I feel drained and like every ounce of energy have been sucked from my body. It takes some effort, but I manage to open my eyes, only I don’t recognize anything. Just the demon standing at the foot of the bed I’m laying on.
Wait…demon…Noah…
I try to sit up wondering why he hasn’t come to me yet. I could definitely use his help. “Mommy.” Reaper calls out to me.
Reaper…my son…I have a son…
Like lightening, reality hits me and I quickly sit up. I search the room for Gavin and his army but they aren’t here. “What…how…where am I? What did you do?”
“I’m going to remove the containment surrounding your bed, but first I need you to promise that you won’t try to kill me.” Noah instructs.
I nod in agreement and he removes the containment. Reaper happily climbs on the bed and into my arms while Noah is smart enough to keep his distance. He sits on the edge of the bed and the two of us are locked in an intense gaze.
“It’s been you all along, hasn’t it?” I sigh, closing my eyes.
Why do I always fall for the crazy ones…?
“What your father did to me and my family…it was wrong Aria.”
“My father was following the orders of the Magistrate and the Republic.”
“I know, and they will all pay for what they’ve done.”
“That’s your plan? To punish the Republic because you didn’t get to stay on Petrem?”
“THEY TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME! EVERYTHING! AND YES…NOW THEY MUST PAY!” Noah loses his cool.
“To what end? Has it ever occurred to you that you’ll be killing my family…MY FAMILY? How can you say you love me and be okay with that? They’re Reaper’s family too.”
“No, I’m his family and he understands that now more than ever.” Noah shook his head.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean your father tried to kill us the day we came to rescue Reaper. He may be your family, but as far as Reaper and I are concerned, he’s not ours. Family wouldn’t try to kill you. Now the way I see it…you can either side with us, or you can side with them. But if I were you…I’d choose wisely.”
“Choose us mommy.” Reaper gazes up at me with innocent eyes.
How could I not see it? How could I be so blind and stupid? All this time I’ve been worried about the balance inside Reaper being tipped towards darkness rather than light. I never stopped to take in the fact that somehow Noah had already won him over. The two of them thought the same, they reacted the same and they were both impulsive. There was no balancing Reaper’s mind because he was already corrupt. That’s why the Republic wanted him terminated. Noah had been manipulating him since he learned of his conception and was able to speak to him.
Noah knelt down at my feet and took my hands into his. “I was able to get the seal lifted from your virtue. It took some time, but the alchemist I found is known for his miracles. We can be together Aria…you, Reaper and I. We can be a family.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a diamond ring like the ones the humans wear. “Be my wife. I don’t care that you’ve already pledged your life to someone else, I don’t care about ceremonies or public displays of bullshit…I just want you to agree to be a family with us.”
I look down at Reaper who’s quietly mending in my lap now, and Noah, who has clearly lost his fucking mind. If I say no, my son might take it as a declaration that I don’t love him. It couldn’t be further from the truth. If I say yes, I’ll probably lose Thien. He forgave me once, but I’m not sure if forgiving me a second time is even something he can do. Then there is the very real possibility that by saying no I give up the Legions last hope to stop my son and my ex from taking down the Legion…ME.
In the end I do what I do best, I sacrifice myself. I agree to be with Noah in the hopes of swaying Reaper back to being good. Noah pulls out all the stops, arranging for us to exchange vows and rings. None of this means anything in the Legion, but it means something to him, so I do it.
That night after making sure Reaper is secure in his room, Noah brings me back to his room to consummate. I’m hesitant and I want to throw up. My body belongs to Thien and so does my heart but in order to save him I must betray him.
What kind of fucked up shit is this…?
Still, playing the role of the dutiful wife, I lie back on his bed and allow him to enter me. With each penetrating stroke I feel myself slipping away. I’m becoming someone I don’t recognize and tears fall from my eyes.
Covered in his sweat, ashamed that I’m about to climax, I close my eyes and accept what I’ve done. The orgasm ripples through my body like a nuclear explosion and as soon as he climbs off of me, I curl up into the fetal position and cry.
Noah’s offended, I can tell, but he doesn’t yell at me or give me the silent treatment. Instead, he pulls me into the bathroom and into the shower with him.
“Look at me.” He whispers to me.
I meet his gaze and see compassion in his eyes. His hand clenches around my throat and he presses his lips against mine, sweeping his tongue through my mouth. A cry escapes my lips, but it doesn’t deter him. He wraps my legs around him instead and thrusts himself inside me for a second time.
You’re in too deep now…you may as well enjoy the ride…
I wait until Noah’s had his fill before completely breaking down. There isn’t enough soap in the world to wash off the stink of shame and betrayal, but I try. I rub my skin raw trying to erase his touch, his sweat, and his kisses from my body.
My nightmare gets worse when I overhear Gavin and Noah talking about how news and speculation of an alleged infidelity between Noah and I are all over the Legion. The Republic has declared me Public Enemy number one and there’s a bounty on my head for the second time. Even if I wanted to go back…I couldn’t. Not without going back to the Fortress anyway.
Qi and the rest of Noah’s team were captured the day we rescued Reaper. They were held and tortured for information, but no one gave him up. Eventually the Republic had to let them all go. Qi tried making contact but Noah felt it was best to ignore her for now, just in case she was being used as bait.
Determined to get his attention, Qi devised a campaign that painted Noah and I as parents trying to protect our child and not dangerous fugitives. It works. The legion is split. Half of the angels think of us as heroes but the other half still sees us as criminals.
“Aria, I’m afraid I can’t let you go in.” Gavin tells me, stopping me outside the doors of Reapers room.
“What do you mean you can’t let me in? My son is in there.” I clench my fists.
“These are Noah’s orders.” He confides, avoiding my eye contact.
A sick feeling in the pit of my stomach begins to swirl through my insides. “Where is he?” I ask.
“He shall return shortly. In the meantime he’s instructed that no one has contact with the boy until he gets back. Not even you.”
I look around the room at all of the faces I plan to kill right after I deal with Noah. I head back into my room and moments after I close the door someone locks it from the outside. I try to open the door but I can’t.
I have no choice but to wait for Noah to grace me with his presence, which he does…THREE DAYS LATER.
“Where the hell have you been and why are you keeping Reaper and I locked away like prisoners?” I ask, furious.
“Ooh. She sounds pissed.” Qi enters the room with a smug smile on her face and fresh hickeys on her neck. They both have them.
“You’ve been with her for the past few days, haven’t you?” I scoff in disbelief.
“Of course he has. We had to make up for lost time.” Her laugh provokes my homicidal tendencies.
I flick my eyes over to Noah who motions for Qi to leave the room. He pours us both a glass of wine and hands it to me, but I slap it out of his hand. “How could you…?”
“How could I what?” Noah quickly cut me off. “She’s my consort and I’ll do whatever the hell I want with her. You on the other hand,” his eyes wash over me, “you keep your beautiful ass in check and I’ll make sure my visits to her bed are few and far in between. Now pick up the mess you’ve made.”
“Screw you.”
“You’ve already done that…several times over.” His lips curl up into a wicked grin. “Now like I said, pick up the mess you made.”
“And like I said…SCREW…YOU...”
Noah strikes me so hard in the face that I fell backwards onto the floor. I taste blood. I kick myself up onto my feet and lunge at him, tackling him to the ground. He counters and pins me to the floor with his elbow on my neck. “Thanks to Qi, I now know how to activate the weapons. It turns out finding out about our little ceremony made Thien more susceptible to her feminine wiles and he couldn’t help himself. He fucked her good. So good in fact that had she been anyone else she might have turned against me.” He laughs. “Before you demonize me in your mind I want you to ask yourself something. If he loves you so much…why was it so easy for him? I barely touched you and you cried for him. I can assure you he did none of that for you.”
“Shut up!” I tried clawing at him.
“What’s wrong Skittles?” He continued to taunt me.
I hate that fucking name…
“Get off of me!”
“Do you want to know why he so willingly screwed Qi without even a second thought about you?” He asks, not waiting for me to answer. “He screwed her for one reason and one reason only. I think we both know what that is.”
“Let go of me!” I shout at him. I’m fighting him with more strength and more passion than I ever realized I had. But that’s when he utters the words that take the fight right out of me. “He screwed her because he HATES you and he doesn’t love you anymore. You’re unlovable.” His words echo inside my head.
Noah lets go of me and I curl up into the fetal position, crying my eyes out. I let my guard down with him and he managed to get inside my head. “No one is ever going to love you the way I do Aria. No one. I love you so much it fucking hurts sometimes.”
“You don’t love me…you can’t possibly love me and do what you’ve done to me.” I sob as he gently removes the hair from my face. “You don’t cheat on the people you love.”
“Tell that to your consort when he asks what happened between us.” His lips graze my neck. “I love you to the point of insanity. Why else would I bring you here, reveal my true self to you and ask you to be a part of all this?”
“Because you’re insane.” I reply.
“Maybe, but I meant what I said about wanting you by my side Aria. Qi…that’s just business.”
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