56. Chapter 56
CHAPTER 56
Dynalya
T he gentle patter of rain began to fall, trilling on the leaves and containment dome. It filled the heavy silence between them. Cassiel extended his wing above her head as they gazed at one another, but Dyna broke eye-contact first.
It hurt to look at him.
The simple sight of that ethereal face that haunted her dreams, and those silver pools in the night, soft and pleading, made her heart ache. Sparking it with a confusion mixture of anger and longing.
She detested it.
It was foolish to permit him to stay when he asked. Why did she allow it? Dyna reasoned his status and power could be used in her favor. He wanted to be used, so why not take advantage of it?
Yet it shouldn’t surprise her that Cassiel continued to question her decisions. He never could help himself, could he?
“I take it you don’t approve,” Dyna replied curtly, moving out from under his wing. “Well, I don’t require your permission.”
Sighing, Cassiel shook his head. “Whether I approve or not, I know you well enough by now to know I cannot stop you,” he said softly. Even when I try.
Gasping, Dyna lurched to her feet at the sound of his voice in her mind. Her boot caught on a stone, and she stumbled back. “No,” she blurted desperately, nearly shrill when he reached for her. “Don’t touch me. Don’t mind-speak to me. I cannot stand it!”
Cassiel froze, a shocked breath slipping from his lips. His hand dropped and he looked away as if the words hurt him. She hoped it did. May they crush him the way his words had once crushed her.
The animosity behind the thought almost startled her. She was once the person who could easily forgive any fault or wrong done against her. But she could never forget what he did.
Her body could not forget.
Cassiel’s voice had been in her mind as he held her down and erased everything they were, it was burned eternally in her memory like a wound that wouldn’t heal. It made her flinch whenever he neared because that day had implanted a new fear that now plagued her.
The fear of being so utterly helpless again.
“You have nothing to fear from me, Dynalya…”
At the soft murmur of her name, she peered at him through her wet lashes. Cassiel had placed ample space between them, as if prepared to stand and leave at her command.
“Never again.” He was repeating her fervent promise when they were in the wine cellar.
She could feel how much he meant it. How much he wanted her to know she was safe . Except she thought she had been safe with him before.
That trust was lost.
No matter how much Dyna dissected his actions the day he destroyed her, she didn’t fully understand why he would do such a thing as to bind her magic and seal away her memories in the first place. Whatever his promises now, it didn’t change that she couldn’t trust him to one day find another inconceivable reason to do so again.
Dyna checked her shield on the bond, making sure it was solid.
Yet Cassiel did not lift his shield, as if he didn’t care to use it anymore. Everything he felt was there on the surface for her to feel, even when she didn’t want to. But it was hard to ignore. Cassiel’s guilt hung around him like his very own storm.
Heavy and suffocating.
When they had discussed his uncle, she inadvertently found herself trying to comfort him and it annoyed her. Showing him any sympathy was out of habit from the girl she used to be, not because she cared. They weren’t friends anymore.
They weren’t mates.
They weren’t anything.
“Tell me why you broke us apart,” she said suddenly. “Tell me the truth for once. I am listening now.”
Cassiel blinked at her, completely taken aback. The rain poured down harder but neither of them moved for cover.
Dyna swallowed, forcing herself to face him. If she didn’t confront him now with the questions that had fueled her nightmares for the past three months, she would never find any rest.
She needed closure to move on.
“You did this to us for a reason, right?” Dyna pressed when he didn’t answer. “You broke us because you believed it was the best thing to do. Tell me why. And I mean tell me everything .”
Because he was hiding something from her. Even with his shield down. Even with his sad eyes. Even with his soul pleading for another chance.
He was still afraid.
It had to be more than her simply being human.
Cassiel opened his mouth then closed it. His throat bobbed and the silence thickened. He couldn’t tell her. More like he wouldn’t. Because in his mind, he was protecting her. Well, she never asked to be protected, and certainly not with secrets and lies.
Dyna faced the dome again. “Leave me alone.”
“Dyna…”
“Leave,” she hissed through clenched teeth.
“All right …” Cassiel consented with a sigh, and he stood. “But someone should be here to watch over you and Zev. It will take a toll on your Essence to maintain the dome all night. Shall I call for Lucenna?”
“I’ll be fine,” Dyna said sharply.
She may not have been able to train her magic all winter, but it was strong enough to keep a containment dome.
The soft swish of canvas drew her attention to Raiden slipping out of Lady Aerina’s tent. Dyna waved him over and Raiden nodded, but he paused in his approach when Camsen stopped to speak to him.
“You may go now,” Dyna told Cassiel again in a low clipped tone. “Lord Raiden will keep me company.”
Yet Cassiel lingered, and she felt his stare. “If you are entertaining this ruse of a courtship merely to keep me at bay, there is no need for it,” he finally said.
She smirked. “What makes you believe it’s a ruse?”
“You met him hardly a week ago. You expect me to believe you have already taken a liking to him?”
“Why should that be of any surprise? I was taken with you the first day we met.” Heat flushed through her cheeks at what she invertedly blurted. “We bonded soon after, even if it was an accident. The heart wants what it wants.”
Gods, why was she speaking about this?
Dyna closed her eyes, and her treacherous memories painted the day beneath the willow. It had taken some time before she could admit how hopelessly in love she had been.
“Your actions led to the dissolution of our marriage, Cassiel. Therefore, kindly grant me a divorce and find another to take my place. I will do the same.”
Her demand seemed to clog up the air between them and she felt the bond shudder. The angles of Cassiel’s face caught the golden glow of the dome as he looked at her. He did not disguise the pain in in his eyes and it made her heart ache.
“I will not chain you to me, Dynalya. If separation is what you desire, then I will prepare a ghet . A contract which grants you an annulment.” Cassiel turned to go, his wings spreading open. “But there will never be another who could take your place.”
Then he soared away into the night sky and vanished behind the clouds.
There will never be another…
Did that mean he would be alone forever?
Groaning, Dyna pressed the heels of her palms against her achy eyes. She was exhausted, but her thoughts ceased to let her rest. She was sharing Lucenna’s tent, leaving the flaps open to let in the light of the dome, but it gave her little comfort. Dyna glanced at where the sorceress slept beside her, Keena nestled in the pillows.
Slipping on her cloak, Dyna put on her shoes and went outside. Klyde was taking his turn to watch over her cousin. He sat silently by a small campfire with Tavin laying on a sleeping mat beside him. They exchanged a nod before she kept going.
The dark camp was quiet, with most asleep among the still tents and torches. Dyna tugged her cloak around her shoulders as she strolled through the brightly lit camp toward the river. A couple Norrlen guards were posted outside of Lady Aerina’s tent, and the Ranger Regiment kept watch at the perimeter. She sensed their wariness as they watched her pass.
The atmosphere felt tense, and it may have to do with the whispered conversation Raiden had with the Captain of the Ranger Regiment. When he had joined her by the dome, he kept the conversation light. She had waited for him to ask about Zev, but he didn’t.
Dyna glanced at the sky, catching a glimpse of a winged figure slipping into the clouds. While the majority of Valkyrie had stayed behind in Sellav, she had seen a small flock of females in golden armor follow Cassiel, Sowmya and Yelrakel included. They must be keeping out of sight as they preferred to do.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a soft rustle of leaves. Stiffening, Dyna glanced over her shoulder into the dark forest. A cool chill crawled over her skin as she studied the black shadows, but she felt no lingering eyes. Her hand relaxed around the blade’s hilt at her waist when she caught faint voices. The wind made it hard to discern.
A distant flash of blue light lit up the leaves then vanished.
Oh. It was him .
What was Cassiel doing in the forest?
Frowning, Dyna decided to investigate.
Trained to move silently, she slipped into the trees without a sound. The familiar prickle of goosebumps scattered down her spine as she moved through darkness. Her heart rate quickened with her old fear, but she focused on the faint blue light ahead and nothing else.
The light grew brighter, and Dyna moved slower until Cassiel came into view. He stood in a small clearing with a male Celestial kneeling at his feet. The male was dressed in dark red robes, his wide blue eyes filled with fear and disgust. The veins bulged in his face, his mouth caught in a silent cry. His back bent backward; arms held straight back as though an unseen force was slowly bending him.
Cassiel’s eyes glowed like two blue torch fires in the night. “I will ask you one more time. Who. Sent. You?”
“Lech la’azzazel,” the Celestial spat. “Death to you and your zonah ?—”
At the snap of Cassiel’s fingers, seraph flames erupted around the Celestial. He burst into ash instantly. So fast there was no time to scream. Nothing was left but a few blue embers and scorch marks in the earth.
Dyna’s chest heaved with a shuddering breath.
He executed him.
Without hesitation.
“How did that one slip through the perimeter?” Cassiel asked cooly, his voice a low growl. Laced with a wrath that sent shivers down her spine. It was the same voice she heard from him in Hermon when he discovered the bruise on her shoulder. His glowing eyes fixed on the tree branches above him. Dyna squinted at the spot, but it was too dark to see who he spoke to. “Have the others tighten patrols. I don’t care how many assassins the Valkyrie have stopped. No threat should ever get this close to her.”
Cassiel paused as he listened to a reply. The croak of frogs and the leaves swishing in the breeze muffled whoever answered. Who was he speaking to? Dyna would have assumed Sowmya, but the way he spoke seemed to imply someone not part of the Valkyrie unit.
“There is no telling how many assassins were sent after her,” he said. “They won’t stop until they succeed in taking her life until I take all of theirs.”
Ice sank into her veins. The cold menacing statement made Dyna’s heart race and she was suddenly wary of her surroundings. They could have struck now, and she wouldn’t have noticed. Someone had tried to strike tonight. How many had come to kill her that she didn’t know about?
Dyna inched closer to hear them better.
“I doubt she would turn back now, more so at my protest. Continue to watch over her and—” Cassiel cut off at a response she missed, and he laughed shortly, the sound tired and frustrated. “No, she wouldn’t believe me. Not anymore.”
Another pause.
Cassiel rubbed his face and scowled up at the branches. “Would it change anything if I told her the truth? Or would I condemn her to a life of paranoia and fear?”
There it was. The secret behind everything.
Dyna sensed it hanging in the air, on the tip of his tongue. She inched forward, desperate to hear it.
“Enough,” Cassiel snapped sharply, making her halt. “Do not speak of this again. There are things that should stay in the past and this is one of them. I will not subject her to that torture. She has suffered enough.”
He still didn’t learn.
Even when he had the chance to make things right, he still chose to keep his secrets. If he didn’t trust her with the truth, how could she ever begin to trust him again?
Retreating into the shadows, Dyna turned back. Perhaps she should have confronted Cassiel then, but she chose to walk away.
From him and any possibility of them.