“I do,” Jez admitted, voice soft. “She deserves that.”
I didn’t know what that would look like—how to find someonemeantfor a khrysaor as Jezebel was.
“Let’s keep Dynaxtar company for the time being, then.” I swung up effortlessly onto Sapphire’s back, legs tucking inabove her wings. Zanox lowered a wing for Jezebel to scale, and something nudged at my brain as I watched her settle.
“Does Elektra get jealous?” I asked of the warrior horse she’d ridden for years.
Jez shook her head, looking down from Zanox’s back. “She seems to understand. The bond I have with Elektra is a soul bond that we’ll share forever. But what I carry with the khrysaor…it’s different. I think the warrior horses grasp that better than we can.”
It was a satisfying belief, hoping the world around us and the creatures teeming within it understood the nature of existence and fate at an intrinsic level. In a sense, it was comforting.
Winding my hands into Sapphire’s mane, I indulged that pride and whispered, “Fly, girl.”
Constellations twinkled above as Sapphire galloped for the cliff edge, and I sank into the peace with my pegasus.
We plunged down, and Sapphire’s wings flared out, but we’d done this enough times now for me to be used to the dip of my stomach as her hooves skimmed the ocean surface. For me to relish the privacy as she disappeared into the low cloud cover and shot up above them. Where nothing and no one would see us save the stars in the heavens.
My fingers curled into her mane. And this feeling, this freedom of tasting the night air and the prickling of it against my skin, the thought of flying off into oblivion, trusting Sapphire to care for me, it was the most soothing sense of belonging to my restless spirit, here alone with her and the stars.
I’d always loved the stories constellations told as a girl. Loved the ancient tones of myths, the symbols and lessons they carried. I’d studied them with my father as part of my Second training. One of his many lessons: Any story could aid a leader.
But soaring through the clouds with Sapphire, the tales spun through me, weaving their own in my blood and bones.
Once we broke the fluffy surface and were surrounded by a dark sheet of sky peppered with stars, Sapphire hovered. I leaned forward, patting her neck. “Why are you stopping?”
Jezebel and Zanox broke through the clouds behind us. “I think they want us to talk.”
I looked between my pegasus and the khrysaor. Over Jezebel’s shoulder, Dynaxtar continued to loop freely through the sky, unbothered.
“Are you two scheming?” I muttered to Sapphire and Zanox, then met my sister’s eyes. “What is it we need to talk about?”
Something had been off with Jezebel since she returned, and I thanked whatever Angels put these mythical creatures in our paths to ensure we addressed the problem.
“Your Angellight,” Jez said, but Zanox huffed, his breath clouding the air. Jezebel cast him an admonishing look. “And my power.”
I sat straighter. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
Before I could respond, Jezebel lifted a hand, and a silver-blue light gathered in her palm. I froze. Certainly, that hadn’t been what I expected her to reveal. Quicker than a whip, though, Jez recalled the light.
Where it disappeared, a white ring echoed in the navy sky.
“What was that?” I asked, finally finding my voice.
Her face was ashen. “That light—it’s what we saw in the Spirit Realm. Ever since we’ve been back, it’s been manifesting physically, too.”
“Wh-what?” I stuttered, breathless. “You’ve been able to do that for weeks?”
Jez nodded. “I didn’t realize what it was at first. Thought it was a trick of the light. But…” Her fingers curled into Zanox’s mane as if for comfort, and though the soft beating of wings filled the night, her white knuckles were anything but relaxed.
“What happened?”
“It shot from me one day—I still don’t know how. It sort of took on a life of its own and blurred into this arc across the sky like a falling star. And it”—Jezzie’s voice trembled—“it killed something.”
My blood ran cold, my own Angellight quiet. “What?”
“A passing bird, but…I don’t even know how it happened.”
