Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 55109 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 276(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55109 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 276(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
“Well,” Anita’s saying. “There’s her angel power. Sort of makes your weather-based one look…”
“Yes,” Nina says. “It’s crazy.”
Does she sound jealous? I think she sounds jealous. That strikes me as funny for some reason. I start to giggle and it soon becomes almost impossible to stop.
“Alright,” Cosmos says. “Bed time for you, I think.”
He carries me off to bed, which as a drunk person just feels like the world is moving around me as I flail in the arms of my lover until finally, we reach a soft place.
“You’re so sexy,” I tell him. “I never thought I would ever be with someone sexy like you. And you married me. So you have to sleep with me forever. You have a big cock.”
“And you have quite the mouth on you when you’re tipsy,” he says, laying me down on the bed. He starts to undress me, taking off my sensible clothes one layer at a time until I am in my panties and nothing else. I shove my thumbs into the waistband of my underwear and try to push them down in an alluring way, but somehow, I end up tangled in them.
“Sit up,” he says, holding one of his t-shirts.
He slips it over my head and helps me navigate the cloth labyrinth. Then he holds a glass of water to my lips and tries to cajole me into drinking when all I want to do is kiss him.
Cosmos
My sweet, sensible little bride is like a succubus. She’s drunk, and she’s horny, and she’s cute as hell. I know she wants to get laid badly, but I’m enough of a gentleman to not take advantage of a sloppy drunk who could easily accidentally summon a weapon mid-sex.
“I knew you were special,” I tell her as I ease her back into bed. “You should have seen the looks on Bryn and Thor’s faces. You have a gift more rare than any of us have encountered before.”
She makes an incoherent sound, and I am certain that in the morning she is going to find some rationalization to explain away what she did today. It doesn’t matter. We have seen what she is capable of now, and her training just became that much more important. An angel blade in the hands of a person without weapons training is mass casualties waiting to happen.
For now, she’s curling up into the bedding like a kitten kneading its mother’s stomach. She’s adorably comfortable. Watching her brings me a kind of peace I haven’t felt before. Elise makes me want to keep her safe. I feel protective. I feel like a husband should.
9
Elise
“Ungghhh.”
I wake up to birds shouting directly into my earholes with the force of a 747 taking off, or at least that’s what it feels like. The moment I open my eyes, I wish I hadn’t.
“Well,” Cosmos says. “You made quite the scene, didn’t you.”
“Oh, fuck,” I curse, not for any particular reason, but just because the moment seems to demand it. “My head.”
“There’s water by the bed,” Cosmos says. “Sit up and sip it. Not too much at once. I’ll get you a bucket.”
I didn’t drink that much. Or maybe I did. I don’t know. I don’t usually drink at all, so maybe a few whiskeys was enough to put me over the edge. The previous evening is fuzzy. I know I did something wrong. There’s just that sort of little void in my stomach that tells me I’ve fucked up even though I can’t remember the exact specifics.
“Bryn wants to talk to you,” he adds.
“I don’t really want to talk to anybody,” I say. “I want to get back to the computers. I had some ideas yesterday that I never got to…”
“I don’t think you’re going to be spending a lot of time on the computers today,” Cosmos says. “It’s going to be a very educational day for you, learning about yourself and…”
“I’m not interested in educational. I need a nap.”
“You’re not going to get a nap. Keep that in mind next time you get the butler to ply you with spirits. We have to deal with Bryn.”
“Oh. God. No,” I whine. I don’t want to talk to Bryn. He’s the big, solemn, overly muscular and domineering dark cloud around which the rest of this household orbits. His kindness is conditional and his attitude toward me is somehow almost as possessive as Cosmos’.
“Like it or not, what you showed Bryn last night is not something he’s going to forget anytime soon. Let’s get it over with.”
“But I’m hungover.”
“I know. That’s your punishment. Isn’t it neat and tidy how life takes care of some of these things for itself.”
“I need breakfast.”
“I think in your current state, deferring breakfast is probably wise. Let’s get this out of the way. Wash your face, get dressed, let’s go.”