7. Seven o Clock

Azriel stood across Lethe River, arms crossed over his chest and eyes narrowed on Gabriel who lifted a hand and waved his fingers at him, wearing the biggest grin he could muster. A grin he was finding hard to hide after his letter this morning.

Wear something pretty for me.

Only if you wear something pretty for me,she'd said back.

When he spotted Silene sprinting down the hill from her home in his direction, he even threw his brother a wink.

"You think you've won over fates just because she now comes to you willingly?" Azriel asked him.

"The fuckers can go fuck themselves."

"Don't do that, brother. If not for the sake of you, for the sake of her."

"Not a hair on her pretty head will be touched in death or in any life, that I can promise you."

He shook his head. "How do you ever plan on making sure of that?"

"Threatening and begging. Loads of it."

"You think the fates will listen?"

"Fuck them," he said, and then added, "I've got friends in high places, baby brother. Many of them. Why do you think I've made a bargain with each and every God in these past five hundred years? They all owe me. You owe me, too, remember? Once she leaves here, every single one of them will make sure she lives like a God amongst humans. And in death shall she come again, here too she will be a God. You will make sure of it." He tilted his head back, regarding his quiet brother. "Winter, wasn"t that her name?"

Azriel stiffened, the skies on his side of the river darkening at the mere mention of the human woman who his brother had left his heart with. "Don't."

"Worry not brother, I mean no harm to her. I went through enough shit to find someone who can even tolerate your prickly ass. And for that you owe me."

"You think she will still come to you when she finds out the truth?" his brother asked, and in turn, the skies over his side darkened.

Silene stopped beside Azriel, forcing Gabriel to seal his mouth shut. She handed him her timekeeper and patted his shoulder. "Consider this a holiday notice."

Gabriel's grin faded into a sneer when his brother turned to him, smirking as he pushed his glasses back with a finger, gloating at the fact that she could touch him. "Call if you're sick of his unbearable arrogance, I will send someone for you."

Silene waved over her shoulder as she crossed the bridge between life and death, almost running into his arms if he'd not caught himself and taken a step back. "What did you pick out of the list today?" she asked, giving him a little uncomfortable smile as if to deter him from what had almost happened.

"A surprise," he said, bringing a rose from behind him and brushing the soft petals against her cheek and down her jaw before offering it to her to take.

"It will die," she said, hiding her hands behind her back.

"All things die, Silene. All living things wish they could die by gentle hands. This rose will have the gentlest, kindest death of all. A mercy to wither in your hold."

He saw her swallow, the way she regarded him with such desperate, woeful eyes as she reached for the flower, already knowing its fate.

The moment she held it, the stem began turning a pale shade of brown, drying out and dying, the petals turning stiff and a dark grey. She brought the rose to her nose, a feigned smile gracing her face. "At least it still smells good."

He brought a folded piece of ribbon from his pocket, unfolding the silky black material and holding one end of it while handing the other end to her. "There will be a crowd where I'm taking you, I don't want to lose you in it."

Silene reached for the other end, wrapping her fingers around it, the closest they could ever come to holding hands. She followed after him as he stepped across the veil between life and death, right into the middle of a bright, loud and massive theme park—her second demand.

"Can they see me?" she asked, clinging close to him, as close as she could, and Gabriel contemplated lying to her.

"Only if you want them to."

"You will look insane talking to nothing."

"You're worried about me?"

"Never mind," she said, unravelling her hand from her ribbon and stepping back from him. "Make me invisible."

"As you wish, my ruin," he said, tugging on the ribbon they held onto and bringing her close to him again.

They stopped before a massive ferris wheel, waiting in line, and he could feel the dread dripping off her as she stiffly stood at his side, staring down at her boots. From the way her chest rose and fell, he could tell panic had gripped her.

"Silene," he called to her, and she turned to him. "They can't hurt you. They can't even see you."

"Why does it not feel like that?"

At the snap of his fingers everyone disappeared, the rides grew quiet, the air settled, the laughter faded, as did the line before them. "Come," he said, tugging on the ribbon.

She still stared wide eyed at him as they sat beside one another in the small cabin.

At another snap of his fingers, the ferris wheel started moving again.

"Where did everyone go?" she asked, looking out of the window and searching the massive amusement park as they were raised higher and higher off the ground.

"There was no one there to begin with. You keep asking where people are every time I take you somewhere, and I thought…you might think of this as excessive."

"It is a bit." She went quiet for a moment, and then lifted their hands still clutching the ribbon. "So, this wasn't even necessary at all."

"It is."

Her brow arched. "Thought you didn't want to lose me in the crowd."

"There was a crowd."

Her eyes narrowed. "There isn't now."

"You might fall."

She chuckled but did not let go of the ribbon. "Sure."

"Why did you want to come to a theme park?"

Silene leaned against the open ledge, looking over the park and the city lights on the horizon. "Saw it in those human magazines. Ten things to do before you die." She sighed. "I can see what they mean. It is beautiful up here."

"It really is," he said, looking at her.

"You're not even looking."

"I'll trust you on it."

She shifted in her seat, throwing him a couple glances. "I don't think I like heights all that much."

Gabriel reached inside his jacket pocket and brought out a small metal flask, handing it to her. "Any other realisation while we are at it?"

"Like what?" she asked, taking a careful sip and wincing at the taste.

"That you find me irresistibly handsome."

"I find you irresistibly annoying."

"And handsome," he said, and Silene's attention dropped to the flask when he pressed his lips where hers had been just seconds ago. "You know I don't mind you looking at me, so no need to do it all so secretly."

Her eyes rolled. "Put me down."

"Always trying to run away from me, my ruin."

"I will jump, Gabriel."

"I wouldn't let you."

"You can't touch me."

"I will stop the very earth from spinning if I have to."

"You closed me up here on purpose," she said, her voice low like a bewitching spell to Gabriel's ears.

"So evil, aren't I?" he asked, bracing an elbow on the seat rest and leaning closer to her, just looking at her and marvelling at the colours her hazel eyes took from the setting sun behind them. "I'd do terrible, terrible things to have you this close all the time."

Those eyes paced between his, and her hands curled over the fabric of her skirt. "Selfish God."

"Pretty Reaper," he hummed, bringing a finger just under her chin and watching her shiver when he ghosted it up and down her jaw.

Her honey voice was low, almost a whisper, "Fool."

"I am. What else? Tell me what else?"

She swallowed, looking away and making his heart race with so much anguish. "I want to try the spinning thing. With the animals."

There were rides after rides after that. Most of which she hated beside the carousel and the ferris wheel.

"I"ll take it back," she said, nibbling on some cotton candy and licking her fingers, a massive bear tucked under her arm. "I don't see why humans would want to do all this before they die."

He stole some of her cotton candy. "Not enjoying it?"

"It was a nauseating experience. I don"t know why anyone would enjoy the need to feel sick and dizzy. The most thrilling part of it all was the contemplation of whether I was going to hurl at you or not after that last spin."

Gabriel chuckled. "How about I take you down to the sea?

He knew he'd said the right thing when her face lit up.

Sat at the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean, he watched Silene in his leather jacket that had swallowed her limbs entirely, eyes closed, the smallest of smiles lingering on her face as she let the sea wind beat at her, carrying her long, silky hair in dark waves. "I love the wind," she said. "I think I do. I don't really remember even regarding it before."

Gabriel didn't speak. Not a single word. He didn't wish to ruin this memory of her, the first thing so close to what humans called a religious experience.

With a sigh, she laid on her side, resting her head on the bear toy and facing him, curled onto herself on the grey rock they'd perched on to witness the new turn of day. Her lashes fluttered slowly, almost lulled by sleep, but she seemed to refuse to give in.

No colour had ever mattered to Gabriel. Colours were just colours.

But her eyes. Oh, her eyes.

The moment he'd looked into them long ago, every existing thing had held a breath with him in acquiescence. He was sure nothing to ever graze any realm, space and nook in the vast universe could replicate that very same colour. He remembered the very first thoughts that had crossed his mind back then. That he wanted to bottle it, to make it an elixir for the unexplainable heartache it had given him.

She lifted a hand up, her shadow on the ground mimicking her as she made nonsensical shapes with her fingers that had her grinning from ear to ear and her eyes glowing with such fascination that Gabriel could not understand.

Her smile suddenly fell, and he turned to look at what had been at fault. Her shadow was touching his. The tip of her finger traced his silhouette on the stone. "You're the only thing that doesn't die by my touch."

He lifted a hand, letting the cast of its shadow graze hers, the tips of their fingers meeting. "And you're the only thing that dies by mine."

Silene took one long breath and tucked her hands to her stomach. "Maybe you should take me back now."

"Maybe I should keep you for myself."

"I'm not yours to keep."

"Who'd stop me?"

Gabriel knew he'd won whatever battle fates had started years ago when she thought about it for a minute. "Azriel."

His smile was uncontainable. "Does that mean you're up for keeps if he didn't exist?"

"That sounded like a very vague threat to your brother."

"It was."

She slammed her boot on his, shaking her head. "You love him. I know you do."

"I do," he admitted, a little afraid some vengeful deity or fate might have heard him.

"You show it so little."

"I shouldn't be showing it at all considering how I was taught to regard him by our parents."

Silene frowned at him. "You're a powerful God, you should be able to love however much you'd like."

"One would think so," he said, reaching to pull away the wind billowed hair from her eyes.

"Why does everyone hate you?"

"Impossible. This is news to me," he said, chuckling.

"You've made an enemy out of every God and Goddess."

"Because every single one of them has wanted something from me and were upset they could not take it without exchanging it for something else."

"The bargains," she mused.

"The many, many bargains."

"You could just be nice and help."

"I can't compensate fate with nice. To give, you have to take. They all know that."

"So, you'd rather be hated?"

"Their regard does not matter to me, Silene."

"Nor your brother's?"

"Nor his. It doesn't matter. I will always love him no matter what. No matter his hate or the destiny we were born to follow."

"Sounds lonely."

"It is the life I was born to lead."

"You've never struck me as someone who accepts their fate."

"To keep those I love safe I would have accepted a life in a secluded box floating in the universe aimlessly."

"Who else has seen your world? Visited your home for terrible tea, met Tommy, been taken out to theatres and cafes?"

"Only the one that mattered."

Silene rolled on her back and her eyes became a mirror for the cloudy skies above. "You should meet more people."

"Not interested in meeting any people."

"You should visit Az a little more frequently. You can stop by my home for tea."

"Is it an invite?"

"It's permission. I won't be here soon." Her chest rose fast, furiously, while his own collapsed entirely. "Tommy likes people. Let him meet more people."

"Silene—"

"I know you're eternal and have all the time in the world, but you should let people in. You have so much to give and no one to give it to. It isn't all so unpleasant being around you either."

"No?"

Her eyes drew closed, and she muttered half asleep, "Not at all actually."