Chapter 5
Ibolted upright in bed, hand flying to cover my heart. Brilliant sunlight speckled wood slats and danced over cloaked furniture.
Where am I?
The pounding reverberated again. I ripped my gaze to the courtyard, straight into a pair of cerulean irises.
A scream shredded my throat, and I leaped from the bed, racing to the bathing chamber. I had to get clothes on and get out of here. Glass shattered like a hailstorm behind me. I slammed the door shut, throwing the lock into place. Wood creaked as a body rammed into it.
I snatched half-dry clothes from the floor, letting the robe drop without care for who might be outside to glimpse my breasts. A bind secured them a moment later, and then I shrugged on a loose tunic. In the next breath, I yanked up my tights and socks.
The male who broke into my room shouted through the barrier between us, but I couldn’t hear him over the rush of blood in my ears. Hands shaking, I shoved the rest of my meager belongings into my bag and slung it over my shoulders.
The door splintered, and I whipped around, finding a meaty hand groping for the long lock.
No no no no no no no no
This male wasn’t my fated mate, but he would drag me to him. There was nowhere to flee; I was trapped in the bathing chamber. I had no idea where Zuriel and Heraphia were. If they’d already been cornered, their wrists bound in bronze, which would shut down access to all their magic.
I had to ensure my own escape.
Even if the thought was a merciless blade between my ribs.
Dragging in a serrated breath, I faced the windows. Unslung my pack. Called on my wings. Gripped a heavy bar of soap.
And threw.
The panes cracked and collapsed. I leaped into the air. Two flaps propelled me forward before I tucked the feathers close to my body, not wanting to injure them on jagged shards. The intruder slammed the lock open a moment later.
But I was already soaring into the courtyard and up, up, up. Beneath me, armor gleamed in the midday sun. Shouts chased me as I climbed into azure, frantic to rise above the reach of the Issaraeth’s Command. Tears streamed down my cheeks as I faced the brilliant, blinding sunlight.
I couldn’t look down. Couldn’t be affected by the magic-wielders below me.
Couldn’t see if I was leaving my friends behind to brace themselves for a fate worse than death.
The breeze shifted, as if some giant of legend was sucking all the air from the sky. The hair on my arms rose. I dove into the well of undulating white in my chest, tugging tendrils of it into existence and shoving them into my ears. The wind ceased howling.
Yet the blood pounding through my veins, the shame of my actions, was far louder, unable to be silenced with a touch of magic.
A shockwave of sound hammered me sideways, sending me careening. Tumbling over myself, I struggled to right my wings with the awkward momentum my pack created. Clouds ghosted over my skin as I plummeted, the ground racing to meet me faster than my destiny.
And beneath me stood the Issaraeth, a wicked, predatory grin on his lips. I slammed my eyes shut, refusing to let them drift higher and into those icy orbs.
Bitterness coated my tongue. Because there was only one way out of this freefall.
I opened my hands, releasing the pack dragging me down.
And the virelthorn in it.
Immediately, I leveled out. My white feathers caught a draft, and it lifted me higher into the sky. I chanced a glance through a slitted eye. Opened them both fully when I didn’t find the Korona’s brother floating in front of me.
I survived his magic.
The thought yanked a sob from my chest. Furiously, I flapped my wings and soared toward the looming mountains. There’d be less people there, which meant more chances for me to go unnoticed.
I hoped.
Calling more white power to my person, I sheathed myself in it, flying high into a dense, billowing cloud. The hunters would be in pursuit. I had to blend in while I made my escape, or it would be over before it began.
Tentatively, I unstuck my ears, hoping to glean some perspective on their proximity. Voices sliced the air all around me. I held my breath, wings tense and hugging a draft to keep me aloft. I didn’t dare displace a single wisp shrouding me.
Gusts from other fliers kissed my cheeks and ruffled my hair. Still, I didn’t move. They were close—far too close—and one wrong move would expose me.
“Where the fuck did she go?” a voice rasped. A bone-deep chill settled over me. It wasn’t just any voice. Somehow, with those six words, I knew it was my fated mate.
And he was close enough that I could reach out and touch.
I recoiled in on myself.
There would be time to examine why the Goddess had cursed me with a monster like him for a mate later.
“We don’t know, sir. We saw her come this way, but after…nothing.”
A snarl rent the air. “Fucking find her. We’ve got the other Seer and the heir to House Ilythar?. We’re not leaving without her too.”
I shoved my fist into my mouth to smother a sob.
No, please, no. Not Heraphia. Korona Iaoth would suck every last vision out of her without a second thought. My best friend was too gentle-hearted for that.
Guilt knotted my stomach. We’d been through everything together. Was I really going to let the Issaraeth have her?
But I didn’t fight. Didn’t know how. Zuriel did, having grown up noble. When he’d offered to teach us, we’d both refused.
Nonviolence had never given me rest or respite. And now, I wished I’d given any other answer.
Because then maybe, just maybe, I could do something. Even if it meant forsaking everything I valued. Or becoming a monster like the hunters who pursued us.
Instead, I bit into my hand and tried not to shatter among the cloud entombing me.
“Yes, sir. We’ll keep patrolling the skies.”
A gust of wind buffeted me, and through a gossamer-thin break in the cloud, I caught a glimpse of iron-gray hair. My chest didn’t loosen because he was leaving.
If anything, it tightened further.
“Spread out and search,” a different male commanded.
Wings beat in all directions. When I was certain no one was nearby, I gasped out a breath. Chest heaving, I sucked down air. That didn’t stop the tears from falling. Yet I couldn’t move from my hidden position in the cloud. Couldn’t do anything to save my friends.
All I could do was drift.
Drift.
Drift.
Lost in the skies. Lost in grief.
And hoping that my betrayal of my friends was worth it in the end.