She nudged my shoulder as if to saywhat are you waiting for?And the tie between us flared in my heart. Seraph magic lit up my bones, my palm ebbing with gold light where I patted Sapphire’s nose.
“We can’t walk where we’re going?” Tolek ran his fingers through Sapphire’s mane exactly the way she liked, and sheleaned into him. The way they’d bonded when I was gone had a soothing warmth spreading behind my ribs.
“Not tonight,” I said, clearing my throat and circling Sapphire to hop onto her back.
It was still a bit awkward, getting used to holding my own wings in a comfortable position to fly with my pegasus, but I wouldn’t trade it. Though I spent today with Tolek watching me attempt to fly from the balconies of the manor while manipulating Angellight—and I was doing fairly well—there was something different about flyingwithSapphire. Something my myth-born blood hungered for.
Tolek placed a hand on my knee, pulling me from that thought. “Where exactly are we going, Alabath?”
“The Lendelli Hills,” I said without a beat.
He tilted his head curiously. “A bit reckless to go alone, no?”
He didn’t even need to know my entire theory about what was in the Lendelli Hills, he only wanted to ensure I was safe. Angels, I loved him. My chest was crowded to the point of bursting with it, and gold light shimmered along my wings, his eyes tracing every drop.
But while he had a point—perhaps it wasn’t the wisest option for the two of us to head out on our own—I was tired of making decisions based on Echnid. The fullness in my chest punctured at the reminder of the god, chills spreading along my veins. It solidified my determination, though. Perhaps a bit reckless and indulgent, but fury and guilt and a medley of other emotions flooded me.
“Only two of us can fly on Sapphire. And besides, that’s why we’re going at night,” I declared, waving a hand at the fading sky and avoiding Tol’s eyes as I tried to wrangle the emotions coursing through me.
But Tolek Vincienzo never allowed me to win that game. He gripped my chin, turning it toward him and searching myexpression. And the depths of his chocolate eyes burned with such devotion and concern, my heart splintered beneath the weight of it.
“What is it?” he asked, and that heavy sincerity—such simple words laden with silent understanding—forced those fissures to spread out, threatening the foundation I’d been working to rebuild.
My body is my own. My mind is my own.
“Nothing,” I swore.
His thumb stroked along my jaw, and my lips trembled.
“I still feel him, Tolek,” I barely whispered, but the words burned in ire. “In my blood. My mind. Ineedto do something against him. This is all my fault, and Ineedto take him down.”
And it was enough of an explanation for him. Echnid’s taint may be gone, but I would not wait for him to return. I’d been forced into positions too many times; I needed toact.
“None of this is your fault,apeagna.” But Tolek nodded, pulling me down to kiss him and whispering against my lips, “But I vow to you, we will see that god’s blood rain across Ambrisk.”
Those words floated over my skin, not abating the rage burning through me but tempering it. Only temporarily, but enough to take the next step.
“Now scoot up,” Tolek added, placing a hand to my back to nudge me forward.
I didn’t move. “You have to sit in front.”
“Not a chance,” he said.
“Wings, remember?” I lifted them, ruffling my feathers with the kind of command that sent an arrow of pride through my heart.
Tol studied them for a moment. “We’ll make it work.”
Without another word, he shifted me forward on Sapphire and swung up behind me, positioning himself so my wings hunggently on either side of his thighs and his arms drooped low around my waist.
“See?” he said, pressing a kiss to the side of my neck. “Now I can do that, too.”
The heat of his lips sank through my body, sending a shock to my very core. Angels, I wanted him even more desperately now than ever—had spent every spare moment since he returned tangled up in him. I was half tempted to abandon this plan and drag him back inside.
Instead, I leaned against his chest, allowing my wings to absorb the familiar, citrus-and-spice warmth, and squeezed Sapphire with my knees. She took flight, and despite the fact that our safe haven was sinking away beneath us, I relaxed.
“Why doyou think Echnid hasn’t come for me himself?” I finally voiced when Xenovia was far behind us. “Why has he only sent his gorgons?”
“I don’t know.” Tolek sighed, frustration deepening the breath. “Perhaps because he’s busy working out how to banish the gods?”
