“I need it gone.”
“That mark is your veins,” I argued gently, thinking about the time she’d made Tolek slice literal dark power from her flesh. “You can’t cut it out.”
“Not cut,” she corrected. “Scorch.” My skin tingled at the power in her voice. “During training, when I asked about Angel and seraph magic, Damien mentioned it can heal the most deeply planted taints. He repeated it so many times, Malakai, and he specifically mentioned the Curse mark.” She shook her head against my back, her words urgent. “I need to try.”
She needed to claim her freedom, she meant.
My heart pounded as we soared across Damenal’s border. Why weren’t the Angels coming after us?
“What do you need me to do?” I asked.
“Just make sure I don’t fall.”
“Fall?” I repeated, but Ophelia didn’t hear me. She was already wrenching up that seraph magic.
A gold aura shrouded us, sparking and cracking with thin beams of light. The gryphon flared his wings in response to it, flying faster and higher. A cloud culminated around Ophelia’s arm against my waist, thickened on her Cursed wrist. Itcoalesced into veiny streaks of their own, lining up with the dark web along her skin.
Then, one golden strand reared back, and like a snake striking, it sank fangs into her wrist.
“What thefuck?” I yelled.
Ophelia cried out and clenched my waist tighter. Blood poured from the wound, white mist streaking the crimson. But the seraph magic flared brighter, feeding into her blood. Itburned and burned, searing through any poison left by the god.
Scorching it away.
“Ophelia?” I shouted, but she didn’t answer.
I held her arms tighter, making sure she didn’t let go of me as blood and magic poured from her—as it rained across the night sky—and the gryphon carried us further from the clutches of the Warrior God.
The seraph magic burned deeper, gold igniting the night. Ophelia stiffened and whimpered each time, her pain bouncing across the stars.
“It’s okay, Phel,” I said, knowing there was nothing I could do to fix this. “I’ve got you.”
Because every one of those damn stars still shone, and as long as they did, I’d ensure she was safe.
Chapter Nineteen
Ophelia
I was losing somuch blood.
Angellight cascaded from my body.
It was hot; every part of me was burning.
Magic clouded the air with a ghostly gold essence, crimson laced with white mist, streaking into the night.
There was too much.
Too much what?a voice in my head echoed, memory slipping away like water through my fingers.
It was hot. That water would be refreshing.
“Hang on, Ophelia,” Malakai whispered, his arms a tight comfort as he held my burning wound. “You’re going to be okay. I’m going to get you help.”
Help…That’s what I was doing. I was helping myself after being manipulated. After a god warped my opinions so I didn’t know which were my own. I was taking control back and restoring balance. Balance I was meant to uphold.
I couldn’t remember what that meant exactly, but it meant something important. I’d figure it out later. Right now, all I felt was fire. I was consumed by it.
