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Everything in Eli's life begins to unravel when he discovers a mysterious injured man with black wings hiding in his barn. The first indication that Amon isn't human is the fact that he's a fallen angel, an exile from heaven for a sin so horrific no one would dare name it. He is dangerous, powerful, and stunningly beautiful. Fear soon melts into fascination. While Eli tries to heal Amon, oddities start happening. His blood does not flow; light does, and he is dreaming of a world he has never seen. And when Amon looks at him, it is not simply recognition-rather it is almost a memory from another life. Nothing more frightening than truth could be. Eli is not just an ordinary man; he is nothing short of the First Sin reincarnate, a being made of taboos of forbidden love and divine rage and locked away because he almost destroyed the heavens. And now that power is waking inside him. Eli must choose between two lifetimes, two loves, and two sides of him: submitting to the growing darkness within or battling for humanity--for Amon. But the second guest from the past, Kael, enters the stage with a promise and a kiss, telling Eli a love story that could shatter heaven once again. In "The Devil Touched Me Gently," a dark, steamy fantasy MM romance, a love that defies fate clashes with angels who fall for all the wrong reasons, all powerfully at work with a soul that refuses to be forgotten.
Chapter 1 The Stranger in the Fire
It was a bleak stormy night.
There had been rain-battered wooden walls surrounding Eli's cottage while thunder rolled overhead like the voice of raging gods. The old windmill groaned in the wind; the trees bowed as if in worship or in fear. Eli sat on the edge of his little bed, heart restless, feet bare. The oil lamp flickered beside him.
Then came the fire.
It began with a smell-a smoke and something sweet that was burning cedar. Eli rushed out, rain lashing at his face, wind snapping at the thin tunic he was wearing. There at the forest edge of the valley, where it is usually dark and quiet, glowed red-orange. Fire. And at the center of it-all of it was something else-something alive.
Eli ran on impulse, without boots, his breath sharp in his chest. Each step carried him nearer to the crackling heat, to the scent of destruction. But it was not destruction he found.
It was him.
There knelt a man at the middle of the flames, all naked and unburned. His back faced Eli: broad and tense, hair dark and damp with rain. Smoke curled around his skin, like a lover's fingers. When he turned, it was slowly, as if he knew that Eli was coming, and Eli saw that his eyes glowed red like embers of a dying star.
Not orange. Not human.
Red. Like a warning.
Eli stumbled. "What are you...?"
The lips of the man parted. "You shouldn't be here."
It was a low voice, rough like gravel but with something silken underneath it. Contradiction, as he was. Like the fire that refused to consume.
"I saw the fire," Eli said, taking a step forward. "You-how are you alive? How are you-"
"Burning?" The man was now fully standing before him-tall and powerful. "Because I am the fire."
Eli's breath caught.
The stranger walked toward him, but slowly, like he was parting the flames as he went. His bare feet kissed the dew-laden grass, steam hissing underneath his steps.
"I won't hurt you," he added, "unless you want me to."
That made Eli take a step back, not out of fear-not entirely so. There was something magnetic about him, something dangerous, yes, but also beautiful. Like the first electric lightning just on that day when you feel its first kiss across your bones.
"Who are you?" Eli inquired.
"I don't remember," he said. "Not entirely."
The rain stopped. Just like that. As if time held its breath for them.
"I woke up here," he said. "In the fire. And then I felt you coming." He tilted his head, eyes narrowing slightly. "Your heart. It's loud."
Eli's pulse raced.
"I had better go," Eli said quickly, aware suddenly of the absurdity of this moment-standing among the soaked leaves, speaking to a stranger who had arrived hot from the flames.
But the man took another step forward. "Don't."
"Why?"
The man regarded him for a moment, then said softly, "Because I haven't seen a soul in such a long time. And I'm cold."
"Cold? But you're-"
"Not as I once was."
Eli looked him in the face. Really looked. He was indeed bruised. Scars laced his sides, while the back bore fresh cuts: wings whose like had once been there and torn out by force.
"Come with me," Eli replied before he could prevent himself.
They said nothing else until reaching the cottage. He nearly filled the entire doorway as he stepped inside, and Eli did his best to keep his eyes off the shape of the stranger: smooth but worn, sculpted but marred by pain. He handed him a wool blanket, which the man wrapped around himself like a cloak.
"I should give you a name," Eli said finally, setting the oil lamp upon the table. "I can't just keep calling you 'hey.'"
"My name is whatever you want," he said with a faint smile.
Eli gulped. "How about Amon?"
The man considered. "Amon." A long pause followed. "That's fitting."
Something about the way he said it sent a chill through Eli.
"I'm Eli," he offered.
Amon nodded once. "Eli."
They were silent. Amon's gaze traveled the room as if memorizing it-the cracked floor, the herb bundles hanging from the rafters, the journal by the window.
"You live alone?" he asked.
Eli nodded. "Always have."
"Why?"
"I could ask you the same."
Amon's expression darkened. "I wasn't made for solitude. But I became something that others feared."
Eli tried to read him, but Amon gave away nothing more.
"You can sleep in the barn," Eli offered. "It's warm and there's hay."
"Thank you," Amon said. Then more softly, "You didn't have to save me."
"You looked like you needed saving."
Amon stood, walking to the door. He stood still for a moment, turned on heel, and faced Eli. "I did."
And then he was gone.
That night Eli did not sleep.
He lay in bed, staring at the ceiling with thoughts of bright red-eyed soft low words from a man who said the fire was only his-Amon. There was power in that name: very old, very beautiful.
Something told him this was the start of everything.
And maybe, also, the end.
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Chapter 1 The Stranger in the Fire
15/07/2025
Chapter 2 His Name Was Amon
15/07/2025
Chapter 3 The Devil's Bargain
15/07/2025
Chapter 4 Whispers in the Dark
15/07/2025
Chapter 5 Touched Too Gently
15/07/2025
Chapter 6 The Angel Who Hates Me
15/07/2025
Chapter 7 Burning for Both of Them
15/07/2025
Chapter 8 We Were Never Just Mortal
15/07/2025
Chapter 9 The Crown of Fire and Feathers
15/07/2025
Chapter 10 Ashes of the First Sin
15/07/2025
Chapter 11 A Lover, A Liar, A Second Chance
15/07/2025
Chapter 12 The Memory That Bleeds
15/07/2025
Chapter 13 One Will Burn
15/07/2025
Chapter 14 The Trial of Choice
15/07/2025
Chapter 15 Three Flames, One Burn
15/07/2025
Chapter 16 The Storm Crown
15/07/2025
Chapter 17 The Temple of Forgotten Names
18/07/2025
Chapter 18 The Unbinding of Kael
18/07/2025
Chapter 19 When Gods Break Oaths
18/07/2025
Chapter 20 The God Who Loved Too Loudly
18/07/2025
Chapter 21 He Wears My Heart Like a Weapon
18/07/2025
Chapter 22 The City That Was Never Saved
18/07/2025
Chapter 23 The Blooming Ruin
18/07/2025
Chapter 24 The Mirror That Bleeds
18/07/2025
Chapter 25 What the Fire Remembered
18/07/2025
Chapter 26 Where the Gods Dared Not Look
18/07/2025
Chapter 27 The Fall of Heaven's Gate
18/07/2025
Chapter 28 Ashes Beyond the Gate
23/07/2025
Chapter 29 The Choir of Silence
23/07/2025
Chapter 30 A Crown Forged in Fire
23/07/2025
Chapter 31 The Bone Crown Prophecy
23/07/2025
Chapter 32 The Crowned and the Condemned
23/07/2025
Chapter 33 The Ghost That Wore My Face
01/08/2025
Chapter 34 The Blood of the First Betrayer
01/08/2025
Chapter 35 The City That Forgot Its Name
01/08/2025
Chapter 36 The Memory That Would Not Die
01/08/2025
Chapter 37 The Crown of Echoes
01/08/2025
Chapter 38 The Silence After the Storm
01/08/2025
Chapter 39 The Whisper That Would Not Die
01/08/2025
Chapter 40 Shadows in the Seed
01/08/2025