Chapter 1470: Fallen Angel, Perfect Domain and Privacy

But Phei had also found something else when he inspected Anahita’s soul— there was another presence somewhere behind Anahita soul binds.

He was a master of slave abilities now after all!

Another claim upon her Soul.

Marcus knew no shit of course and thought he owned Anahita but Phei knew better— although there was a problem— whenever Phei followed Marcus’s memories toward the deeper answers about Anahita, he found the same obstruction that swallowed too many of Marcus’s useful secrets.

Yet one truth survived clearly enough.

Whoever truly owned Anahita’s soul now was not Heavenchild.

Marcus believed Anahita answered to him and Danton believed something similar, though the bastard’s confidence had never been complete.

Phei no longer believed either of them understood her properly.

Her report regarding Anarctica now looked even more interesting.

She could answer Heavenchild questions if she wanted but she could also lie while looking perfectly trustworthy.

The amusing part was that Marcus now belonged to Phei.

If Anahita lied to the Heavenchilds and they sought Marcus’s confirmation, Phei could simply make Marcus support the lie. If she revealed something privately to Marcus, Phei would eventually learn it. If she told the complete truth, Marcus still gave Phei a window into what the Heavenchilds learned and what they decided to do afterward.

The entire arrangement had begun turning itself inside out.

Danton thought Anahita might become one of the eyes watching Phei.

Phei was increasingly entertained by the possibility that those same eyes might become another route through which he watched Danton instead.

Marcus had been enslaved for hardly any time at all and was already proving more useful than Phei expected.

Still, none of that was why the Perfect Domain surrounded him now— he didn’t mind being watched at all thanks to Consort killing that nerve.

The reason rested in his arms.

Phei looked down where Melissa had returned her attention to the clouds. Her cheek rested comfortably against his chest and that blissful little smile had returned.

His decision became effortless.

Whatever concerned their child would remain theirs unless he personally decided otherwise.

Anything involving the child!

Some information became dangerous the instant the wrong person considered it valuable. He had no intention of allowing Melissa’s pregnancy to become another fascinating mystery for some ancient bastard sitting safely beyond Earth to examine from a distance.

Before Marcus, Phei already knew Earth was hardly the greatest place existence had produced thanks to Eira always reminding him that but after Marcus, that knowledge became considerably less comforting.

There were Realms far beyond anything ordinary Earth cultivators understood and beings patient enough to interfere with events without ever needing to descend personally while others were capable of just placing pieces into motion and allowed centuries to pass before touching the board again.

Phei had absolutely no interest in allowing his child to become anybody’s interesting piece.

He already carried enough impossible things to attract attention.

His child would inherit danger merely because they belonged to him.

That thought alone made privacy worth whatever energy the Perfect Domain consumed.

Melissa’s fingers brushed his cheek.

Phei blinked.

"Thinking about enemies during something beautiful?"

He stared at her for a heartbeat.

Melissa smiled and combed her fingers gently through the white hair beside his temple. "I can tell."

Phei sighed. "You know me too well."

"I should hope so."

He lowered his face and kissed her forehead while his great wings carried them quietly across the heavens. "Sorry."

"Don’t apologize."

Melissa looked over the cloudscape before returning her gaze to him: "Just come back here to me when you’re finished."

Here, was the part of his life where nobody needed to die, where no Progenitor needed enslaving and no Legacy Family required dismantling before lunch.

His arms tightened slightly. "I’m here."

Melissa closed her eyes and settled against him.

For a while afterward, Phei stopped treating the flight as transportation.

He simply flew, later, he descended toward the upper edge of a vast cloudbank and slowed enough for Melissa to extend one hand outward.

Her fingers entered the mist.

Cold white vapor curled around her skin before streaming away behind them.

Melissa laughed.

Phei immediately decided that sound justified changing direction.

He lifted one wing, he dipped the other and carried them into a long curving turn around the cloudbank.

Melissa’s stomach shifted unexpectedly.

Her arms tightened around his neck: "Phei!"

He immediately leveled them, laughing as she smacked his chest.

"You said gentle!"

"That was gentle."

"We went sideways!"

"We’re flying, Mels. Sideways is one of the available directions."

She hit him again, but the grin already betraying her ruined the outrage.

Phei looked pleased. "You enjoyed it."

"I did not."

"You were smiling."

"I was terrified."

He lowered his face closer. "Beautifully."

Melissa narrowed her eyes, glanced toward the cloudbank they had just curved around and remained quiet for a suspiciously long moment.

"Do it again."

Phei’s grin became unbearable.

She saw it immediately. "Do not say anything."

He wisely said nothing.

His wings shifted.

This time Phei carried them into a broader, slower arc. The golden wing rose toward the sun while the black wing dipped toward the clouds, and the entire world gradually tilted beneath them. Sunlight poured over the radiant feathers until one side of Phei looked sculpted from heaven itself, while his darker wing cut a silent path through the white mist below.

Melissa laughed against his chest.

Phei barely looked at the scenery.

He watched her.

The happiness on her face had become completely unguarded. Wind loosened several strands of hair around her cheeks, morning cold left a faint flush beneath her skin and violet eyes shone every time she looked upward at him.

Phei found himself wanting to stretch a journey that should have lasted minutes into something completely unreasonable.

Melissa had spent too many years having happiness poisoned by people who believed they possessed the right to choose how her life unfolded. Phei wanted to give her moments nobody else could reach.

He kissed the top of her head.

Melissa looked up. "What was that for?"

"Existing."

Her smile softened immediately. "That was cheesy."

She kissed his chin.

Phei looked unbearably satisfied with the success rate of his romantic strategy.

Eventually the hospital appeared far below the clouds, and even Phei had to admit that stretching a short journey much farther would begin resembling an attempt to flee prenatal care.

Melissa actually sighed when he angled them downward.

"Already?"

Phei looked at her. "We can fly again afterward."

"Promise?"

"Whenever you want."

Her smile returned immediately.

He did not descend openly toward the hospital.

Landing with one enormous golden wing and one light-devouring black wing above a maternity ward felt like a remarkably efficient method of creating several entirely avoidable conversations.

The Perfect Domain remained around them while Phei extended his awareness downward through the building— luckily he could now command it to always be in 100 meters around him, following him.

His perception crossed the hospital carefully, passed over corridors, stairwells and elevators and avoided intruding upon occupied private rooms until he found exactly what he wanted.

An elevator moved between upper floors, it was empty.

Phei smiled.

Space curved beside them and a perfectly stable portal opened in the middle of the sky, darkness filling its surface before the other side resolved into the polished mirrored interior of the empty hospital elevator.

Melissa looked through it.

Then at Phei.

"You found an elevator."

"It was empty."

"Of course it was." Melissa laughed and tightened both arms around his neck.

Before entering, Phei allowed his awareness to sweep once through the Perfect Domain.

Whenever his family needed this kind of privacy, the Perfect Domain would provide it— and he always used it when he was discussing anything about Melissa and his child.

Phei lowered his gaze toward Melissa.

Every darker thought faded from his expression: "Ready?"

Melissa smiled and tightened her arms around his neck. "Take me to my appointment, my Angel."

The happiness that spread across Phei’s face almost competed with his golden wing.

"As my wife commands."

He carried her through the portal.

The hospital elevator contained one of the most absurd sights it had probably experienced since installation. Phei stepped inside carrying Melissa while one immense golden wing and one monstrous black wing followed him through the opening, folding closer as the confined could not fully contain them so they vanished into his back and the portal closed.

Soft hospital music played overhead as numbers changed quietly above the elevator doors where Melissa remained comfortably cradled in his arms as though traveling from the upper heavens into an elevator was simply how respectable couples attended prenatal appointments now.

She looked toward the doors.

Then back at her husband with one eyebrow rose: "You know I can walk."

Phei adjusted his hold beneath her thighs and showed absolutely no intention of putting her down. "I know."

Melissa studied his face for a moment and she smiled, she rested her head against his shoulder and apparently decided there were significantly worse marital problems than having a husband who refused to stop carrying her.

Phei glanced at their reflection in the mirror: "Mels."

"Hm?"

"If any if the girls asks, we took the car."

She stared at him for two seconds before laughter filled the elevator.

"You are such a liar."

Melissa shook her head and settled against him again while Phei grinned.

A soft chime sounded overhead.

The doors began to open.

Phei finally placed Melissa carefully onto her feet, though his hand immediately found hers again.

The private maternity floor waited beyond them.