Page 21 of The Trials of Ophelia
An Angel emblem. Wings of anticipation fluttered through my chest.
The first of the five we needed to find. As I curled my hand around the one I wore at my neck, a weightless sensation stole through my limbs.
“And where is it?” Cypherion asked.
I flipped the slip of parchment over and held it to the light. There—faint but evident with the rays of sun—was a lone word, as if written by a Spirit. Brontain.
“The cliffs,” Santorina breathed.
“The cliffs,” I repeated.
The stretch of coast along the northern region of the Seawatchers’ eastern territory was treacherous. Waves slapped threateningly against rock on a good day, storms riling the seas with a godly vengeance on the worst. Legends of what lay beneath those waves painted nightmares for children, warding off adventurous warriors before they wound up with their lives taken too early.
“Sounds like we’re going on a vacation, boys,” Tolek said, wrapping his arms around Cypherion’s and Malakai’s shoulders.
“Cursed Spirits…” Cyph rolled his eyes, but I exchanged a laugh with Santorina, anticipation clearing a bit of the gloom I’d fallen into.
“What about the war front?” Malakai asked, but he didn’t pull out of Tol’s grip. For that I was grateful, that he’d set aside his animosity for his friend despite what brewed between Tolek and me.
“We’ll go to the cliffs first, find whatever Ezalia has, then head to camp.” I turned to Tolek. “Can you write to Lyria?”
He nodded, walking steadily with his cane to the sideboard where we kept supplies of ink and parchment and scribbling a hasty message to his sister. Dark hair fell over his forehead as he bent over, and my fingers twitched to push it back.
“Actually,” Malakai said over the scratching of the pen, pulling my attention from those faded honeyed highlights. My cheeks flushed at his tight expression. “I think I’d like to go to the border.”
“What?” Cypherion blurted.
“I can be a point of contact there. Help Lyria and maybe talk to some of our allies in person about their Angels.” I met Malakai’s eyes, and though he was no longer mine to read, I couldn’t help myself from digging through the ghosts lurking within, turning pages of my old favorite book. There was determination there, even though he was often sent into his darkest places during battles.
“Are you sure?” I asked for good measure. “You’re not…” He hadn’t ascended in the Undertaking; surely, Lyria would not allow him to fight.
But Malakai said six words that, when combined with the edge in his voice, nearly broke my heart: “It’s where I need to be.”
The sentiment flooded the chamber, threatening to entomb us with the words he didn’t say. Shaking it off, I dared to find the fluttering in my chest again and claim the bit of joy that found me.
“Everyone may go where they wish.”
“I’m with you,” Tolek said without hesitation. At his low tone, the memory of the way he’d teased me last night had me biting my lip. The glint in his eye said he was thinking of it, too.
Spirits, I’d been so close to giving in. To kissing him recklessly, senselessly. But I was still damaged. Still broken. I wanted to figure out how to heal before giving myself over to him.
“Well, I suppose I am, too, then,” Rina agreed. As I snapped back to the present, my cheeks flared with heat.
“You’ll certainly be needed more on the frontlines,” Tolek huffed, arms crossed. I almost laughed at his exasperation.
“I’m the healer here.” Rina braced her hands on her hips. “And I’m still monitoring your progress. If I say I’m needed, then that’s what goes.” Her tone brokered no argument, but her stare flashed to Kakias’s writhing scar on my arm, the line red and angry today. “Besides, the Bodymelders have a sufficient infirmary set up at the camp without me.”
Tol opened his mouth, but I shook my head, and his jaw snapped closed.
“Jez?” I asked. She’d been quiet all morning, standing at my shoulder, gaze cast over the mountains. Chewing her lip, she toyed with the charm around her neck?—
No. She held the place where it should be. The necklace—the one Erista had given her when their relationship was still a secret—was gone. She’d had it on at the induction, and Erista had been here for the ceremony. I didn’t know what had happened between now and then. Rina and I exchanged confused glances.
“I’ll go to the cliffs,” Jezzie finally said.
It was the defeat in her voice and clenching of her fist over her chest that had me opening my mouth. “You can go?—”
“The cliffs.” She took a deep breath, eyes shut. “I need to be with you.”
