“I took these pictures earlier.” Ginger handed over her cell phone.
Baby pictures never got old, and Lexine flipped through the latest with one hand while absently mixing the polish with the other. In one, the twins slept in the double bassinet at the foot of the bed, and Wren lay facedown on the mattress with mussed hair and closed eyes, his wing fanned out, partially hiding the infants. In another picture, a close-up of the twins, they lay on their father’s outstretched wing.
“Nothing gets them to sleep faster,” Ginger said. “Makes me insanely jealous.” She took the phone back, a slow smile forming. “So, how are things going with Jett?”
Lexine paused and gazed at their surroundings. “Is he here?”
“Somewhere. He’s training with Lark, as far as I know. They don’t go far.”
“Any chance of eavesdropping?”
“No. I wouldn’t be able to stand being watched over so closely if we didn’t have our privacy.” She winked. “Just don’t raise your voice too loud.”
“Things are…great. I like him. But, I don’t see him all that much. Naturally.”
“Mmm.”
“No man is perfect, but I don’t see how this is going to work.”
“Do you want it to work?”
Lexine stared at the little bottle of red polish as if it held all the answers. “More so every time I see him.”
Ginger spread pink polish on her toenails, grinning. “Wonderful!”
“Has Lark ever dated?”
“There was someone, a century ago. I don’t know any details, though.”
“Didn’t work out, obviously.”
“This doom-and-gloom mood isn’t like you.”
“Sorry. It’s just that Jett’s job is going to be his life, and I’m trying to keep myself from falling for him too hard. It’ll hurt less later.”
“Good luck with that. You can’t will yourself to or not to fall for someone. But, you’re right. You’re not walking into domesticville.”
“Do you think it’s even possible that the two of us…?”
“Always.” Ginger capped the nail polish and held her gaze with a grin.
Lexine blew out a heavy sigh.
“Maybe things will be different with the two of them as partners.” Ginger leaned back on her elbows. “Maybe they’ll trade off and each get more time for themselves.”
“Just how much time does Lark take for himself now?”
“Pretty much zip. He sleeps, he eats, bathes and exercises, all as efficiently as possible. The only time I’ve seen him do anything else besides stand guard is when he comes into the house. Raphael invites him in frequently. Trouble, the two of them. They almost burned the house down a month ago trying to fry fish.”
Lexine laughed. “I can’t imagine that.”
“Lark is stoic in public, and not just because he has to be constantly on alert. If he wasn’t what he is, I think he’d be shy. Watching him and Raphael pass an evening together, it’s easy to see that they’re friends, and that theirs is a friendship hard-won over decades. Devin says he can’t get Lark to so much as crack a smile.”
“But, there was a girl, once?”
“Yes. I only know that much because, trying to break through his shell myself, I asked him these sorts of questions. But, the expression on his face… I’ve only seen it once before, when he woke up for the first time after being returned to his own body last year and explained Kora’s death. Whatever happened, it still causes him pain to this day. I let the subject drop.”
A shadow passed over them. Raphael flew in and landed on the flight deck overhead. Though she’d seen the archangels out around the colony every day since their return nearly a year ago, she still watched, fascinated, as Raphael stretched that twenty-foot expanse of pure white and folded his wings back.
Ginger called out.
Raphael glanced down. He stepped off the edge and swept his wings out, parachuting to the patio with only a couple of circular wing beats to slow his descent. He landed as if he weighed nothing at all.
Lexine clasped her hands between her knees. Though she’d known the archangel when she was a little girl, she’d only come face-to-face with Raphael a couple times since he’d returned from imprisonment. Hundreds of years old and possessing the silver eyes of one of the original fallen, he never failed to leave her at loss for words. Wren, Ginger, herself… they were all earthborn, their lives an open book. But, Raphael…just what sort of creature was he, really? What life had he led before he came to earth?
She could never shake the sense that if he’d wanted to crack the earth in half, he probably would’ve been powerful enough to do so. Even Cinnamon, one of the original fallen demons, didn’t put off as strong a vibe.
Whatever he’d been, she reminded herself, he was flesh and blood now, like everyone else in the colony. She stood. “Hi.”
“Hello, Lexine.”
Ginger got to her feet and faced her father-in-law. “Is Jett’s training still going well?”
“Quite. Something on your mind?”
“I’m curious how this will work. Will they both be on twenty-four-hour duty?”
He shifted his wings as if one of them caused him pain. “Yes.”
Lexine’s heart sank.
“The idea,” Raphael continued, “is to have security that can’t be provided by one individual, no matter how skilled. It’s a problem, for example, when you and Wren go into the colony, and I’m here at the house, or vice versa. Lark can’t be in two places at once. As the twins get older, it will get even more complicated.”
“I always have Guardians with me,” Ginger said.
“Yes, and as much as I appreciate their help, what they offer is not the same as a dedicated Guardian. If the colony were attacked while you were with them, they would be obligated to protect you and everyone else in harm’s way. Lark or Jett would be concerned with you and only you. I’m not comfortable with anything less.” Raphael turned his gaze to Lexine. “I think I know what this question’s really about.”
“I…”
“You’d be good for Jett. Especially after all he’s been through.”
Her face heated.
“But I don’t think he’d be good for you. Not if he goes through with this.”
“There’s no way we could make it work?”
“The schedule could be tweaked, though not as much as most females would be able to live with. That’s not the biggest issue. Like I just said, in an emergency, his concern will be this family. Bar none.”
The weight of that settled on her shoulders. “Even me.”
“Exactly.”
She took in Raphael’s haunted expression and guessed, “That’s what happened to Lark.”
“Yes.” He flicked his wings. “Lark had to make a terrible choice, once. He made the decision expected of a dedicated Guardian. Now, I think Jett would be very happy with you. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. But I don’t want to ever see him in the situation Lark had to face.”
“Neither do I,” Lexine said.
Raphael explained what had happened to Caza, a female Lark had loved. Lexine absorbed the information in silence, but found it difficult not to protest. She wasn’t Caza. This situation was different. When the archangel finished, she said, “It doesn’t have to be this way. An idea took form in her head. “What if you helped me?”
“Helped you how?”
“Rumor has it you’re very good at hand-to-hand fighting. I would never let fear get in the way of my own survival, and if I was a good fighter, Jett wouldn’t need to leave me to the wolves. There’s no reason I can’t take care of myself.”
“This means that much too you?”
“Yes. I dare you to prove me wrong.”
“Please?” Ginger spoke up. “I think it’s a great idea. Why give up when this is an option?”