Free Fallen Angel (Hqn) by Eden Bradley Page A

neck rhythmically.
    “This is happy music. I like it,” she said.
    “I’m glad. What else do you like? Besides music, I mean. I guess I’ve never asked.”
    She shrugged. “I love the garden, growing things. I love the scent of the earth. I like to work it, to feel it in my hands, to encourage things to grow.”
    “I can make a place for you to garden at the house, once your leg is better, if you want.”
    “I would like that very much.”
    “What else? What kind of things are you interested in?”
    “I love the birds. And we sometimes had rabbits in the garden, although The Grandmother would often catch them to eat for supper. I didn’t like that, but I understand the circle of life. We must find sustenance where we can.”
    He wanted to ask more about the old woman, but figured it was Ruth’s job now. And thinking about the crazy old bitch who had kept Angel prisoner sickened him.
    “Anything else? What did you do at night?”
    “I cooked meals, cleaned The Grandmother’s house. I knitted blankets and socks. I liked to draw, when I could. I love to read books. I wasn’t given many, never enough. Do you have books, Declan? And may I look at them?”
    “I have tons of books. And of course you can read them. Read whatever you want. If there’s something you want to read and I don’t have it, I can get it for you.”
    “How will I know what you don’t have until I see it?”
    She wasn’t being facetious, he understood that. But he didn’t have an answer for her. He figured searching the internet would be a completely alien idea to her.
    “We’ll figure that out as we go, I guess.”
    “Thank you, Declan, for the offer of your books. For sharing your home with me.”
    “You’re welcome.”
    He didn’t know how to handle all this gratitude. He was doing this because he felt compelled to. Not forced. But he couldn’t imagine not taking care of her.
    “We have at least another half hour before we get to my house. Are you comfortable enough? Is your leg okay?”
    “Yes. Thank you, Declan.”
    Angel settled back into the seat, Liam warm and solid beside her. She felt the most absolute sense of safety she’d ever felt in her life, with Declan on one side of her and Liam on the other. Her protectors. Both strong and beautiful, in their own way.
    She was excited to see where she would live. But this car journey was exciting, too. Everything moved so quickly; she barely had time to focus on a house or a tree before it was gone. She experimented with squinting her eyes, letting everything outside the window blur into a smear of green. It was a strange sensation, not unlike falling with Asmodeus, but brighter, with more color. And full of hope.
    He hadn’t visited her in a number of days, and she hadn’t called him. She was half-afraid to at this point. She knew he would be angry with her. There was so much she wanted to ask him, but she didn’t dare. And she felt a strange sense of freedom without him, as much as she did the fear. Uncertainty. She didn’t know how to go about learning about her new life, taking in all the strange and wonderful things: television, the way her bed moved up and down simply by pressing a button. More important things like talking with Ruth, with Liz and the other nurses. Getting to know people, truly, for the first time, in some real way, rather than by reading books about them. And most of all, knowing Declan, which was wonderful and a little frightening at the same time. But of course, she could never ask Asmodeus about him. He would be too angry. Too…jealous of Declan. Strange to think of the nearly omnipotent demon as envious of anything, but she knew it to be true.
    Declan had replaced Asmodeus in her fantasies. Her body craved him now, instead of her demon lover. Most of the time. And even when she yearned for Asmodeus’s hard and burning touch, her mind immediately turned to Declan.
    She turned her head to watch his profile as he drove. He was so masculine. She