+1+
I’d gone to her. I’d snuck into Queen Anne’s which to be honest was getting a little too easy. I found her balcony still climbable and when I moved to knock on the glass, Helios burst into her room and I ducked into the shadows.
He only had eyes for her. He seemed energized like something great was going to happen. And with that aura of energy he climbed into her bed. I folded my arms and closed my eyes, trying to mentally block out the sounds of Helios voice as he very loudly exhausted his last bit of daily energy.
She was so quiet I wasn’t at all convinced she was there. I peeked back around to see she her gaze was out the window, her arms resting above her head.. . I could see the muscles slowly contract in Helios’s back where his wings sprouted from them, suddenly he pushed away the covers, his entire prowess on full display. Her bedroom door was still open.
When he finished, he was still above her raised on his arms, His great white wings hung low around his back, encasing her in a cocoon of white feathers. It was affectionate and beautiful but only out of context. She carefully raised her hand and pushed back a strand of his hair, gently and slowly caressing his cheek in the process.
Despite everything else That simple gesture had unnerved me.
When Helios had grown tired of the quiet I heard his shifting weight as he left. When he had finally gone I knocked on the window and slipped back in the shadows.
“It’s open”, she said in a void empty tone., "You can't hide from me, Prince"
She was dressed in a long robe and watches me from her vanity mirror while running a brush through her loose hair. Without her makeup she seemed a slightly younger version of the woman I’d seen earlier.
“She’s. . . gone you know. I came here to tell you that your prophecy. . . true love and all . . is a load of shit. I didn’t get to say that earlier on account I was drunk.”
“No, it’s not”, she said with strong conviction watching me in the mirror, “When you are fated to be with someone . . it is to hard to escape from it’s grasp."
“I asked Isobel to marry me and she. . . she. . . I should have waited until Boston. It was all to present. Being here made her over think it.--”
She closed her eyes.
“If you truly love her you will find a way to be together.”
“Ah, like you and Mr. Helios ? What ever you two have. . . well. . . he seems to be enjoying it. --”
“Careful, Demon”
She stopped brushing her hair and began braiding it, I’m aware how much the room smells like him, how much she always smells like him. I really hate it.
She gets up from the vanity and sits on the bed removing her rings and bracelets. Without makeup her prominent natural features highlight her beauty. I know I must have seen her before like this, but I don’t think I never noticed exactly how beautiful she was.
“There is this thing though”, I start, “This odd odd thing that has compelled me here. That keeps compelling here. Something I've been trying to fight. Sometimes I think. . . I mean I feel as if”
“Don’t do this, Paris. Don’t say or do something you may regret later. She will come back to you. She is your true love . I told--”
“ Just stop with that will you. Stop with her. Father always said I would change things. . . . what if this is it. What if this is the change ?“
“He was propping you up’, she said and I caught the spark of jealousy, “He was always propping up his little prince.”
“Don’t you want to be more than Helio’s slut.”
“Watch your words”, she says, “Hippolyta died because of your kind.”
"She's. . . dead ?. .how"
"It doesn't matter", she said, " Helios says this is all your doing. You and your kind."
“Truly “, I say in a mocking tone, “Who killed her, Sera ? Us or Helios. ”
She looks down at Helio's name and I have my answer.
“Helios is a monster, Seraphina”
“Helios saved me from Anne's wrath. He was good to me, he made me feel like I could be more. . .and I swore to protect him until death”
“Whose death does it have to be.”
She sits down and finally looks me in the eye.
“Helios has given me an order.”
“What now?”
“He is tiring of your disobedience. He has ordered me to assassinate you. The punishment for failure does not appeal to me.”
She runs her hand around her neck.
“Then why am I not dead yet ?”
I pick up one of the knives from her dresser and press it into her hand, bringing it around my neck so the point is at my
“Prince--”
“Since I’m about die I want you to know that it disgust me that you think anything of that man. I know you are scared but too strong to admit it. . We can stop him. I want you on my side Sera. My mind. . .and my body keep telling me I need you on my side. Seraphina, I think since the day I first saw you I’ve been unhinged. Seraphina, I know this is crazy but-- ”
“Paris, don’t it will change everything.”
“I must so that tomorrow will be a better day, can't you see that ?”
“It will be a bitter day.”
I reached into my pocket and held Isobel’s sapphire necklace between my fingers.
She looks up confused
“I’ve spend months staring at this. Watching the way is glistened on Isobel’s neck. And I just realized why I liked it so much.
Everytime I saw it, it was like staring into your eyes."This makes her angry.
“Paris. . . don’t--”
“I. . I was upset when Isobel left. But a curious part of me a was. . . relieved. I mean Seraphina, when we first kissed the ground fucking shook. I see that as I sign”
“It was a collapsing structure--”
I bought my lips closer, and that cuts her off. I hesitate realizing they were still bright and swollen from Helios. I still smelled like whiskey and sweat. Not like this, but what better time ?
“Seraphina, I love you.”
Her reaction comes in the form of a large gun coming hitting me over the head. I fall in a heap at he floor. I quickly get up reeling from a throbbing pain in my head. She forces me onto the balcony.
"Go", she says
"Sera"
She lowers her eyes.
"He knows you are here."
"What ?"
“Helios saw you on the balcony. I should be killing you . . .but I will give you this moment to get away. Run away, go to Florida and be with Isobel. ”
“No.”
“Why not ? Everyone will just think you are a coward , it won’t surprise anyone"
“ No, I’ve said what I needed to say. I am in love with you. If you want to take my life then so be it. Just give me the pleasure of knowing you don’t feel the same way. Tell me I’m nothing to you than your next target.”
“ Go to Isobel. Or I will be forced to track you down across this whole city until I find you and kill you. I cannot kill again tonight, so just run, please. You'll be a dead man tomorrow.”
She shoves me over the balcony, where I topple over the edge grabbing onto the railing with my right hand. I decide to run, but I only do it to give her one night of peace...Looking up I see Helios peering out of a window as I run across the lawn.
I decide to run, but I’m not going to hide.
She doesn’t have to chase me, I’ll be waiting for her.
A/N
CHAPTER OF ANGST !
Yeah, I bet no one is surprised that a marriage proposal was turned down in a LiLe serials. Or that characters talk about going somehwere and doing a thing and having a good time. . . and that not happening. At this point it's common place.
Well, if you want to know what happens next . . . it's the prologue ! I'm sure the homage to BH was super obvious. What pulled me in about Blessed Hearts was the prologue with Dark and Rin and finding out how they got there. So in homage fashion I had our Demon sneak into an Angel's room except she's trying to stop him from changing things.
This was one of those early early bits I wrote, and I knew it wouldn't make sense to have Paris sneak into her room and not get caught. . . unless he'd done it before. This is why so many of you picked up on Paris "stalking" the Angels. It was setting up for this scene.
Music!Muse : IDK, about that Miguel song . . .
LiLe : Oh, come on I like it when what's happening in a song is the exact opposite of what happens in the storyline. It makes it more sad.
I have no idea why I spent so much time describing Helios office building. I just SAW it.