21. Wolf
Chapter 21
Wolf
I knocked on Jessiah’s door warily. Between Huntyr and my brother, I figured it would be easier to make up with my brother.
Besides, Huntyr needed some space to cool off after what happened earlier today.
Jessiah answered the door within two seconds, stepping aside so I could enter. “Mind if I hide here for a bit?” I asked.
His face softened immediately, and he shut the door behind me as I made my way inside. “I take it she wasn’t so thrilled about showing some of her magic?”
“Not in the slightest.”
“Did you tell her it was to keep her safe? Who knows what he was planning to do with her if you gave him nothing. You did the right thing, brother.”
I sat on the edge of his bed. “Well, she’s officially pissed at me.”
“Can you blame her?” he asked. “She has been betrayed time and time again. She may want to trust you, but her life is on the line here. If she thinks for even a second you have other intentions with her, she’ll pull back.”
He had a point there. “I hate fighting with her. Things were so much easier when?—”
“When she thought you were only a fallen angel? When she thought she was only a fae?” Jessiah scoffed. “Isn’t it better for her to know the real you and hate you for it, than to love the fake version of you?”
“That’s easy for you to say.”
Jessiah took a long breath. “After everything you did to her, she was still willing to forgive you. To trust you again. To try. That says a lot, brother, even if we are still operating under the grasps of Asmodeus and his plans for power.”
I thought about it then, about telling him what was really going on, about telling him the plan I had to put a stop to the insanity of Asmodeus and his hungry search for power.
But Jessiah was loyal, and right now, I wasn’t sure how loyal he was to me and how much of his loyalty still held for our father.
“Listen,” I started, shifting uncomfortably. “I need a favor from you.”
A smile curled his lip. “This should be good.”
“I need you to help Huntyr learn to fly. She can summon her wings now, and she’s getting stronger every day. She just needs someone to get into the air with her, and we both know it can’t be me.”
I glanced away before I could see the shock in Jessiah’s golden eyes. “I was under the impression you didn’t want me anywhere near Huntyr, especially if we were to go flying.”
“Things have changed.”
“What, exactly, changed? Because I know you’re still in love with her, if that’s what you’re referring to.”
I ignored his comment and ran a hand through my tangled hair. “I realized I was wrong. She needs to learn to fly. It’s the best way to keep her safe. I can’t teach her, but you can. This goes beyond me and my selfish intentions of keeping her to myself.”
He eyed me carefully. “There are other people living in The Golden City who could teach her. It doesn’t have to be me, brother. Plenty of fae and angels would be more than willing?—”
“It has to be you,” I interrupted. “I don’t trust anyone else with her.”
“But you trust me?”
I finally looked at him. “Of course I trust you, you damn idiot. You’re the only one in this entire kingdom I trust besides Huntyr.”
“Well, then there’s something you should know.”
I froze. “What is it?”
Jessiah shifted uncomfortably, looking anywhere else in the room but at me. “A few weeks ago, I caught Huntyr trying to sneak around in The Golden City. I brought her back, of course, but I gave her a bit of a hard time for being so mean to you. She told me she would agree to marry you and she would go along with our plans if I promised to take her back home for a night.”
I processed his words very, very slowly. “Are you joking?”
My brother threw his hands in the air. “I only agreed because I wanted her to get her ass back to the castle. I never intended on bringing her back there, especially without telling you.”
Fuck. Midgrave was a long way from here. It would take hours just to fly there, and that was if she managed to get out of The Golden City alive, which was a challenge already.
“Absolutely not,” I stated. “Huntyr visiting Midgrave, even for a night, is the worst thing she could do right now.”
“Agreed,” Jessiah said innocently. “I just wanted to tell you about it now that we’re trusting each other and everything.”
I rolled my eyes at him. Huntyr would ask Jessiah to take her back. Honestly, I expected her to make a break for it a long time ago.
I wasn’t mad about it, but it couldn’t happen, not if we wanted to keep her safe.
A long silence filled the air between us. “I won’t let anything happen to her,” he said. All jokes left his voice. This was serious. He meant those words.
“I know you won’t. Just watch your hands, okay? She might not know where we stand, but nobody else gets to have her.” I was only half-joking.
“No need to worry, brother.” Jessiah clapped me on the shoulder. “My romantic interests lie elsewhere. Even if they didn’t, I can see the way Huntyr looks at you, not to mention the fact that she’s pissed at you every other day.”
“What? That’s supposed to be a good thing?”
Jessiah laughed quietly. “Oh yes,” he said. “That’s a good thing.”
T he entire day was spent avoiding my bedroom. I went on a run through The Golden City, careful to avoid any hungry ones, and ate in the dining hall alone, taking my sweet time. Huntyr would not want to talk to me today, not after what happened.
But she would have to understand that this was all to protect her. We were playing the long game. We couldn’t defeat the evil here if we were all dead.
It was a give and a take; show Asmodeus some of Huntyr’s power so he would be happy, and then we would have space to plan our next move.
Why couldn’t she understand that?
I was on my way back to my room a little after midnight when I felt a flare of Huntyr’s emotions through our bond. I was just passing the long hallway to the empty training rooms, my bedroom much too far away to feel through the bond.
I turned.
Huntyr was close.
I kept my footsteps light and the walls to our bond up. I didn’t want her to know I was coming. If alone time was what she was looking for, I didn’t want to interrupt that. I just wanted to know she was safe.
Besides, it wasn’t like her to be creeping through this castle alone. She hardly left our bedroom.
Suddenly, I felt a rush of frustration in my chest. It felt warm and intense, just like the rest of Huntyr’s emotions. I was growing more and more accustomed to them, though. Her emotions, mine—they blended together, and I felt different without the mold of both of them. It was like I needed them both to feel whole again, to feel normal.
The hall grew darker and darker. I kept my ears sharp, but I didn’t hear anyone else in the vicinity. I just felt Huntyr.
And then, I heard her. I heard subtle grunts, low moans of frustration.
Was she down here training?
I made sure my every move was silent as I approached the doorway of the training hall. Darkness helped conceal my presence as I peeked into the room.
Huntyr was training. Sweat coated her body, her black tunic— my black tunic—clung to her as she knelt on the ground.
She had her hands out in front of her, summoning a small flame over and over and over again.
I went to step into the room but stopped myself.
Huntyr wasn’t just training, wasn’t just sweating from exertion.
She was crying. Her face turned slightly, moonlight pouring into the dark room and reflecting off her wet skin.
Fuck. My chest tightened, and I had to remind myself to keep my bond closed.
They were not silent or peaceful tears, either. They were violent ones, angry ones. They wrecked her body, wrecked her magic.
She dropped her hands as a sob shook her, raised them again with a determined breath, and summoned the flame once more. What she was trying to do was beyond me.
But clearly, she thought she was failing.
“Dammit!” she half-yelled in a hushed whisper. She dropped her hands again and crumpled entirely, her arms wrapping around her body.
Then, her wings appeared.
They appeared quickly, likely in response to her emotion. She didn’t seem to notice at first as she cried in her crumbled position on the ground. But when she did notice, she paused.
Took a breath.
Then she looked up.
Her throat bobbed in the moonlight as she gasped through tears. “Why?” she whispered. “I’m so fucking tired. Why does it always have to be me? I don’t want to fight anymore. I don’t want any of this.” Her eyes flickered closed, but she remained that way—knees on the ground, wings hanging from her shoulders, tears dripping from her chin. “Please, please, help me.”
I never took Huntyr for the type to worship the goddess, but here? On her knees? She begged for help.
For a break.
I pressed my fingernails into my palms with restraint, forcing myself to back out of the room. Huntyr was strong, I was the first person to know that, but we all had a breaking point.
Had Huntyr finally hit hers?
I made my way back through the hall, back toward my bedroom. I kept the walls of my shield firmly shut. I didn’t know what would leak through the second I lifted them, the second I relaxed for even a second.
I thought I knew pain, but seeing Huntyr like that exposed me to a brand new definition of the word.
Before I could stop myself, I was pounding on Jessiah’s bedroom door.
Thud, thud, thud. I waited a few seconds before lifting my fist again. Thud, thud, thud. “Jessiah!” I called out. “I know you’re in there, Jessiah! I need to talk to you! Now!”
When I went to knock again, the door swung open.
“Hells, Wolf, what? What could possibly be so damn important?”
“Take her home,” I said.
His face remained blank. “What?”
“Huntyr asked you to take her back home to Midgrave. I want you to take her.”
“Are you kidding?” he asked. “You seriously want me to fly her all the way there with her new wings?”
“You can teach her to fly tomorrow. She’s a fast learner, she’ll be fine.” My throat tightened, but I clenched my fists at my sides.
Jessiah ran a hand down his face. “You don’t think that’s dangerous?”
“I’ll make sure you’re not caught. The day after tomorrow, after you teach her how to use her wings. Wait until the sun is set.”
I was ready for him to argue, to tell me how insane this plan was. But he just blinked at me before nodding. “What’s with the sudden change of heart?”
“She’s losing hope,” I answered, turning my back on Jessiah so I didn’t have to look at his face when I said, “It might be the only thing she has left to hold onto.”