Chronicles Of A Fallen Angel Chapter 64 64: I Didn't Want That For You

This was the mont. I could try to maintain the lie, but she'd see through it. I could deflect, but that would only make her more suspicious.

"You're right," I said. "Alexander Cross is an alias. I use it for work, for situations where my real identity would be... complicated."

"And your real na?"

"Cain. That part is true."

"Just Cain? No last na?"

"Where I co from, we don't use last nas the way humans do."

Her eyes narrowed. "Where you co from. So you're not human. I already knew that. But you're not vampire, not shifter, not demon. Which brings back to my original question – what are you?"

I t her gaze steadily. "What do you think I am?"

"I think you're sothing old. Sothing powerful. Sothing that doesn't belong in this realm." She set down her wine glass. "The energy I felt from you the other night – when we kissed, when we... after – it wasn't like anything I've encountered in five hundred years. It felt divine. Pure. Like touching sunlight."

"And if it was?"

"Then you're either an angel or sothing close to it. And angels don't just wander into cities. They don't seduce vampire queens or steal from cri lords." She stood, moving to the windows. "So I'll ask again – who are you, and what do you want?"

The direct approach it was, then.

I stood as well, moving to stand beside her. Close, but not touching.

"I'm a fallen angel," I said quietly. "Cast out of Heaven for killing soone who deserved it but had the wrong family connections. I ca to this city because I needed to rebuild, to find my place in a world I barely understand anymore."

She turned to look at , her expression unreadable. "A fallen angel. That's your truth?"

"Part of it. The part that matters right now."

"And the rest?"

"The rest is complicated and dangerous and not sothing I can share. Not yet. Maybe not ever." I held her gaze. "But I can tell you this – I'm not here to hurt you or undermine what you've built. I'm not working for anyone who wants to take you down. And everything that happened between us the other night? Was honest."

She was quiet for a long mont, searching my face for deception.

"A fallen angel," she repeated. "That explains the divine energy. The power signature. Why you're so different from anything else I've encountered."

"Does it bother you? What I am?"

"Bother ?" She laughed – short and sharp. "Cain, I've lived for five hundred years. I've seen empires rise and fall. I've usurped kings and killed monsters. Very little bothers anymore."

"Then what does?"

"Being lied to. Being manipulated. Being used for soone else's agenda." She turned to face fully. "You ca to this city with a purpose. You're building sothing, working toward sothing. And sohow, I'm part of that plan."

"You are," I admitted. "But not in the way you think."

"Enlighten ."

I considered how much to reveal. The truth was complicated – I needed to corrupt her to gain fragnts, to build power, to survive what was coming. But saying that would make sound like exactly the kind of threat she'd eliminate without hesitation.

"I'm trying to survive," I said instead. "Heaven wants dead or irrelevant. There are organizations hunting beings like . I need allies, power, resources to defend myself. And yes, I saw you as soone who could provide those things."

"So I'm useful to you."

"You're more than that." I moved closer. "You're brilliant, powerful, and fascinating. You're soone who's survived centuries by being smarter and more ruthless than everyone around you. And yes, I want your alliance, your protection, your resources. But I also want you."

"Want how?"

"Every way I can have you."

The air between us charged with tension.

"You're still being evasive," she said. "Still not telling everything."

"No. But I'm telling you more than I've told most in this city. That has to count for sothing."

She studied for another long mont. Then she moved, closing the distance between us until we were inches apart.

"Here's what I think," she said, her voice low. "I think you're dangerous. I think you're playing a ga I don't fully understand yet. And I think getting involved with you is probably the worst decision I could make."

"But?"

"But I haven't felt this interested in soone in decades. Maybe longer." Her hand ca up to rest on my chest. "The other night, when you asked to kiss you, when you touched – that was the first ti in years I've felt sothing beyond calculation and control."

"What did you feel?"

"Want. Need. Things I thought I'd buried so deep they'd never surface again." Her eyes t mine. "So here's my decision. I'm choosing to trust you. Not completely – I'm not that foolish. But enough to see where this goes."

"What does that an?"

"It ans I'm giving you access to . Real access, not just the public persona everyone else sees. I'm letting you into parts of my life I don't share with anyone." Her hand slid up to cup my face. "But if you betray that trust, if I find out you've been using for sothing that threatens what I've built, I will end you. Permanently. We clear?"

"Crystal."

"Good." She pulled back slightly. "Now, I have a question about the other night."

"Ask."

"What we did – what I did for you – was that what you wanted from all along? Physical release? Sexual gratification?"

"No."

"Then what?"

I took a breath. This was the truth, or as much of it as I could give without revealing the corruption system.

"I wanted you to feel sothing. To let yourself want sothing without calculating the cost or benefit."

She blinked, and I saw genuine surprise cross her face. "Why?"

"Because I've seen what it's like to lose yourself in the role you play. To beco so consud by what you have to be that you forget who you are." I touched her face gently. "And I didn't want that for you."

For a mont, she just stared at . Then she laughed – soft and slightly disbelieving.