by Meg Xuemei X
She ignored me.
“Does the forest often shift like that?” I asked. I liked to hear her talking, even when her voice sounded icy and harsh.
“It requires a good amount of energy to do that. Akem is toying with us.”
I darted my eyes around, my hand tightening on the hilt of my sword. Instinctively, I wanted to wrap Fiammetta in my wings again, but I tucked them tightly behind me, given how she’d reacted when I’d done that a moment ago.
My witch wouldn’t be treated like a helpless maiden.
Perhaps it was for the best. When I’d stretched my broken wings like that, their ridge was torn again. The throbbing pain from the wound had never stopped. The planet was still fucking preventing me from healing.
“Is this Akem around somewhere?” I asked. “What does he look like? What’s his true form?”
When I met him, I would cut him down for allying with the vampire Dark Prince and trying to hurt my mate.
“No one who has seen his true form is still alive,” Fiammetta said. “When he’s near, you won’t need me to tell you. You’ll know.”
Just then, I perceived a sinister dark power looming near.
Danger! My Archangel High Sense flared.
I wheeled, trying to position myself on the side from which the strongest dark power seemed to be emanating, but it was coming from every direction. I spread my wings and formed them around Fiammetta, not caring whether she’d be pissed off again.
I wouldn’t let any threat reach her. Any nasty thing would have to go through me first.
The jungle turned eerily quiet. Not even a wind passed through, and the air smelled damp, sulfurous, and smothering.
“Fia,” I called.
Fiammetta became very still, her icy storm twirling around us in currents, forming a shield. Her darkness traveled through the edge of the storm, hissing.
I gripped my angelblade, its surface flashing a killing light.
“Akem’s here,” she whispered. “Don’t try anything stupid unless I say so.”
Something dark, malicious, and powerful beyond measure touched my mind. I snarled, and my Angel Flame burst in me, enraged.
An Archangel’s mind is a forbidden field, and no force should mess with mine.
The dark power slinked back, but before retreating, it brushed my wings.
A bad chill climbed up my spine.
What kind of foul power was that?
“Show yourself!” I growled.
As if in answer, a silky black feather swirled in the air and slowly floated down.
It was my feather!
“Face me!” I shouted in fury. “If you want a battle, fight me alone!”
That thing could touch me, which meant Fiammetta’s darkness and icy storm couldn’t keep it out. My Angel Flame would prevent it from invading me. But unfortunately, my fire couldn’t manifest outside me, unlike High Prince Seth’s black lightning. Otherwise, I’d have burnt the foul entity.
“Akem, what do you want?” Fiammetta asked, her voice cold, dry, and inhuman.
I had never heard her sound like that before. I wanted to kill this Akem for terrorizing my mate.
The silence stretched. Then the unbearable pressure in the air dropped.
A second later, I heard birds flap their wings and take flight, their sharp calls like a monkey’s scream. A few animals scuffled in the bushes, whimpering.
My High Sense said the threat had departed, but I didn’t withdraw my wings from shielding Fiammetta. She touched my feathers and I shivered with pleasure, even though we’d just confronted a malevolent force.
“He’s gone,” she said.
“What did he want, other than to check us out?”
Worry formed lines at the corners of her mouth, her lips thin.
“Let’s go find the shuttle. Hurry,” she said.
3
The Witch
Akem had risen from his lair.
He’d come and gone, his omniscience still palpable. He’d touched the Angel, yet Gabriel remained alive and in one piece. I’d watched Gabriel brush off Akem’s dark power when the elemental entity had attempted to invade the Angel’s head. I could shield my mind if I didn’t peek into Akem’s, but I’d felt helpless and terrified when his power hovered above Gabriel.
I let out a breath, suddenly aware I’d been holding it for some time. I found my hand clutching Gabriel’s arm, and he wrapped me inside his wings.
Gabriel might be the only one who didn’t fear Akem, though he was terrified for me. I saw that in his green eyes. The Archangel was also furious that Akem had taken one of his feathers.
The black velvet feather had landed at my feet.
The Angel’s resistance might have surprised Akem, but the entity still regarded us as bugs in his unbreakable dark net.
I wasn’t entirely sure if Akem had made himself my permanent enemy, or was only displaying his displeasure toward me by betraying me to Desdemona. Akem held onto this childish concept that everything that fell in the jungle was his.
My survival instinct screamed for me to run out with Gabriel and never return, but we had to prowl on. We couldn’t waste any more time. I didn’t intend to be burned to ashes when tens of thousands of meteors fell on the planet.
And I had a debt to collect and an obligation to fulfill.
Kaara had said Gabriel was our way out of here. He might be able to fix his ship or make contact with his crew. Somehow, the symbol of his black wings had been imprinted on my arm, between my new name, Fiammetta, and the riddle—Eterne 2788h 450.7m, −88975.01° (Y-1034b) —before I’d even met him.
Those wings weren’t just any wings; they carried the bridge of fire.
I still couldn’t make out what that meant, but I wasn’t going to let any chance of getting out of Pandemonium pass me by.
An alternative map beamed on my palm since Akem had shifted his jungle.
Gabriel leaned over me, his hard chest touching my shoulder. I knew he wanted to wrap his arms around me.
Was that what he called the mating call? The same need was tugging me.
I stared at the holographic map. We were lost. The map was useless, since I had no memories to guide me and no previous reference to any location. Perhaps that was why, for three years, I’d walked in circles, accomplishing nothing but providing amusement for Akem.
Gabriel flicked his gaze away from the map. He scanned the jungle, sniffing.
“We should go northwest,” he said.
“How can you be sure?” I demanded. “The jungle shifted. And every time it shifts, its landscape isn’t the same.”
“I’m one of the best trackers in the universe,” he bragged. “It’s a rare natural gift. That’s why I am the great captain of the finest spaceship. Even High Prince Seth and High Commander—” He sent me a glance and sighed at my flat expression. “Anyway, I never forget a path I walked, or the space my ship sailed through.” Then he stopped.
Just rub it in and tell me how remarkable your memory is.
“Well, what I meant is—” he said.
“I know exactly what you meant,” I said icily.
“I’ll remember everything for both of us until you can remember all of them,” he said quietly. “I’ll do anything, and kill anyone, to find the cure for your amnesia.”
His heartfelt promise might have touched me if I weren’t the Wickedest Witch. I wondered if I’d always been so coldhearted.
We moved again.
He trekked slightly ahead of me to fend off any danger coming our way. Ever since Akem’s visit, Gabriel had been tense. He had darted his eyes about wildly, as if the enemy might be everywhere. His wings remained taut, ready to expand at any time to strike down our foes or wrap me in their protection.
If the jungle hadn’t posed such danger, his paranoia would have looked comical.
It amused and annoyed me that he acted like a knight in shining armor, which I didn’t require of him. According to my magical markings, this male had a s
uperhero complex.
But I had to give him credit for how he carried himself in the lethal jungle. As large as he was, he barely made the pine needles and twigs squeak under his boots. He was even stealthier than I. He was more of a predator than I.
The Angel had no problem seeing in the dark, while I, though known as the mistress of darkness, had to use my ice to illuminate the path before me, to make up for the inadequate light under the thick canopy.
The air turned warm, humid. The pungent smell of blossoms and sharp sulfur wafted toward us. Birds sang in high-pitched voices, insects chimed in with a buzzing challenge, and unseen animals yowled and wailed.
They were relaxed after Akem’s departure. The Angel should take it easy as well. Maybe I should tell him so. No one could stay on high alert at all times. It would be counterproductive if he got his nerves fried.
Gabriel halted, a confused expression flitting across his green eyes. We’d come right back to where we’d started. Thorny trees around us waved in the wind, their large black flowers shivering, as if mocking the Angel.
“How the fuck are we still here?” Gabriel demanded, his wings rustling behind him in frustration. “I swore it should be this way to my ship.”
“This jungle isn’t like any other place,” I said. “We can’t depend on what we see. Akem is many things, and trickery is his main trait.”
I did not care if I offended the entity at this point.
In my three years of wandering through the jungle, I hadn’t been able to find the portal, but I’d always found the black tree beneath which I had first awoken. I let my inner magic lead me there.
It stretched out, probed, and returned.
“South,” I said. “We go south.”
Gabriel grunted, jogged a few steps ahead, and stopped. “I don’t recall that we came out this way last time.”
“You’re welcome to try another path by yourself.”
“Like hell will I let you out of my sight.”
“Then you should shut up.”
He gave me a look, and I braced for more of his complaints. But he grinned. “I like to talk to you, Fia.”
“Don’t flirt with me here,” I warned.
“Why not?”
“We’re on a mission. I did not come here to be charmed by you.”
“I wasn’t trying to charm you. I only want to make you happy,” he said, hacking left and right with his sword at the plants that were attempting to snatch his legs.
He was trying to make the path safer and smoother for me.
But I was fine.
My ice magic had shielded me perfectly. The plants had no interest in battling it, since they’d learned that they couldn’t win when going against me.
As soon as Gabriel realized the plants weren’t bothering me at all, he was both relieved and annoyed.
“Are these clinging plants your friends?” he asked.
“No.”
My magic markings had informed me that, somehow, his attitude toward me had changed dramatically. His old self would have accused me of intentionally sending the plants to sabotage him.
“Why do they only harass me?” he demanded, cursing as he continued to chop at the vines.
“They like their targets tender and sweet.”
“Shouldn’t they go after you then? I’m all rough and hard and harsh.”
My breath hitched. Had he been this way with me in bed?
His eyes flashed, as if he sensed my need. Looking back at me over his shoulder, he gazed at me with hunger.
“You’re exactly what they want,” I said. “Who would want to pass up the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to taste a mighty Archangel, the greatest Captain of the finest spaceship in the universe, and the decorated superhero of … what war?”
“Now you remember?”
“I don’t need to remember a thing. You constantly brag.”
“I never brag. They’re all facts. If I wanted to boast, I’d have told you my long, glorious history in every war. But then, those are also facts.”
“Spare my ears, please,” I said, waving a hand at him dismissively. “Anyway, no one, not even any plant, wants to get near the Wickedest Witch.”
“I want to be near you all the time. I want to hold you in my arms even now, if you’d let me.”
His dark green gaze was full of heat. He was thinking of me naked.
The heat coursed in my blood, as well. I bit my lip. This off the charts attraction was getting ridiculous. Hadn’t we just had an encounter with Akem, in which he’d silently threatened us?
The danger hadn’t even passed; it constantly hung above us.
“According to you,” I swallowed, trying to put myself back in check, “I put you under my lust spell and made you my mindless sex slave.”
“We’ve cleared up the misunderstanding. But you shouldn’t have toyed with me by performing that outrageous ritual of unhexing. You should have just told me. I’m a man of reason.”
He stopped complaining, since the plants were keeping him busy. They stretched toward him from all directions, faster, stealthier, and more creative.
They wouldn’t stop until the Angel was theirs.
He stomped on a coiling vine and cut its whole branch viciously.
“This type of plant might be naughty, but harmless,” I said. “They only want to get acquainted with you. They invite their guests to stay. If you refuse, they’ll keep at it until they trap you, tie you up, and use you as bait to attract other beasts, or even cannibals. Whoever is caught by them will rot in the end and become their fertilizer.”
Gabriel stared at me. “And you call them harmless?”
Maybe they weren’t entirely harmless, because, at the summoning of the plants, a swarm of insects flew directly toward us.
A bitter scent of blossoms thickened the air.
“Fia! Dodge!” Gabriel called, spreading his broken wings to shield me.
“No need,” I said, watching the insects skip past me and shoot directly toward him.
I heard a loud slap on his face. He’d killed one efficiently. But many more bugs landed on his wings.
Gabriel wheeled frantically to get them off, wielding his sword like a madman, slashing at everything close to him, and cursing profusely.
I sighed. Such a mighty Archangel.
“Fiammetta, they attack only me!” he yelled.
“It seems so.”
“Why? What did I do wrong?” Then, suddenly realizing the truth, he shouted, “You shield yourself with your magic!”
“Clever.”
“And you didn’t shield me?” he asked incredulously, as if I were some kind of bad witch.
In fact, I was one, the wickedest.
“You didn’t ask,” I said.
“It’s a common courtesy!”
“Is it?”
Had he already forgotten who I was in such a short time?
Gabriel spun in a feverish dance, his wings whooshing, generating a great wind, his blade hacking in an arc to keep the plants and bugs at bay. I wondered how long he could last.
Occasionally, a bug or two still got in a good sting on his wings.
He didn’t brag how massive his wings were now.
“Shield me!” he called. “I would have shielded you. I’d protect you with my life!”
He cursed more. All the foul language he used!
“For crying out loud. Just stop whining.” I tossed a gust of icy wind toward him. “There,” I said with satisfaction, as the shielding was complete.
The vines withdrew, and the insects departed in disappointment, having lost their victim in seconds.
Gabriel stopped wheeling crazily and, thanks to me, regained his footing.
After all his panicked action, the Angel wasn’t even panting.
But instead of thanking me, he gritted his teeth. “You could have done that earlier, but you love to watch me suffer.”
I regarded him coolly. He was fine. He hadn’t been severely stung.
> “Haven’t I warned you, I’m not sweet?” I said. “Plus, I didn’t want to insult you since your race—the conquerors of the universe—must be extremely proud and self-sufficient.”
“We’re fated mates! Pride shouldn’t get in the way of our relationship. Our first instincts should always be about protecting each other. And you should learn to be sweet to me. I’m your male, the only one you’ll ever get!”
He was pissed.
A few bug bites shouldn’t have left him reeling. And shouldn’t a decorated superhero be stronger than that?
I’d probably never met anyone more demanding than this Archangel. None of my subjects would dare take the tone he had with me. Surely, it’d be a hell of a task to be his mate, so I’d better not be. And who liked to be yelled at?
Asking me to be as sweet as sugar was like telling a scorpion to please not sting.
“If I were you, I wouldn’t be so sure that you’re the only male I’ll get,” I said. “And I’m far from approving this mate thing.”
“I’m the only male you have—and will have,” he said flatly. “I’ll kill anyone before he even thinks of touching you.”
I shook my head, realizing there was no point arguing with a maniac. We shouldn’t waste any more time idling, either.
“Should we resume our course?” I asked. “The day is getting shorter.”
He strode ahead but gestured for me to walk beside him, since we were both shielded, and he no longer needed to hack the path open for me. I knew if I refused, he’d only insist and give me another earful about what fated mates should do.
So, I sidled up beside him.
“I thought our relationship was different now,” he started. “We even held hands earlier.”
“And we fucked multiple times,” I said. “That hasn’t changed anything.”
My body was hot for him as I spoke, but that didn’t mean we were going to have the kind of relationship he wanted. Why would I want to put a yoke on myself, when every second he’d say things like, “You should do this for me, since we’re fated mates. You should do that for me as my mate.”
“That has changed everything. I wasn’t the male I was before. I’m now a committed—”
“If your next comments succeed in making me feel less benevolent, Angel, I’ll have no problem withdrawing my ice shield from you.”