Fallen in Love: A Fallen Novel in Stories by Lauren Kate

Author:Lauren Kate
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

TWO

INFERNAL DESIRES

Arriane recoiled. “No,” she whispered,

certain of its impossibility. “I could

never.”

Tess’s blue eyes pleaded with a fierce

intensity. “We can end our secret affair and proclaim it to the universe.”

The way her voice boomed, echoing

off the rafters in the barn, made Arri-

ane nervous.

“Don’t you want that?” Tess cried.

“Don’t you want to be together, to snap 203/385

the arbitrary shackles that prevent us

from being our true selves?”

Arriane shook her head. This was un-

fair. Tess was out of her mind. She had the most sublimely beautiful soul Arriane had ever seen, but this time, she

had gone too far. If she cared for Arriane at all, Tess would already know

what her lover’s answer would be.

But then—

Arriane wavered, allowing herself for

a moment to see the situation from

Tess’s point of view. Of course Arriane wanted to love Tess openly. She always

would. What else did she have to do to

prove it?

No! How could Tess ask this of her?

To side with Hell over Heaven! That

wasn’t love. That was insanity.

“Maybe the rules are right,” Arriane

said tentatively. “Maybe angels and

demons shouldn’t—”

204/385

“What?” Tess cut her off. “Say it.”

“Lucifer would never allow it,” Arri-

ane finally said evasively, turning away from Tess to pace the barn. She passed

the horses in their stables. The cows in their pen. Everything had its place. She looked across the barn at Tess and had

never felt further away from the soul

she loved the most.

“Lucifer might allow it—” Tess star-

ted to say.

“You know how he feels about love!”

Arriane snapped. “Ever since …” But

she trailed off. That old story didn’t

matter, not right now.

“You don’t understand.” Tess laughed

a false laugh, as if Arriane were failing to understand something as simple as

an arithmetic problem. “He said that if I brought you with me—”

“Who said?” Arriane’s head snapped

up. “Lucifer?”

205/385

Tess stepped away, as if afraid, and

for a moment, Arriane thought she saw

something in the rafters of the barn. A stone statue … a gargoyle. He seemed

to be watching them. But when she

blinked he was gone. She found Tess’s

wild eyes again, and she felt betrayed.

“You told him?”

Now Arriane marched toward Tess,

stopping just short of her lover’s breast.

It heaved with surprise at being con-

fronted, but Tess did not back away.

“How dare you,” Arriane spat, spin-

ning on her heel.

Before Arriane could run out of the

barn, Tess grabbed hold of her wrists.

Arriane wrenched away, feeling Tess’s

fingers drag against her skin.

“Leave me be!” Arriane shouted, not

meaning it, but Tess wasn’t listening

anyway. She came at Arriane again,

206/385

yanking on the sleeve of her gown so

hard the fabric ripped.

“Yes, I told him!” Tess bellowed,

shouting right into Arriane’s face. “Unlike you, I don’t care who knows!”

Arriane pushed her. She pushed her

so hard, Tess fell backward into a tower of stacked milk pails. They toppled

over, falling on her with a clatter, splattering her pale skin with a few white

drops.

Tess kicked the pails away and rock-

eted to her feet. And then—Arriane had

not been expecting this—her wings

bloomed out behind her shoulders.

They never exposed their wings to each other; it was something they’d

agreed on ages ago. It was too plain a

reminder that their love was not meant

to be.

Now Tess’s broad demon wings filled

the barn with shimmery light.

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