The Opal Witch

Chapter Twenty-Four: A Risky Solution

Bella

Bella kept sneaking peeks at the man beside her as they wandered down the dirt road at twilight. Gideon hadn't changed in the almost eighteen years since she'd seen him, not even a streak of gray ruined the thick red tinged hair he'd passed on to their daughter. She wondered what else he'd passed on to Lux- if he was what she thought he was.

Their daughter.

She'd never thought of Lux as anything but hers and her alone. It would be an adjustment sharing her, but she was getting ahead of herself. He'd left once; he could leave again.

"I have to admit I'm a little hurt," Gideon spoke, his deep voice like thunder.

Tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear, Bella turned to him with a small frown. "I'm afraid I'm not following you. I thought we'd already cleared the air about all of this."

They stopped at the gate that marked the end of her property. The long grasses in the field on the other side of the fence stirred in the breeze, the rustling sound comforting as she waited for his response. But it was slow in coming as he let his eyes roam across her land and then up to the heavens where clouds slipped between the stars.

"Gideon?"

"I wasn't talking about all of that, though I wouldn't exactly call that cleared. No, it's Lux. What kind of girl meets her long-lost father and leaves town?"

Bella exhaled and leaned against the fence with a chuckle that drew a sharp look from Gideon. "I'm not laughing at you, but you don't know Lux-"

"Whose fault is that?"

"Hey, don't take that tone with me. I didn't exactly have a way to reach you even if I'd been inclined to do so."

"You made yourself known the other night," he said, his voice husky and his breath warm against her ear as he came up behind her. Arms wrapped around her waist and she leaned into him, letting the back of her head find the nook of his shoulder. He added his magic to the embrace. It furled around her ankles and drifted up her bare legs, the tendrils caressing and teasing until her own power surged forth and tangled with his.

Turning in his arms, she kissed him. The touch was gentle and explorative, searching for the changes that had to be there, but Bella only felt as though she'd finally come home. Gideon must've felt it too because his grip tightened and tongue pressed forward, grazing her lips in a quest for permission.

"We can't do this," she gasped, breaking away. Immediately, she grew cold in the hot summer evening, every part of her craving his heat. Only now was she understanding the half-life she'd been living these last few years, but she couldn't just fall back into his arms. She had Lux to think of.

He nodded in agreement, though he had to gather himself before speaking again. For a split moment, she swore she saw the outline of wings about him, but as he opened his eyes, the image faded. "You're right."

"I am?" she echoed, then repeated more firmly, "I am."

"Back to Lux?"

"Yes," she agreed, as they walked to the white house shining softly at the end of the lane. "What I was trying to say is that Lux has never been one to ask a lot of questions about her missing father. I-I tried hard to make her feel like our family was normal, and she grew up believing that she wasn't missing out on anything. To her, and I'm sorry to say it like this, but to her, you're just another complication in her life. A small one compared to everything else she has going on."

"Damn, you still shoot straight."

"When I can," Bella said, brushing at a tear threatening to fall. "But I've also been a terrible liar. It was so hard raising her, seeing so much of you in her, and never telling her what a wonderful man you really were. Even though I was so mad... I couldn't vilify you. And, I guess maybe, I didn't see much harm in keeping you a secret, because compared to the other secrets I was keeping, you were a small one. Or so I thought. Now I wonder if you're part of the reason she can't find a stone."

His large hand engulfed hers as he pulled her to a stop. "What do you mean?"

"What are you, Gideon? You're not a sorcerer; I would recognize that magic. Are you a Guardian? A Fae?" She stopped there, not asking what she really wanted to ask.

"No, I'm none of those things. You know what I am."

"But how? Your kind was locked away in the Underworld after the Uprising."

"The Fallen were locked away, yes. But I have only ever fought against the Fae Queen. I didn't join her in the rebellion against the gods. There aren't many angels who aren't Fallen, but we exist. Mostly, we stay in Avalon with the Morgens, but Moronoe, the Queen Mother, felt the gateways weakening, so she sent me here, to reawaken the First Circle. I was never supposed to fall in love with you."

"What's so wrong with loving me? Am I not descended from the angels?"

He groaned and kissed her again. "Sometimes I wonder if the opposite isn't true. You tempt me so. But you know why."

Bella snatched her hand away and folded her arms beneath her breasts. "It's utterly stupid. Just as stupid as the rules about sorcerers and witches," she spat, thinking of the suffering that rule was causing her daughter and Declan. "Why do the gods want us to suffer?"

"Bella, it isn't that way. But our power was never meant to be given to humans."

"What about the Guardians?" she shouted.

"It's not the same. Witches and sorcerers were born out of rebellion. The gods didn't imprison you because you agreed to fight for them. If they even knew that Lux existed- that such raw power walked this earth- they would kill her."

"Would they? Where are the gods? Do they still speak to you?"

"N-no, but I believe they're still watching over their creations."

"I'm done with this conversation. The only thing I want to know is how to save my daughter."

"Our daughter," he insisted, catching the screen door before she let it slam in his face.

Bella ignored his comment and headed to the kitchen, where she uncorked a bottle of white wine. Not bothering with a glass, she took a deep drink, while keeping one eye on the handsome, irritating man standing in the doorway. Running her hand along the back of her mouth, she set the wine on the countertop and placed her hands on her hips.

"You said you could save her."

Gideon looked tired, sagging against the frame, and she could almost see the centuries he'd lived weighing him down. "Outside of binding her, there's only one option, but you will not like it."

"I want her alive."

"Lux is unique because she's more angel than human, just barely. I may be able to put the human portion of her soul into stasis, but it's not without its own side effects."

Bella took another swig of wine as she considered his words. "What are they?"

"Angels were created after the Fae- we were the correction. The Fae were too much like the gods- powerful and free willed. They created us to be powerful, but with none of the hedonistic tendencies. It takes an angel centuries to understand human feelings."

"So, what does that mean?"

"Everything that makes Lux, Lux, would be gone."