More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Weekends were sacred family time, and since Mimi was my only family now, I devoted them all to the woman who’d unfailingly cared for me after I lost Leigh.
Jarod’s bodyguard was the only person she’d kept in touch with. He’d remained in France, retiring to Nice after the Demon Court was shut down and transformed into a refuge for underprivileged children.
Asher, who’d promised Leigh he’d take care of me. How egregious. When had she asked this of him?
“Celeste, trust me, if it was up to me, I’d let you carpe diem the shit out of this world.”
If I’d owned a bra, I would’ve worn that instead, but I didn’t own bras since I had so little to boost and wasn’t interested in false advertisement.
“I’m scared they’ll hear me confess something that could destroy her . . . and me.”
“You two were soulmates.” “What? I thought—Jarod . . .” “He wasn’t her soulmate.” “But—” “Mate means friend, Celeste. Jarod . . . I believe he was more. I believe he was her neshahadza—her soulhalf.”
“Once souls lock together, it becomes impossible for them to live without the other.”
“Until your wings are complete, I will be at your side.”
“Mimi didn’t ask to come back, did she?” A quiet smile drifted across his face. “No. She’s waiting for you.”
“Because we aren’t the sum of our mistakes but the sum of how we deal with them.”
“Hey, Little Feather.” “Little Feather?” Ice. My blood became ice. Why on Earth had I used the nickname I’d heard Jarod call Leigh? “That name hurts my heart.” Naya untangled herself from my arms.
“I have met mine.” My heart dipped and stilled, and so did my trembling. “I thought—When?” “Years ago.” His jaw ticked. Once. Twice. Years ago . . .? Had he lost her? Was this why he was so bitter about relationships? “Why didn’t you marry her?” “Because she wasn’t eligible.”
“With me, Celeste. You belong with me. To me.” And then he was stepping forward, filling my space. Filling all the space. “The same way I belong to you.”
“You can feel mine, Celeste, because my reckless soul has decided it belongs with yours.” The air darkened as his wings curled around our bodies. “Ta yot neshahadzaleh, levsheh.” His fingertips danced up the length of my spine, then back down, before wrapping delicately around my waist. “You are my soulhalf, sweetheart.”
Kirsten liked this
“Here I thought levsheh meant demon-spawn.”
“I began to wonder the day we sat on the bench outside of Bofinger’s house, but found out for certain the day you hugged me in front of Ish Eliza. My soul tried to flee my body when it sensed yours.”
“You admire me?” “For all you’ve done.” I rested one hand on his cheek. “For all you do.” I cupped the other side of his face. “And for all you still have left to accomplish.”
Keeping my eyes locked on his, I said, “To think you’re a little mine now.” His neck bowed. “I am more than a little yours, levsheh.”
“If anyone should be frightened, it should be you, levsheh. You’re about to lead a famished man into your bed.”
“Every soul on this Earth has a purpose. Find yours. Make the world a better place, even if it’s only for one person.”
the best way to save humanity is by teaching humans to save themselves.”
I pulled away, a little hurt. “Do you think I somehow misheard her call me a zoya?” “She called you what?” he yelled.
“Your taste, Celeste.” He lifted his head and licked his swollen lips. “Elysian nectar.”
His lips pinched as he tried to tug it down farther. It ripped. He shoved it off. Took a new one. Yanked on it so hard, he plowed right through. Grumbling, he split open a third packet. “You wouldn’t happen to have any made for non-human men?”
Lmaoooo
“Tonight, I vow to forever protect your body, your heart, and your soul.” In slow motion, his hips pulled back, then pressed forward, and a tremor zinged through both our bodies. “Ni aheeva ta, Celeste.” “What does that mean?” “It means: I love you.”
Wearing a mighty satisfied grin, Asher leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “You love me, huh?” Naya bobbed her head. “When we played Neither Yes Nor No, I asked Celeste if she loved you, and she said no, but then she lost a feather.”
Naya clutched her chest as though the organ was about to pound right out. “My heart is sooo happy.”
“What?” My voice shook. Michael’s eyes, as pale blue as his wings, set on me. “They seized his channel key.”
You can rewrite this story a million different ways, Celeste, but it will always end the same. It will end with you and me.”
“Are you ready for the rest of our lives, neshahadzaleh?”
“I’m not lost, Erel.” The raspy feminine voice made my mouth slip off Asher’s and my hands claw at the glittery smoke that hadn’t yet cleared. “Mimi!” She spun away from a flying, white-clad sentinel, her eyes lambent with joy. “Celeste!”
“You’ve forgotten the ophanim,” Daniel said, “but the ophanim, for all your talk of negligence, have not forgotten our brother.”
“In this case, you’ve lost my support.” Seraph Hillel landed next to us. “Which means the Council is no longer divided, and this referendum is null and void.”
“I hear most human love stories end with the phrase happily ever after.” His wings began to curl around us. “Aren’t we lucky to be angels, then?” His fingers wound through my hair, tipped my head back. “And why is that, neshahadzaleh?” “Because our love story”—I touched my lips to his—“gets to begin this way.”
“Yes, brother. Your beautiful, extraordinary daughter has accomplished her four-point mission in less than thirty-six hours.” Tobias squeezed my shoulder. “Her very first feathers are growing as you stand here, gaping at the air like a beached pike.”
She laid her cheek on his chest. “Why are they black, Apa?” Until Adam’s feathers came in, our answer would be pure speculation. “They’re not black, motasheh. They’re the color of starlight.”
