain with Him. I offered myself in exchange for your safety. I promised God anything He wished of me. Any deed He would have me do, good or evil, I would gladly obey.”

“So, what did He say?” I wanted to know but was terrified to hear the words spoken aloud.

“He denied me.”

“What? But how then did you come to me? I don’t understand.”

“I pleaded not only for your safety alone, my love. I bargained for
you
. I wanted you to be with me for all eternity. I wanted us to be together, anywhere. But He said no. He has other plans for you, tiny Angel. You’re not meant to be tied to one such as me. Nay, you’re not meant to be tied to anyone, it seems. God asked nothing of me… but offered me a reward, with conditions.”

“Reward? For what?” I searched his enchanting face for answers.

Tears filled my handsome husband’s spectacular sapphire eyes. “For finally learning how to love. It seems the power was within me the whole time. I just chose to ignore it, chose to be cold of heart. After meeting you and tasting your sweet innocence, I allowed myself to love you. And I did. A love so strong, so powerful, I feel at times it will consume me.”

“I know how you feel,” I whispered.

He laughed. “Of course you do. We are part of each other.”

“So, your reward was being able to come to me?”

“Yes.” His smile was breathtaking. “The greatest reward since the dawn of creation.”

“But what were the conditions?”

“That’s the hard part,” he said, sorrow and pain darkening his lovely eyes.

“Please tell me,” I begged.

He gently rubbed my scarred cheek. “I could leave hell for a whole day,” he said with a smile. “I could spend it any way I chose. Of course, I chose to spend it with my heart, with you. But I only get this one day, this one moment in your life. And then I must leave.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning, I will never see you again. Not in this life or the next, only today. Then I had to promise to let you go forever. I would have gladly paid the price just to save you from Shabriri and see you safely here. My
reward
was the rest of the day in your lovely arms.”

“Wait. What do you mean, let me go?”

“When this day is at its close, I will return through the portal, alone… with my manacle upon mine own hand.”

“No! No, I won’t let you have it. It’s mine! You promised me eternity,” I cried.

“Yes, and I must break that solemn promise. Forgive me. I would rather see you safe from harm and save you from the millennia of torture Shabriri would most certainly have bound upon you, than to keep my promise, dear one.”

“So… never? Not even at the end of all things?” I couldn’t contain my tears. They were silent, burning, and constant.

“Not even then. He could have asked for no greater sacrifice. But He could have offered no greater reward in exchange.”

“Then, we only have today,” I said numbly.

“Yes, my Princess. Only today.”

“Then I shall not waste a moment more.”

I smothered my angelic husband in passionate kisses, and he returned the favor a hundred fold. I couldn’t get him close enough, couldn’t hold him tight enough. I was determined to squeeze an eternity’s worth of love out of the next few hours.

Vindicus pulled back from me and smiled. “I see my Princess still desires my touch.”

“I desire nothing more in the whole universe.”

“Mmm, then I will fulfill your every desire, my love. Your wish is my command.”

I laughed at how free he was with me, how different he was than all the horrible stories everyone was so quick to tell me about. I loved his gentle side, his childlike fascination, and his unconditional devotion to only me.

“Do you have any idea just how much I love you?” I whispered.

He lightly tapped my nose as he spoke through his smile. “Yes. I feel what you feel, remember?”

“How could there be any two more perfectly matched creatures than we?”

“There is not, nor will there ever be.” Vindicus lifted me out of the water and laid me upon the soft grass. “Now, let me get a look at those wounds.”

He lay upon me, propped himself on his elbows, and just stared at my face. I could see absolute admiration sparkling clearly within his eyes. It made my heart race.

I giggled. “And just how are you planning on looking at my wounds like
this
?”

“You are so beautiful. I want to drink in your image so it stays with me forever. I refuse to let time fade you from memory. I did this, did I not?” He fingered the only blue curl upon my head as he spoke.

“Yes, my Prince. It’s my favorite one.”

“Mine too. I couldn’t make it grow back, so I wanted to make it special. It does go the best with your enchantingly magical eyes. Shall I leave more of me upon you?”

He slid off me and began inspecting me proper. Each place he found even the tiniest scratch, he licked it. I gasped as I felt the skin knit back together and watched as the new scars turned the same sparkling blue as my cheek. Tiny sapphires were left upon my arms and stomach, my back and legs. He started with the smallest and worked his way up to the more significant gashes. The healing tickled and I couldn’t help but giggle each time his tongue touched my flesh. Vindicus meticulously attended to my entire body, all but my chest.

“I saved the best for last,” he whispered.

I had a couple little places on my chest and a bad cut on my left collarbone, going halfway around my neck. But the worst injury by far was upon my left breast, around one whole side of the nipple.

Vindicus growled. “Teeth marks.”

I could feel his anger and jealousy. He licked the wound until only his glittery azure mark remained. But the erotic sensation of his tongue pulled a deep passion from within me. I knew he felt it. I could see the fire of it glowing in his heavenly eyes.

“You make me burn, Maiden,” he rasped.

“As you do me, sweet Prince.”

His kisses were no longer strong and passionate. Vindicus now kissed me with tender adoration and lasting commitment. These kisses were the most intoxicating I had ever known.

“Do not hate me, my love.” His whisper seemed so tiny.

“For what?”

“I can sense your womb is ripe,” he said, an apologetic smile barely lifting the corners of his mouth. “I cannot give you what you desire.”

“But… you said my wish was your command.”

He growled. “Do not tempt me, little one. I am almost to the point of no return. I want nothing more in the entire universe than to have you right here.”

“I want nothing more than that myself. And I’m already past
my
point of no return. You are my husband. Are your pleasures forbidden me now?”

“I am only still your husband but for today, and you know I will forbid you nothing. I only think of you and your life. You are the
only
important thing in this whole universe. If I make love to you this day, I will leave you with child. A child I will never get to see. A child who won’t know his father. A child you will have to raise on your own. I cannot burden you so. Not simply to fulfill my own carnal desires. I love you too much to do that.”

“And what gives you the right to make that decision on your own? Are my wishes not to be considered? And who knows, your seed may not even take. A woman doesn’t become pregnant every single time she is ripe. Besides, if God doesn’t approve of us having a child, it will not be.”

His breathing increased. He closed his eyes, trying to ignore my reasoning.

“You
want
my child within you?” he asked, hope and fear both evident in his voice.

“If God will grant it, I want nothing more.”

Vindicus roared as he released the last of his reservations and returned to the glorious kisses I craved so badly.

“Not even in my wildest dreams did I imagine you wanting to bear my child… my only child.” He spoke into my mouth, between kisses.

“I want any piece of you I may be blessed with.”

“How can you honor me so? How can you be so perfect, my Princess? And… how can I ever let you go?”

And with those words, he worshipped me. I will never know such love, such passion, such desire again… were I to search for it throughout eternity. We made sweet love over and over, again and again. Time was lost to our desires. We couldn’t get enough of each other to last a
normal
lifetime, much less
our
lifetime. When we again reached the pinnacle of our passion, Vindicus collapsed upon me… trying to catch his breath and laughing with sheer joy at our unimaginable connection.

“Greatest pardons.”

We casually looked toward the meek voice, unperturbed by the interruption, unashamed of our blissful contact.

“Forgive my intrusion, please,” Vinika said.

I saw my celestial sister’s worried gaze. My heart froze in my chest.

“Jenevier, you are urgently needed at the training dome,” she said.

Fear seized me. “What’s wrong, Vinika? Has something else happened to my treasured brother? Is Vittorio well?”

“I was only told to find you and make haste.”

“She will need clothing,” Vindicus said.

“Yes, of course. I’ll be right back.” Vinika bowed slightly.

My husband tied the lovely little dress at the back of my neck where it hung down and then wrapped around my waist. It was one Varick had bought me during my recent absence. There was no back, to make room for my wings.

Vindicus smiled. “I have never seen a more heavenly sight, not even in heaven.”

“I love you, my glorious husband.”

“And I you, my enchanting wife.”

He kissed my forehead and tenderly placed his hand upon my belly as he lifted me into the air, carrying me to my beloved brother.