“You’ve been shielding me from seeing who you really are.”
“Yes.” His voice vibrated against my ear. I pulled back and looked at his face again.
“Why?”
“You’re very wise, Athena, as well as perceptive. If I hadn’t looked like you, you would have gathered that I wasn’t like you and put two and two together, and we needed you safe.”
“From?”
“Your father.” He shrugged and pried my body away from his. “Now have a seat.”
I couldn’t stop staring at his face. I wasn’t even embarrassed that I was doing so. He was so fascinating, so wonderful to take in. His skin was the same color as before but had a vibrant glow I hadn’t noticed before. In his original form that he had all the time, he looked like a very attractive supermodel. Right now, well, he looked like a much hotter version of Thor. You know, if Thor had dark hair and crazy blue eyes.
I cleared my throat. Okay, now I was embarrassed. I’d just compared him to a mythological figure.
Adonis walked me to the couch and sat down next to me. “Angels were, of course, created first, then came humans, and shortly after humans, after the original fall of Lucifer, El decided he needed to create more armies.”
“Why?”
“Lucifer, in all his persuasion and jealousy, was able to take a third of the heavenly armies with him. It’s not as if El wasn’t powerful enough to defeat Lucifer on his own, but his concern was for his new creation. The humans needed protection once they’d fallen into sin and darkness. The spiritual war created so much bloodshed that Michael and Gabriel fought for over one hundred days straight.”
Poor guys. I couldn’t even imagine.
“Anyway…” Adonis pulled my hand into his lap. “El knew he didn’t want to create more angels. After all, they were the Originals, and though they can’t reproduce, he thought of creating a similar race, a hyper-breed between humans and angels. A type of race that would be strictly for enticement and battle.”
So…” Adonis shrugged. “He created us. Zars.”
“Rhymes with Mars.” I chimed in.
“Helpful, Thena. Really, as if I haven’t heard that before.”
I giggled. He pulled the tablet from the table and typed in a few constellations.
“What are you doing?” I asked, once I noticed the NASA website.
“Hacking.”
“Oh, cool, just hacking into NASA. Michael’s not going to be happy.”
“One of the many reasons he didn’t want me telling you. He knew you’d be so curious that I’d actually have to show you the planet and break rules to do so.”
“He knows me too well.”
Adonis chuckled. “You have no idea.”
The tablet made a little noise, and Adonis quickly scanned different constellations. “Here, this constellation.”
My mouth dropped open. “Canis Major? Your… er… um, planet is from the Canis Major constellation?”
“Yes, if you keep repeating it, it makes it more true too.” Adonis widened the picture and scrolled over. “Scientists have known for centuries that there are planets located in this solar system. They just can’t get to them.”
“Is yours still there?”
Adonis’s hand paused above the screen. “Yes, but our people were no longer safe. So we left and joined in the heavenly wars.”
“What did it look like?”
Adonis laughed. “Honestly?”
I nodded. Because he had kept this story from me, I was eager for information.
“Water. We had a lot of water.”
“More than earth?”
“A lot more than earth. Our people gained our energy from the sun and moon. The main city was called Zion.”
“Of course it was.” I shook my head.
“Anyway.” Adonis set the tablet back on the coffee table. “We had masses of land that had large crystal structures on them. The structures held people and were also temples of worship. We were only there for a hundred years before the battle was brought to our front door. El did everything He could. We knew what we were bred for, but we all hoped the battle wouldn’t start so soon, but it had, so we left with the archangels.”
I leaned against him. He rubbed my head with his hand. “The first minute I saw you, I was lost.” He laughed. “Michael told me to keep a straight head. I was given my assignment. Protect you at all costs. Lay down my life for you, and I was in no way allowed to give you my true identity, unless it was a matter of life or death.”
“Oh.”
Adonis pulled my head away from his chest and tilted my chin up so I could see directly into his blazing blue eyes.
“I’ve loved you for an eternity.”
What’s a girl to say to that? I wanted to cry and shout at the same time. Instead I embraced my human side, just for once, and leaned in and kissed him. Not because I needed any sort of energy or strength. Because I wanted to.
Chapter Twenty-Two