Red Sky in the Morning (The Covenant of the Rainbow Book 1)

by Elana Brooks

  “So normal humans are immune?”

  “From that sort of attack. But defenseless against others. It only takes a tiny bit of telekinetic force to break a blood vessel in someone’s brain or pull the air from their lungs.”

  “Oh.” Worry drove most of the joy of victory from her face.

  To bring it back, he grabbed her hand. “But that’s a lesson for another day. Right now, we need to decide what your prize for beating me is going to be. Anything in particular you want?”

  Her lips twitched. Adrian wondered what sort of playful replies she was considering. But in the end she just shrugged and tilted her head. “I don’t know. What do you suggest?”

  A number of possible suggestions, both playful and more serious, ran through his mind, but he knew the one she would choose above any other. “How about I take you flying?”

  She lit up with a radiant smile. “Really?”

  “Really.” He tugged her with him over to the outside wall. “If the arenas were crowded it would be more polite to move our bodies to the main meditation garden, but if anybody else wants a match there are three empty, so we can leave them here. At worst we might come back to find our cots shoved over to the side out of the way.” He put one hand on the wall. With a thought he made his astral flesh insubstantial and let it pass through the tile. “Remember how to do this?”

  “Yes,” she said, putting her hand beside his. It sank in. “Let’s go.”

  “Okay.” He slipped through the layers of wall and out into the air over the street. Beverly clutched his hand and followed.

  He paused, watching her as she adjusted to the sensation of hovering six stories up. The jagged walls of the concrete canyon soared on either side. Below, pedestrians and vehicles hurried about their business, oblivious to their presence. Above, puffy white clouds towered in a baby blue sky, only a faint line of haze staining the horizon. For the city, that counted as perfect.

  Beverly took her time looking up and down and all around, drifting a little as she accustomed herself to the way her astral body responded to her thoughts. “I was in too much of a hurry before to pay attention to what it felt like.”

  “We’re not in any rush. Take as long as you like.” He released her hand to give her more freedom to maneuver.

  For a few minutes he enjoyed watching her explore. Her tentative movements soon progressed to swoops and dives. Eventually she did a few lazy flips and a couple of rolls, then zipped back to hover in front of him. “Okay. Let’s go higher.”

  “I thought you’d never ask.” He launched himself upward. She soared at his side.

  He took her to do all the usual things newcomers to the city could never resist—buzzing the Statue of Liberty’s crown and perching on her torch, making faces at the tourists on the Empire State Building’s observation deck, slaloming between the cables of the Brooklyn Bridge. He showed her the memorials where the old World Trade Center towers had been and the new ones rising nearby. They played among the seagulls trailing the Staten Island Ferry and raced the trains crossing the bridge from Queens. He showed her Chinatown and Little Italy and Hell’s Kitchen, Greenwich Village and Soho and Harlem.

  Eventually they ended up in Central Park, floating over the reservoir. Adrian lay back, clasped his hands behind his head, and let himself drift. Beverly rolled facedown beside him, watching joggers circle the track around the water.

  “I feel like Superman,” she said, stretching her arms straight out in front of her for a moment before pulling them back to a more comfortable position.

  “I don’t know of any Fortress of Solitude, but when you’re ready to try a long journey I’ll take you to the Grand Canyon. It’s spectacular from the air.”

  “That sounds wonderful. And it’ll be a lot easier to fly around it than having to hike all the way down and back up, I bet.”

  “Yes, to a point. This takes less energy than physical movement, but it does use some. You’ll be pretty tired tonight.”

  “I’ll be sure to go to bed early.” She shot him a sidelong glance, then looked away.

  Had that been a mild double entendre? He let himself drift closer, rolling onto his side. “Good. We’ll have lots of work to do tomorrow. You’ll need to be well rested.”

  She made a face. “I suppose I can’t persuade you to spend all day on psychic stuff and skip the gym and karate and other physical junk?”

  “Sorry.” He made a “not my fault” gesture. “Rabbi Sensei would never let me hear the end of it. Physical training is important. The stronger your body gets, the stronger your mind will become as well.”

  “Well, that’s something. I’ll have to remember it while I’m huffing and puffing around the track.” She rolled to face him. One hand drifted into the space between them.

  He swallowed. There was something deeply suggestive about their horizontal orientation, even though to their floating astral forms it made little difference whether they were sideways or upright or upside down. He moved his hand casually to rest on hers.

  She took a sharp little breath, but didn’t withdraw. He curled his fingers around her hand and applied gentle pressure. She squeezed back. He shifted to run his fingertips lightly along the length of her fingers.

  Her eyes closed. Huskily she said, “Astral bodies—they feel the same things physical bodies do, don’t they?”

  He moved his other hand to clasp hers and circled both thumbs against her palm. “You tell me.”

  “Mmm.” She stayed still for several long moments as he continued to caress her hand. It rested limp beneath his fingers, but he could feel how intently her awareness was focused on their contact. Her skin was soft and warm against his. He massaged each fingertip, imagining how they would feel if he brought them to his cheeks, to his lips. If she ran them up his arms and onto his chest…

  She opened her eyes and looked at him with aching, vulnerable sadness. “Adrian, why are you doing this?”

  He stilled his hands but didn’t release hers. “Don’t you like it?”

  She swallowed. “Yes, but…” She shifted her eyes down to stare at their linked hands. “You can’t really want…”

  He let her words dangle for a good long while before he responded. “What can’t I want?” He resumed the movement of his fingers against hers, rubbing with long, slow strokes.

  With a little sob she pulled her hand back, though there was enough of a lingering quality to the motion he could hope it was reluctant. “This. Us. Me. I’m not…” She pulled her hands to her face and pressed them hard into her cheeks, flipping her body vertical. “Rock stars don’t hook up with nobodies. At least, not for very long.”

  He righted himself to match her, keeping the distance she’d established between them. Maybe this was a bad idea, but he had to clear the air between them. Her lack of self-worth would doom their relationship before it began unless it was hauled out in the open and dealt with. “You’re right.”

  Her eyes flew to his, hurt and baffled. “What?”

  “You’re right.” He shrugged, trying to keep his voice flat so he wouldn’t betray his true feelings too soon. “You’re the most powerfully gifted psychic in the Covenant, while I’m a mediocre talent at best. You’re going to roll over Seraphim like a Mack truck; I’ll be lucky to hold my own. You’re destined to be a leader among the Eight, and if I’m lucky enough to survive the war I’ll never be more than a flunky. I understand exactly why you think I’m not good enough for you.”

  “That’s not—” she sputtered. “That’s ridiculous! You know what I meant!

  “Of course I know what you meant.” He glared at her, real anger bubbling up. He let it show. “And I think it’s just as ridiculous. Do you realize how insulting it is to imply I might consider myself too good for you?”

  “But… but… you are. Don’t tell me you don’t see that.” She glared back.

  “Why?” He grabbed her hands when she would have turned away, forcing her to face him. The soul bond kept her flesh solid in his gr
ip. “Spell it out. I want to hear you say it. All of it.”

  She struggled against his grip, but he refused to let go. Finally she glowered at him, fuming. “Okay. I will.” Practically spitting the words, she snapped, “I’m a slut’s bastard, and your family’s rich.”

  Not giving an inch, he nodded.

  She took a deep breath. “I’m weak and clumsy, and you’re strong and athletic.”

  He nodded again.

  “Please…” She fought hopelessly against his hold, tears coming to her eyes. “Please, let me go. Don’t make me…”

  He shook his head. “Say it.”

  “All right!” She poured fury through her eyes into his. He blocked the reverberations echoing through the soul bond just in time to keep them from escalating into agony for both of them. “I’ll say it! I am fat. I am a fat, ugly, slob. And you are thin and strong and beautiful—”

  She dissolved into sobs. He folded her into his chest and held her while she shook.

  When she finally stilled, and he could trust his own voice to speak without breaking, he murmured into her hair. “Beverly, I’m not perfect. I admit it. If I said it didn’t matter to me, that would be a lie. I know that makes me a shallow judgmental jerk, and you have every right to tell me to go to hell. But I don’t want it to matter. I think eventually I can get to the point where it doesn’t. Is that enough for us to work with, for now?”

  She let out a few jerky half-laughs, half-sobs. “You really know how to flatter a girl.” But then she shook her head and put a hand over his mouth to block his apology. “No. I’m glad you said it. If you’d pretended not to care, I wouldn’t have believed you. This—” She looked searchingly into his eyes. “You’re telling the truth.” She blinked.

  Her astral body was still pressed against his. It didn’t feel fat. It felt good, soft and curvy and female, deeply desirable. His body responded, not caring that his flesh was sleeping far away. “Yes.”

  She pulled back, eyeing him with speculation that made him wonder how much she’d felt. “Honestly, if you can just pretend not to notice most of the time, that would be enough.”

  It wasn’t enough for him. She deserved much better. But he nodded. “I can certainly do that much, at least.”

  “Okay.” She licked her lips.

  Their soft shine drew him almost irresistibly, but he held back. “Even though I was mostly trying to get you to see my point, I wasn’t kidding before. There’s going to come a day very soon when you realize just how weak I am, psychically. And it will matter, even if you don’t want it to. Will you try to get past it?” He grinned ruefully. “Pretending not to notice most of the time would work.”

  “Yeah.” She smiled back, wanly at first, then with more warmth.

  Before he could act on his impulse to lean in to her lips, she pulled back. “As long as we’re saying the hard things, we might as well cover them all.” She lifted one hand and displayed it to him. “I’m white.”

  “And I’m black.” He raised his hand and interlaced his fingers in hers. In the bright afternoon sunlight, the difference in their skin tones was obvious.

  Again, he couldn’t honestly say it didn’t matter to him. A lifetime living in America, with its turbulent racial history, would do that. He was sure it was the same for her. And yet, considering everything else they faced, was it really anything but one more complication to throw into the mix?

  Their eyes met. Beverly smiled. “Pretend not to notice—”

  His voice echoed hers in playful unison. “—most of the time?” He laughed. “Sounds like as good a place to start as any.”

  “Yes.” She twined her fingers around his. Her other hand joined it, and she circled her thumbs against his palm, just as he’d done to her a few minutes before. The sensation sent deep waves of arousal coursing through his body.

  Unable to resist, he drew her against him and bent his lips to hers. They moved against his mouth, soft and warm, hesitant at first, then growing more confident.

  He didn’t know if it was the soul bond magnifying their emotions, or if it was just the unique chemistry between the two of them, but the kiss was electric in a way he’d never experienced before. His pulse pounded in his skull, his thoughts went blank, and the world around them vanished. The only thing that was real was her mouth against his, hot and hungry, the vibrant touch of her tongue as it slid between his lips, her taste on his tongue as it reached to meet hers. For an endless time they explored each other.

  If he could spend centuries examining in depth every soul on planet Earth to find his perfect match, the one he would choose for himself above all others, in the end his search would bring him here, to Beverly’s arms, to her mouth, to her heart.

  Behind him someone cleared his throat gruffly. “Um, excuse me, sir, ma’am…”

  Adrian broke away from Beverly, heart pounding, and jerked to face the speaker. He recognized one of the Covenant members who worked as guardians. In his flustered state he couldn’t think of the man’s name.

  The guardian shuffled his feet as if he were standing on the ground and stared past Adrian’s right ear. “I’m very sorry to intrude on a, um, private, um, moment. But, ah, the building closes at six pm. All bodies need to be out of the gardens by that time unless prior arrangements have been made. It got to be five forty-five and you two showed no sign of returning, so I followed your tethers to remind you. Just in case you had gotten, um, distracted, and lost track of the time.” He scratched his temple and turned his attention to adjusting the fall of his guardian’s pendent on his chest.

  Adrian’s face burned. Beverly’s hand was hot in his. He studiously avoided looking at her. “No problem.” He nodded to the guardian. “We’ll head back right away. Thanks for making sure we were safe.”

  “Just doing my job.” The guardian nodded earnestly several times. “Take care.” He turned smartly and shot off in the direction of the headquarters building.

  “Oh, god.” Adrian rubbed his face. “I’m so sorry—”

  Beverly gave a strained giggle. “I feel like I’m back in high school and just got caught by a teacher.”

  Adrian shuddered. “At least we don’t have to worry about getting detention.” He looked after the guardian. “As long as we get back before the bell rings.” Reluctantly he jerked his head in that direction. “Come on. We’d better get going.”

  “Yeah.” Her eyes sought his for a moment, and her lips curved into a shy smile. Then she pulled away and soared high into the air. “Dare you to keep up!”

  He followed, laughing. It took all his skill and strength to match her course as she poured on speed and spun through dizzying loops and spirals. When they reached the headquarters building a few minutes later, they were both panting. They dove through walls and homed in on the spot where their bodies were still lying next to the arena, undisturbed.

  Beverly dropped into her body and Adrian collapsed into his. The reconnection was rougher than usual as his physical and astral forms jockeyed over which would control his heart rate and respiration. When eventually they settled on a slightly elevated pulse and somewhat deeper than normal breathing, he pushed himself up. His body felt heavy and slow, but that was normal.

  Beverly swung her legs around and dropped to the ground. She stomped one foot on the flagstone floor and sighed. “Back to gravity.”

  “Yep.” He moved to stand close to her, suddenly awkward. It hadn’t been their physical bodies that kissed. That hadn’t mattered to him then, but it did now. It was almost as if everything they’d said, everything they’d done, had happened in a dream and remained to be accomplished in real life.

  That was an illusion, though. Astral forms were just as real as physical ones. He’d probably feel this way no matter what form they’d been in. Adrian put his hand out. Beverly hesitantly reached to take it. He deliberately caressed it using the same motion as before. “Would you like to have supper together somewhere?”

  She swallowed. “Actually—” She pulled h
er hand away. “This is all really… overwhelming for me.” She put a hand up as if to still a protest, though he hadn’t started to speak. “This time I know it was real. I’m not forgetting anything you said. Or what happened. I just need a little time to, you know, think about it. Get used to the idea.”

  He shouldn’t be surprised. It was pretty overwhelming to him, too, and he knew how she instinctively reacted to strong feelings. “It’s okay. Take whatever time you need. I mean, I don’t like it when you do the hedgehog thing, but I get why you need to.”

  Her brow creased. “Hedgehog?”

  He shrugged and gave her a wry smile. “You know. Curl up into a ball with spines on the outside, protecting your soft belly.”

  She wrinkled her nose at him. “I thought you said you’d pretend not to notice.”

  “That’s not what I meant!” But her lips were twitching, so he laughed and she chuckled in response.

  Sobering, she said, “I never thought about it that way, but I see what you mean. I’ll try to learn not to. But for now—yeah, I just want to hide in my burrow and curl up tight for a while.”

  “Then I’ll let you go. Tomorrow maybe you’ll be ready to uncurl again? At least a little?” He gave her his most winning smile.

  “You’re sure you’ll want me to?” She tried to make her tone light, but he heard the deep insecurity underneath her words. It would take a long time, and many repeated demonstrations that she was safe with him, before she would be able to drop her defenses completely.

  He met her eyes and sent the truth of his feelings along the soul bond as strongly as he could. “I’m sure.”

  Her smile in return held a little of the sparkle he enjoyed so much. “Till tomorrow, then.”

  “Till tomorrow. And hey—in the meantime, promise me something?”

  Her eyes went wary again. “What?”

  “Don’t leave your body. You’re still very new at it, and your astral form got a workout today. Give yourself a chance to rest. Even for those of us with lots of experience, it’s like swimming—safest to use the buddy system. We’ll be going out together every day from now on, so there’s no need for you to sneak in extra trips alone. Okay?”