Chapter 59
Anxiety scraped along my spine as hours passed without a sign from the Kral. Vaeron’s last Command still echoed in my ears. The twisted fury on the Kral’s face seared my eyelids every time I closed them.
Another lie. Another manipulation. I was becoming as adept at both as the people I hated. But this was necessary to end the war and ensure peace on Keleti.
But is it?
The poisoned thought slithered through my mind. I squeezed my eyes shut and pictured our victory. Yet doubt still lingered.
There was still every chance we’d danced too close to the edge, and he would appear here any moment to shove us off it and to our deaths.
Exhaustion tugged at my limbs. My head lolled forward.
And then snapped up when shouts sliced the night.
The four of us scrambled to our feet. Incandescence flashed in the sky overhead, a thousand white wings beating through the air. Silver bows sparkled under the moonlight, arrows notched and ready to fire.
“Fuck!” Vaeron cursed, staring up at them.
“Ishim picked a great time to stage an attack,” Maelsar growled, bundling up his blanket and tossing it atop his bags.
“What do we do?” I asked, the tremor in my voice betraying my fear. Had he garnered new intelligence that prompted it? Or had his rage, fueled by grief, grown too big to bear?
“We have to join the fight and make sure the Angels lose,” Vaeron said, his jaw tight.
“I am not swinging a sword,” I protested. Helene’s lifeless form flashed through my mind. I shoved the self-loathing thoughts away before they could take root.
You were protecting yourself, Sylaira. You are not a murderer.
“You two won’t have to. You’ll ride behind the Angel line and wait for us there.
” Vaeron twisted his hair atop his head and secured it with a leather strap.
With the pale moonlight falling over him, contrasting the darkness in his gaze, he looked every bit the monster I’d initially thought him to be.
One eye, now a thundercloud purple. Locks the gray of dawn.
And missing was the DUTY ABOVE ALL scar that had captured my attention the first time I saw him shirtless.
But I knew better now. I knew how fiercely he loved. I knew the depths of his devotion.
He’d decided long before I’d ever accepted him that he would do whatever it took to ensure my safety. He’d decided to overthrow a monarchy and supplant himself on the throne instead just so I wouldn’t have to suffer any longer.
No one else could ever love me like that.
Screams ripped through the night. Roars of fury accompanied them. Two armies clashed, and my mate was going to join them.
Tears welled in my eyes as I stepped closer, hands splaying over his strong chest. “Please don’t die.”
His expression melted, softening as it did only for me. “How I have waited for you to feel this way about me, Sylaira.”
He claimed my lips in a bruising kiss, all passion and raging storm. Lightning arced between us from everywhere we touched.
Because our connection had always been fated. At first, unwanted. Loathed. But now? He was everything to me.
“Go before I pull you behind that boulder and fuck you senseless,” he rasped, his fingers tight against my spine.
I huffed a laugh even while dread knotted my stomach. “Perhaps another chase is deserved if we manage to pull this off.”
A rumble of approval reverberated in his chest. “I think so, little fugitive. But I’ll only let you go if you want to be caught.”
His words, echoed from a time before we’d brokered a peace treaty between ourselves, heated my core. “You’ll never know what I truly want.”
He chuckled darkly. “On the contrary, Sylaira. I know exactly who you are. And I fucking love it.”
With that, he released me, hungry eyes raking over me like he was committing the shape of me to memory.
Lyriasthe and Maelsar said their goodbyes too, as fervent as I’d ever seen them, their bodies intertwined and mouths latched like a lock had been permanently affixed.
“Come on, Maelsar, you can hump her later,” Vaeron sighed, shaking his head at the sight of them.
“Fuck you, Vaeron,” Maelsar snarled, chest heaving as he glared at his friend.
I pressed my lips together, trying to hide my amusement. This was my family. I’d lost my parents, Heraphia, and other Elessarum friends over the years, but it was all to bring me right here, to this moment. With my mate. With his best friend. And with my new one.
Tears pricked my eyes as love, purer than any white we could conjure, swelled in my heart.
“You stay safe too, Maelsar,” I choked out, hot salt rolling down my cheeks.
He offered me his signature wry grin, all cocky confidence. “I promise you both we will return unharmed.”
“You better,” Lyriasthe snapped, though all bite was absent from her tone. Love and fear shone in the sky-blue flecks of her irises.
She came to stand by my side as the males strapped on every one of their weapons. They called on their wings, and I drank in the sight of my mate’s expansive feathers arcing toward the sky.
With one last look at us, they rose, wind buffeting our cloaks. And then, they flew off to battle.
We lingered until they dipped out of view. “Let’s find a cave or somewhere to stay dry and warm,” I commented, voice thick with emotion.
A bitterly cold gust blasted us, causing Lyriasthe to shiver. “I can’t argue with that.”
We mounted our horses, the other two tied to our saddles, and retreated down the narrow hillside path. As we passed the waterfall, I couldn’t help but send tendrils of my power ribboning in its direction. I needed to see if its frozen water ran with blood.
Mercifully, it was still a cascade of ice. Down and down we went, until another rocky plateau greeted us. The two auravane dropped from the sky, gliding alongside us.
“Need a cave,” I sent to Ysolthe along with an image of what we sought.
She clicked her beak and changed direction.
I steered my mare after her, riding at a trot to keep up with her pace.
We ducked through the alpine forest, snow dusting the pine branches and falling on our heads as the birds swept past. A clearing emerged from between two ancient cedar trees.
The moon peeked out from behind the clouds for the briefest of moments, casting a beacon on a rocky outcropping.
And the protected hollow inside it.
Ysolthe landed atop a fallen aspen outside it, preening. We tied the horses to one of its upturned branches, their breath frosting the air. My mare snorted and shook herself as more fluffy flakes fell upon her.
My auravane hopped closer, and I went to her. She ducked under my palm, and I pet the downy spot behind her antlers. “Thank you.”
She clicked again, then ruffled her feathers. Ilae hummed, and I stepped back, allowing her to rejoin her mate in the sky. They could circle the battle, splitting the distance between Vaeron and me, accessible to either of us should we need them.
Lyriasthe disappeared into the cave, her groan echoing off the stone. “I think there might even be a hot spring back here.”
I followed her into the darkness, the scent of sulfur curling in my nostrils. The interior was blissfully warm, banishing the chill of the oncoming snowstorm. We flicked bubble lights into the air as we explored the depths, finding a small flow of water at the rear.
I settled beside it with a groan. Lyriasthe slid down the rock next to me, her fingers twisting together.
“Are you okay?” I asked, though it was a stupid question. How could either of us be while we waited to see how the battle and the capture of the High Priestess unfolded?
“At least you have a bond. I’m empty,” she whispered.
I draped my arm over her shoulders and tugged her in close. “They won’t split up. And I will tell you everything I sense through my connection to Vaeron.”
“Thank you.” She blew out a long breath. “Goddess, how different my life is now than it was last winter.”
“There was no way I could have predicted this—and I’m a Seer. We’re traitors, twice over now that we’re planning regicide,” I commented, a smile blooming on my lips before I could stop it.
“You’re going to be the next Korona,” Lyriasthe teased, pulling away from me.
I swatted her playfully on the arm. “Neither of us has noble blood, and we’re among the most powerful Angel houses now.”
Lyriasthe hummed, rolling her lips. A long moment passed before she spoke again. “What do we do now?”
“We wait.” Because that was all we could do when this piece of the plan was so close to fruition. It had been a blessing from the Goddess, truly, that the Kral had flown close to us at all.
And it was entirely suspect that he would so willingly hand over his own kin.
But was my mate any different? We’d plotted to murder his sister and take her throne. But Iaoth was vile, and from what I’d glimpsed of the High Priestess, she was a female trapped in a world that did not value her.
I closed my eyes, tipping my face to the sky despite the stone barrier between us.
And I prayed to our Radiant Mother that we’d all make it back to Sivy unharmed.