Page 55 of Wings of Destiny
I felt my eyes glaze over, my vision unfocused. An image of Erebus flashed before me, the evil glint in his amber eyes as his tongue flicked out, tracing my jaw—
A hand bumped against my side, sparks of electricity singed my hip, bringing me back. I took a deep breath, steadying my heartbeat that hammered in my chest. Seth moved in close to me so that his arm was resting against me. Libby shifted to stand on my other side between Derik and I. I leaned into Seth, silently thanking him.
“But as for how Erin is tied into any of this, I’m lost. We don’t know what or who Daliyis would be or the Queen. I’ll have to do more digging,” Libby pinched the bridge of her nose. “Erin, by any chance, does the name Daliyis sound familiar in any way, shape or form?”
I shook my head. “No idea. Even if we’re looking at the literal sense of ‘Child of The One’, my dad’s name was Ben. Ben A. Snow. When I was little he would always joke about it.” A memory danced in the far corners of my mind from before he hightailed it out of my life.
“Erin, have I ever told you where my name came from?” He grinned, his salt and pepper hair falling in his face as he bent down to kneel in front of me. His whiskey-colored eyes sparkled against the pure white fluff piled on the ground behind him, the beginnings of our snow-fort.
I rolled my eyes at him, laughing. “Ugh, yes, Dad! Like a thousand times.”
His deep laugh reverberated, my heart warmed as it always did back then. “Well, let me tell you again. Can’t have my little snow angel forgetting now.” I chucked a snowball at him, smacking him right in the face. He shucked one right back at me.
“It had been snowing for days and your grandma had enough of it. Then I came along. She saw the snow outside and settled on Ben. Ben A. Snow, because it had Ben-a-Snow-ing. It’d been snowing. Get it?”
I gathered another handful of snow and threw it at him before he slung another snowball right back. We laughed for hours. Flinging snowball after snowball at each other.
We were happy. The two of us.
That was the winter before he left me alone.
A sadness filled my chest. “So name wise, no match. And as far as the Angel thing,” I shot Seth a glare and cleared my throat. “I have no idea about the whole ‘The One’ business. You have any input on that, Seth?”
“Unfortunately, not really. My uncle didn’t give me specifics on your dad or what Angel he was or anything before he passed, just that he was one.”
“Well, that’s no help.”
Wait a damn minute.
“You’re uncle passed? When did that happen? I thought your Uncle Nicholas was still alive.”
Fuck. I totally missed that. Oh my god. Seth…
“Nick…he passed a while ago.”
My heart tightened at the pain that flashed across Seth’s features. “I’m so sorry, Seth. I had no idea.”
He shrugged, his voice thick. “I didn’t tell you. It happens. Especially with what we are. It’s a part of the job, unfortunately.”
“But—”
Seth placed his hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “It’s alright. But about your dad, I only know what I know, Rin. Sorry, Sweetheart.” He flashed an evil grin my way, chasing the mournful atmosphere away.
He’s always been so good at that. Just flipping the switch on the drop of a dime.
Heat swarmed its way through my skin, my cheeks turned red. Another flash of my daydream spread through. It was as if heknewwhat he’d been doing to me.
For the last couple of weeks actually.
“Coolio,” Derik slid in, saving me from more embarrassment. “Well, now that we have some of the death, doom, and destruction covered, how ‘bout we head down to The Taco House and grab those tacos? My ass is starving.”
I never thought I’d say this, but thank you Derik!
“Me too!” Libby perked up, pulling myself and Derik out of our seats and to our feet. “Let’s go!”
“Alright, I just need to grab my keys to lock up and we can go.” Seth circled around the island and grabbed his keys off the holder on the wall as the rest of us ushered ourselves out his front door.
The Taco House was a ten minute drive from Seth’s place and after some nagging from Libby and me, Seth caved and agreed on driving instead of an agonizingly long walk. I rode with him while Libby hitched a ride with Derik in his truck.