We drifted over to Tolek, Cypherion, and Malakai, the four of us doing our best to distract Cyph, but his attention was only focused on one person.
Sapphire draped her wing over my shoulder, and I ran a hand down those downy-soft feathers, wishing for some kind of explanation as to everything the Storyteller said. How she was here, if Jez and I truly fit into the myth, and what it all meant.
My sister sat across the small pool in the cavern with the khrysaor and Erista. We hadn’t had time yet to unravel what we’d learned last night, and she still seemed sunken within herself from the supposed death, but tonight, I was determined to get some answers—some pieces. Angellight whirled within me as if in response to that call.
Finally, Vale’s head snapped up.
“How do you feel?” Cypherion blurted.
The Starsearcher swiveled toward us, her eyes mostly clear and her body seemingly under her control. “Ifeelfine.” She pouted.
“Were you able to see the gods?” I asked. Sapphire’s wings ruffled with my anticipation.
“Somewhat,” Vale explained, eyeing the new tinctures. “I could see them more definitively than before, but it wasn’t a clear scene or anything. It was”—she shivered—“a twist of power, I think. Tempests and lightning and iron doors slamming shut.”
My gaze shifted to Lancaster and Mora, both with attention honed on the Starsearcher. “Any idea what that could mean?”
Lancaster looked to his sister, then said, “It sounds like she was seeing a display of their power in its cruelest form.”
“What’s the cruelest form?” I asked.
“It depends who you ask,” Mora answered, her face a bit pale.
Santorina took a step forward. “What would you two say?”
And Lancaster forced out, “Bargains.”
Tolek and I exchanged a glance, my hand coming to the charm at my necklace.
“Bargains are the cruelest…” Rina murmured, assessing Lancaster and Mora. “And you cannot speak of the gods and goddesses because your magic is connected to them, as is this entire Angelcurse, if we’re correct.”
We were all silent for a moment, trying to put together those pieces.
Finally, Vale said, “Part of the scene almost felt locked away.”
“Locked?” Malakai echoed, brows raised. And I knew what he was thinking. Locked, like the bargains of the strongest fae he’d read about in the books he stole from Ritalia.
Vale nodded. “There was some kind of veil segmenting off part of it, like its locked away.” She huffed, glaring at her new supplies. “I truly thought that, combined with my unlocked magic, these would do the trick. Open those final floodgates.”
I chewed my lip, suppressing the demanding power within me. But we needed this information, even if the Angels had warned against digging too deeply into the stars.
Especiallybecause of that.
My eyes found Jezebel’s across the pool, sitting safely on the bank between Zanox and Dynaxtar, Erista and Mora beside her. My sister, understanding exactly what memory was harassing my mind, nodded in encouragement.
And though fear coiled between my ribs, I had to stop letting it freeze me.
“By the fucking Angels,” I grumbled, unclasping my necklace and dropping to my knees before Vale. “Try again.”
“What are you doing?” Tolek asked, warning in his voice. Cypherion stood from his perch, hovering.
But I ignored them both, watching only Vale as she inferred my plan and silently agreed, a honed confidence in her strength, one that had been dampened before she returned to Valyn. Dumping out the contents of the pouch at my side, I scattered the emblems across the earth and unsheathed my dagger.
“Alabath!” Tolek swore as Cypherion said, “Ophelia, don’t!”
But my blade was already slicing across my hand, deep enough to sting, sending blood raining down across all six Angel tokens. The shard of Angelborn, the ring, the pearl, the gilded petal, the broken crown, and now, Valyrie’s heart—the crystal carving of the lovers—were all sprinkled red.
And the boys’ shouts were muffled by a barrier of Angellight shooting up around Vale and me, a tunnel stretching to the top of the cave.
