The annoyance in his voice nearly made me laugh.
“I’m fine,” I assured him, sitting upright. I dusted off my hands, taking stock of my body to assure I wasn’t in shock and neglecting any wounds.
When everything seemed okay, I lifted my gaze to Lancaster’s.
There was something burning behind his endless eyes, but before I could question it, they slipped closed.
And the string humming in my chest went still as Lancaster toppled to the dirt.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Ophelia
“Damien said seraphs,like Angels now that they have their spirits back, feel every emotion to an extreme,” I explained as Tolek and I prepared to meet with everyone.
Tol tilted his head at me, fascination igniting his chocolate eyes. “How do you feel right now?”
Setting down the letter I’d been rereading from Jezebel assuring me she was okay, I rose off the bed, slid a leather halter top over my head, and lifted my eyes to his?—
Molten need was splashed across his features as he studied me—as he studied my wings, ruffling at my back. Even just his stare tracing across the rounded feather tops had my core heating. Seraph magic budded in my palms, whirling and excited.
Desire dried out my throat, tightening my voice and every inch of my body with it. The spot between my legs throbbed, and I released a shaky breath.
Tolek laughed. “Oh, I think I like enhanced emotions on you, Alabath.”
He strode across the room, so put together in his deep indigo tunic—the ties purposefully unlaced—leather pants, and boots.His gleaming silver sword was strapped across his back, and the Vincienzo dagger was slung on his belt.
But the most dangerous weapon Tolek wore was his sinful smirk as he gripped my hips and spun me around. In the weeks we’d been apart, Tolek had changed. This rage-fueled, grief-stricken part of him came undone, and it unleashed a raw, pure strength in every step. One that could cleave apart the world with barely a blink if he so wished.
And Ihungeredfor it.
It sang to the power within me, the two stirring and melding.
Tolek had always been his own kind of magic. So open, so giving. It was like it left room within his spirit to absorb whatever overwhelming emotions and power clung to the air around us. Where I created Angellight, he channeled every last drop. And together, we could scorch.
Deftly, his fingers clasped the buckles of my top, and every brush of his skin against mine was so poignant. Tol dropped a single kiss to the curve of my wing—as I had traced the glorious golden pair inked across his back all night—and heat pooled within me.
Tol’s hand skated around my waist to cup between my legs, and he murmured, “This is going to be fun.”
Then, he stepped back, leaving every inch of me empty and cold, and frustration roared up in its place.
“You forget that the bad emotions are amplified, too,” I growled, storming to the door.
He gripped my wrist before I could leave.
“One more thing,” he said seriously, turning me to face him and digging in his pocket. He removed a gold chain with?—
My breath caught in my throat.
“Angelborn?” I whispered. The shard from my spear shone in the light—the one that had been Damien’s emblem, used to free him from the Stone Realm. “How did you get it?”
“On one of my flights to the mountains, I made a detour.” Tolek clasped it around my neck, his fingers tracing the cool chip of metal where it fell against my chest. Then, he opened the drawer in the nightstand. “I got these as well.”
A glimmering blue jewel and scrap of leather that was once part of a grip sat in the palm of his hand. The only pieces of Starfire that survived Ritalia. My heart splintered at the sight, at the fact that this man had gone back to that place—back to where his sister had died—to retrieve these for me.
“Happy birthday, Ophelia,” he whispered, bending to kiss me softly. “I’m sorry it’s late.”
“Thank you,” I barely forced out.
