Rhexin: Shackles of Eden

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Lilith felt like she was floating. Her body felt weightless and her senses were dulled, her vision hazy as if a gauze hood had been placed over her head. Even with her limited vision, she knew he was behind her. He was the one who had been at the beach that day, in the water with her.

She tried to turn to look at him, but she couldn't. Instead of panicking, she found herself detached from her emotions, as if she was wrapped in a blanket of calm that nothing could get through. She felt his hands slip around her waist and she was pulled back into him, leaving not a millimetre of space free between them. Her back was plastered to his chest, a wall of muscle against her.

Lilith didn't care. Her mind was fogged, and all she could think about was about how his subtle scent enveloping her felt like home. She leaned her head back against him, the back of her head just about reaching his sternum. His hands moved up from her waist, skimming along her sides and knuckles brushing against the curve of her breasts, up the tan column of her throat and along the side of her face.

Lilith shivered as she felt a twinge in her lower abdomen and goose bumps ran down her arms. "We don't have time for this right now." She found the words falling from her mouth without her having thought them.

Before she could pull away, his hands tangled in her suddenly short hair, pulling her head back. "They can wait," he almost growled, his lips at her throat.

"Lilith!" a voice called to her impatiently. She groaned, clinging to the strange dream vehemently, but it slipped from her and she resurfaced back into reality.

"If you're not going to get the door, I'm going to come in," the voice came again.

Before she could properly wake up, she heard the door swing open. Her back was to the door, but she could feel Adam's eyes all on her.

Becoming more alert every second, she felt a light breeze on her thighs and realised that her shift had crawled up her legs while she'd been sleeping. She pulled it down, annoyed.

"What do you think you're doing in here?" she huffed, not bothering to turn around. She would have to ask Gabriel to put a lock on her door when he got back if Adam was going to keep coming into her room uninvited.

Adam murmured something under his breath, and the rushing noise that accompanied his mortal magik sounded from the other side of the room. Lilith sat up in her bed, alarmed, and looked over blearily.

The bastard had sealed her door shut.

~

Gabriel came in to land, feet skipping across the frost-slicked ground before he finally came to a halt in the centre of the Edonian war-camp, Altyr. The Seraphim legionaries who happened to be in his immediate vicinity bowed their heads respectfully before continuing in their tasks.

He ignored them all and focused on the figure emerging from the High Command tent in front of him.

He had last seen Mīkāl just over four decades ago now, at the Battle of Pherysdel when he had last served. After over two millennia of fighting a war they could never win, Gabriel had wanted to step away from the limelight of heading the Legions of Eden. Mīkāl had been his leading warrior and strategist, with a brutal yet clear-cut logic behind all his military decisions. He'd proven himself time and time again on the battlefield and had been the obvious choice for Gabriel to pass the heavy mantle of General Primo on to.

Mīkāl strode through the snow towards Gabriel. He was dressed head to toe in beige leather and a heavy, fur-lined cloak that shielded him from the harsh winds that were customary so far into Proxima's North. His signature Ekkarian axe was strapped to a leather-clad thigh, and twin Nyx-glazed katanas were sheathed diagonally on his back, cackling with a stores of raw electrical energy.