“It’s not bizarre.” Zayne guided my head back as he pulled away just enough that he could see me. “You know I’m always going to be here. Remember? I’ll always be here to make sure you can see the stars. I’m just your Guide...Fallen Angel.”

A shaky laugh left me as I leaned in. Zayne met me halfway, and the moment our lips touched, I let myself finally find a measure of relief. His wintermint scent surrounded me. I could kiss him for an eternity—

Jerking back, my eyes popped open as it hit me. My chest hollowed as I stared at the striking planes and angles of his face, and I thought about my father and all the other angels I’d ever seen. None of them looked older than midtwenties. Hell, most demons didn’t look all that much older. I didn’t know if they just aged incredibly slowly or if they reached a certain maturity and stopped aging. With a sinking sort of feeling, I inherently knew that the Fallen were the same.

I would age each year.

Zayne would not.

21

“Are you okay?” Zayne asked while I continued to stare at

him, on the brink of yet another panic spiral.

“Are you, like, immortal now?” I asked. “Like you won’t age?”

There was a soft, heavy-lidded look that settled into his features. “I was wondering if you were going to ask about that.”

“Oh, no. You’re not going to age, are you?” Groaning, I let my head fall back. “Here I thought going blind and you having to, I don’t know, pick out my clothes for me would eventually strain our relationship—”

“Why in the Hell would you think that would strain our relationship?”

“Well, maybe not the clothing thing, but you know.”

“No. I don’t.” He tipped my head forward so we were eye to eye again. “Explain.”

“If I get lucky, I’ll have enough vision left to see like this much.” I held up my thumb and forefinger, keeping them about an inch apart. “As much as I hate to admit it, I’m going to need help with a lot of things.”

A big, bright smile broke out across his face, surprising me.

I rocked back a little. “Why are you smiling?”

“Because you admitted that you’re going to need help and that’s huge. I figured I was just going to have to sit back and watch you walk into walls for months before you asked for help.”

I stared at him.

“But back to the not smiling part?” he went on. “I’m sort of offended that you think your vision is going to somehow affect the way I feel about you and strain our relationship. Actually, I am offended.”

“I’m not trying to offend you, and it’s not like I think you don’t love me enough to deal with it, but I can’t help worrying about that,” I admitted, feeling like I was naked even though I was completely clothed. “And considering what we faced—what we will face—it feels stupid to even be talking about this right now.”

“It’s not stupid,” Zayne argued. “It’s important. Continue.”

I took a deep breath. “I don’t even know how bad it’s going to get for me. So how can you know that it won’t get annoying? And if it did, I wouldn’t blame you. I get annoyed with myself when I walk into whatever stupid thing that’s been in the same place since the beginning of time. I get annoyed even now when I try to read the instructions or expiration dates on something and I have to guess what I’m reading. So, I just... I don’t want to feel...” Trailing off, I lifted my shoulders in a shrug. “How did we even end up talking about this?”

“You brought it up,” he reminded me, brushing my hair back from my cheek. “I know what you were going to say.”

“Do you know, all-knowing one?”

One side of his lips tipped up. It was a brief grin. “You don’t want to feel like a burden. That’s what you were going to say, but, Trin, nothing about you will ever be a burden. Everything about you is a goddamn privilege.”

My chest.

Ugh.

It swelled like there was a balloon inside it. “Why?” I toppled forward, dropping my head on his shoulder. “Why do you have to always say the right stuff, Zayne? I’m trying to freak out over here and you’re getting in the way of that.”

“Sorry?” He sounded like he was trying not to laugh.

“And look, my crappy vision isn’t even an issue right now. You’re going to stay perpetually young and buff, and I’m going to get old and my hips are going to break. Then I’ll have to become this better person who discovers if you love someone you set them free. And I’ll have to tell you to go and live your life, find someone young—”

“Stop.” Zayne did laugh then, catching my arms and lifting me off his shoulder. His eyes met mine—eyes that would never dull or become rheumy with age. “That’s not what’s going to happen.”

“You’re right.” I glared at him. “I am so not going to be that person. I think ‘if you love someone, set them free’ is one of the stupidest sayings out there. I’m way too jealous and selfish. I don’t care if I’m ninety, I will still cut a—”

“I don’t want you to be a better person. I like you being jealous and selfish.” He grinned at me like I was being silly, and of course he could think that since he was a freaking fallen angel. “There won’t be another person for me. Not now. Not even when you’re ninety.”

“Easy for you to say when you’ll look like this forever.” Eventually people would think I was a cougar when they saw me with Zayne, and there would be a future where that happened, because I refused to believe that we wouldn’t defeat Gabriel.

“It’s easy for me to say that because I love you, and that runs deeper than skin or broken hips,” he said, and without any warning, he moved. He lifted me out of his lap and onto my back, slipping my body under his. He held his weight off me, bracing one arm by my head. “That’s not something that goes away with age. It’ll strengthen and become unbreakable. That I know for a fact. I wouldn’t have Fallen if what I felt for you was that weak. You wouldn’t have fought for me, refusing to give up, if your love for me was that easy to break.”