CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
I didn’t hear the names as Bellan told me about my next targets. Only how to find them.
“Alexei,” I muttered. “Find Alexei.”
I drifted through the steady flow of bodies clogging the hallway outside the throne room, searching for a flash of white-blond hair. He had been in the room; he couldn’t have gone far.
“Lydia!” he called from behind me.
I whipped back around and shouldered my way to him. “Griffon asked that you teach me to fly,” I rushed out. “Specifically, land. All I’ve managed so far is to smash my face into the ground.”
He gaped at me. “A few hours is not enough time for that.”
“That’s been the story since I got here. Just teach me what you can. Come on.”
We darted through the bodies and up the central staircase.
“What did Davina mean by ‘gather your units’? Is there an organized army, and if so, why? Gargoyles can’t fight humans, and the da’kai have been, well, kind of stupid up until now.”
“Gargoyles warred constantly before the Rift. Killing each other is in our blood.” He shrugged.
“It’s just good practice. And—until recently, anyways—just because the da’kai don’t think like us doesn’t mean they don’t have their own brand of intellect.
They hunt like a fucking wolf pack. Fighting them effectively still requires a chain of command. ”
“Which is what?” I panted, out of breath from sprinting through the halls.
He was at least slightly winded beside me.
“The legion is made up of nine units, each with about a hundred warriors split between Eagles, Phoenixes, and Sparrows. Melee fighters, channelers, and archers,” he clarified.
“Nighthawks are a separate unit that does recon. Don’t ask me what their internal structure is because I have no idea.
Each unit has a captain, and General Sorrell commands the entire legion, though Archon Davina has the final say if she is there.
If Sorrell is killed, control passes to Commander Aris, then to a ranked list of the captains. ”
My attention had snagged on one detail of his explanation. “So, I’m a Phoenix?” My lips quirked up at the thought, despite the horror of the situation.
“Yup. You and Griffon both. Laney and I are Eagles. Where are you taking me?”
I darted through the door of the same turret that Griffon had found me up, my legs and lungs still screaming by the time we made it to the top. I peered over the edge and my heart thumped even faster. “This probably won’t kill me if I fuck it up, right?” I managed through panted breaths.
He tilted his head and judged the distance. “Probably not.”
“Encouraging,” I muttered. I dragged that beast out of its cage and shifted.
My wing smacks Alexei in the face before I can tuck it in.
He slaps it out of the way, and I growl at the sharp sting that bites my sensitive membrane.
He glares back and I clench my fists to keep from punching him.
I trail my fingers over the phoenix charm and beat back that feral part of me that tries to take over.
“Just turn around,” he snaps.
I bare my fangs for good measure before turning my back to him. He pokes and prods and drones on and on about gargoyle wing anatomy, the words forgotten as soon as they leave his mouth.
He starts over and pokes the first muscle at the top of my shoulder and I whip around, nearly taking him out with my wing again.
“Watch where you fling those things!” he barks.
I snap at his face, but tuck my wings in. “I’m not absorbing any of this. Just ditch the shirt and jump off the turret a few times. I’ll watch what your wings do.”
He snorts. “I don’t feel like that demand would go over so well if our positions were reversed.”
My growl is answer enough.
He shucks off his cloak and rips his shirt over his head before shifting. His wings tuck close to his spine in a heartbeat. He levels me with a pointed look, and I roll my eyes.
The gooseflesh that had sprung up on his arms has smoothed to flawless ivory, his pupils slightly elongated in his shockingly blue eyes. I back up and he spreads his alabaster wings, the veining reminiscent of purest marble.
I watch the angle at the base of his wings adjust before he leaps off the tower.
My keen eyes track his descent. Just as Griffon said, his muscles roll back, his wings flare, and he flaps hard.
His feet touch down with only a soft dusting of snow settling on his boots. He’s by my side again just as quickly.
“Again.” I study his every move. After another few times I am confident I can replicate the movements. “I’m ready.”
I hop onto the turret’s edge, my fear of heights cordoned off behind Stone’s impenetrable wall.
What a ridiculous notion, to be a creature of the sky and night and stars and be afraid of open air and freeing wind.
I briefly shutter my eyes and run the pad of my thumb over the bracelet. You’re Lydia. And you’re in control.
I leap.
Gravity claims me, and I forget everything I’d just watched Alexei’s body do. My wings fold. “Fuuuuuuu—!”
I smack the ground in a flurry of snowflakes. They settle onto my cheeks and hair, their kisses pleasantly cool against my granite skin. I groan and roll over to Alexei’s face hovering above me.
“I don’t think you were ready.”
“No shit,” I moan. I haul myself to my feet, my ribs and shoulders barking their protests. “How about pointing out the muscles I need to engage at each step.”
He pins me with a withering glare.
“Don’t look at me like that, you’re the teacher! Maybe don’t take suggestions from the dumbass you’re instructing.”
“You and Griffon deserve each other,” he mumbles.
I manage a smirk through the pain at that.
“Turn around again.”
I suck in a deep breath and leap, flinging my wings out the moment my weight leaves the ledge. Gravity challenges my right to the skies, but I tighten my muscles and stabilize the base of my wings. They catch the air and hold firm.
I angle toward the ground. As it nears, I roll my shoulders back, drop my feet, and give two heavy beats. I stumble forward when my feet strike the snow, but stay upright.
“Much better than that first attempt,” Alexei says. He thumps me on the shoulder.
I barely check my reaction before I punch him in the face.
“What happened the first attempt?” His voice sets my flinty heart fluttering, and I whip around. Griffon. Home. I anchor myself in him and Stone dissolves.
I flung myself into his arms. Griffon chuckled and buried his face into my neck, breathing deeply.
“Nothing worth mentioning,” I said into his neck.
“She got impatient and face-planted off the top of the turret,” Alexei supplied. “Are you surprised? She’s a feisty hellcat in Stone. Pretty sure she almost decked me about a dozen times, too.”
“I can be a feisty hellcat in Flesh, too, you rat bastard,” I grumbled.
He barked a laugh behind me.
“Just a bruise,” I assured Griffon. “Mostly to my ego.” I dropped to the ground and stared up into his wary eyes. “What’s going to happen?”
Alexei joined us, the mirth vanishing off his wide, expressive face.
Griffon’s jaw clenched, his eyes darkening with a cloud of roiling anger. “The legion is going to Vircann. Archon Davina isn’t willing to risk that Bellan is sincere and we do nothing.” His nostrils flared. “After all, ‘Our duty is to protect humans, and protect them we will.’ And her word is law.”
“You disagree?” Alexei asked.
“I don’t trust the bastard,” he growled. “She wasn’t interested in my objections to going, only my suggestions on how to do it.”
My stomach clenched. “When do we leave?” It was all happening so fast.
“This evening. We all agreed we have the advantage at night, and it’s cloudy. There is no reason to delay.”
“What is the flight time to Vircann?” I cringed and reached back to rub my already sore muscles.
His gaze softened as he watched me. “About five hours. I can carry you.”
“So can Laney and I,” Alexei added.
I shook my head. “No, you all need your strength for whatever hell we’ll be flying into. I’ll manage.”
Griffon’s expression made it clear that I would manage perfectly fine in his arms. “Flight muscles take time to build up. No one expects you to make that journey.”
My jaw clenched. “We’ll see,” I conceded. Based on how my body already felt, I was fairly certain brute stubbornness wasn’t going to cut it for this one.
“We’ve got a few hours before we leave. Come rest with me.”
I nodded, still rubbing my neck.
He clasped Alexei on the shoulder. “Thank you for teaching her.”
Alexei grinned. “It wasn’t exactly a pleasure,” he said with a wink at me, “but I’m happy to have helped.”
I snickered and gave him a quick hug. When I turned back, Griffon’s eyes were narrowed. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I hissed after Alexei had walked away. Griffon’s stony gaze tracked his retreating back.
He scooped me up. “Add jealous fuck to that list of vile traits you have going.”
I hid my smile in the crook of his neck.
He carried me back to his room and gently set me on my feet.
Two whips shot from him, one closing the door behind us, the other snaking into the washroom.
The blissful sound of running water reached me a second later, and the whips dissolved into glittering black dust. He peeled my filthy clothes off my body, scooped me back up, and lowered me into a basin of steaming hot water.
He perched on the edge, his hands reaching for my shoulders.
“Absolutely not. You smell. Get in.”
His brow cocked and I knew he saw right through my maneuvers. “You’re supposed to be resting. Not having sex.”
I pouted up at him. “We can get naked and behave like responsible fucking adults.” I glanced toward the ceiling. “That’s fucking, adjective, not fucking, verb.” I slid my gaze back to him and peered up through my lashes. “Can’t say I wouldn’t prefer the verb, though.”
“You’re a menace,” he said, but to my delight, obliged me and excavated that delicious body from his layers of clothes and settled behind me.
The heady smell of his cinnamon-scented soap enveloped me. I closed my eyes and drowned myself in it, moaning when his thumbs began working the knots out of my back.
By the time he finished I was putty, the dull ache that had settled between my shoulder blades surrendering to a pleasant warmth. “Thank you,” I mumbled, rolling my shoulders. “So much better.”
“Come here,” he said gently.
I crawled into his lap, and he leaned back against the wall of the basin. I settled against his chest, the water lapping pleasantly against my neck.
“What do you think is going to happen in Vircann?”
He didn’t answer immediately, but I could feel his jaw clenching against the top of my head. “Hopefully not what I fear.”
“Which is?”
“Solstice. Except this time, we all die.”