She let him clean her up, and then she scooted backward just enough to give him room to sit more fully on the mattress. “You’ve been gone.” There was no accusation in her voice, simply a statement of fact.
“I’m sorry.”
Bloodshot violet eyes met his. “Arik said you were rescuing Harvester. Do you love her?”
Whoa. Talk about being blindsided. But Limos had never been anything but blunt. “It’s… complicated.”
“Why?”
He really did not want to talk about this, but he sensed that this was a turning point for Limos, a reason to join the living, even if only for a little while before she burrowed back under the covers.
“Back when I was Yenrieth, we were close,” he said, and Limos sat up a little straighter.
“Were you lovers?” Beneath her deadly Horseman exterior, Limos had always been a romantic.
“No, but we should have been. We can lay that one on me. I was an idiot. I don’t remember much, but I know it was you who told me you were my daughter and that I had three sons.”
She frowned. “I don’t remember that.”
“Because your memory was wiped along with everyone else’s.” His gaze drifted to the cradle, and sorrow clogged his throat. What he wouldn’t do to make things right. “Apparently, I went a little crazy. I still don’t know what happened, but I disappeared, and Harvester vowed to watch over all of you because I couldn’t.” Or wouldn’t. He had no idea, but that missing piece of his life was going to drive him mad until he knew. “She gave up everything to Fall and become your Watcher.”
“So you feel you owe her.”
“I don’t feel it,” he said quietly. “I know it.”
“And you love her.” This time, it wasn’t a question. It was a proclamation.
“Like I said, it’s complicated.”
Limos shook her head. “Complicated is when you fall in love with someone while you’re engaged to Satan and you’re wearing a chastity belt. Does Harvester belong to anyone? Is she wearing a chastity belt that will chop off your body parts? No? Then it’s not complicated.”
The image of Harvester holding Raphael’s hand flashed in his head, and his breath turned raw in his throat. He hadn’t thought much of it at the time given that he knew something bad was about to go down on the Megiddo hilltop. But now the idea that Raphael was acting a little too friendly with Harvester skinned him alive.
“She’s an angel now,” he told her. “I saw her get her wings back.” Harvester had glowed like a diamond in a ray of sunshine. She’d been the most beautiful female he’d ever seen. If he hadn’t been pinned to the ground like an insect in a display case, he’d have been on her in a heartbeat.
“That’s perfect.” Limos smiled, and he had feeling it was the first time since losing the baby. “Now there aren’t any rules between you—”
“I got the boot, Li,” he said, stopping her before she could finish. “I lost my wings.”
“Oh my God.” Limos’s eyes filled with tears again. “No. No, that can’t be. You saved her. How can they do that to you?”
“It’s okay,” he said. “I expected to die.”
Limos punched a pillow. “It’s still bullshit.”
He took her hand, which felt too fragile despite the fact that she was one of the most powerful beings in all the realms. “When I was fallen the first time, I prayed I’d get my wings back. When it happened, it was like I was home.” He could still feel the elation, the amazement that he’d done something to deserve entrance into Heaven again. “But you know what I missed? My independence. My freedom.”
“The ties that bind also chafe,” she mused.
“Exactly.” He squeezed her hand. “I’m okay. Seriously.” Strangely, he was. Maybe he’d fall into a deep depression the way he had last time, but he doubted it. So much had changed in the last few years, and now he had a family. Only two things were missing.
Harvester and the grandchild he should have had from Limos.
“Limos—”
“I don’t want to talk about it, okay?”
He nodded. “If you need anything…”
“I know.”
There was a tap at the door, and Reaver stood as Arik poked his head in. When Arik saw Limos sitting up in bed, his eyes lit up, and he came inside in a rush.
“Reaver, you have a visitor.” Arik sank down on the bed and drew Limos against him. “It’s Harvester.”
Reaver’s heart skipped a beat. Torn between wanting to stay with Limos and wanting to rush to the female fate had separated him from for thousands of years, Reaver stood frozen to the bamboo floor.