41. Chapter Forty #3
“Please, let’s not waste any time. I already said my goodbyes, and if I linger any longer, I’m not sure I’ll find the strength to leave again.
” I swallowed thickly, refusing to turn and look at Archer.
“Now you see why I risked going to Rainsong. And I think you know why I didn’t want to share how weak the phoenixes are becoming.
Who knows how many are affected in the capital, how vulnerable they’d be to your hunts and killings. ”
Archer came to stand beside me. I watched as he inhaled the fresh air, his eyes drinking in the sight of the forest and the dappled sunlight playing over us.
His dark hair threw me off, dragging my eyes to him again and again.
In my periphery, it felt like standing next to a stranger.
But when I looked at him directly, it was easy to see Archer’s features.
But did I really know him anyway?
Wasn’t he still a stranger, a mystery? All of this could have been an act. Even his emotions might have been full of pain for a different reason.
“You didn’t share all your secrets either,” I ventured. “You didn’t tell me you bargained with Mortius.” My tone was edged with accusation, as if I’d grown to expect Archer to be forthcoming with me, as if I thought he owed me anything.
Archer inhaled slowly. “You overheard?” As if shaking off the weight of it all, he shrugged. “Well, the information he gave me led nowhere, so I don’t see how my deal with him is pertinent.”
Anger flared, sharp and sudden. I squeezed the railing until my knuckles went white. “If it hurts you, it affects me,” I said in a clipped voice. “And what did he mean, that you’re running out of time?”
“For the kingdom, Feathers. That’s all. He’s enjoying my suffering too much to want to claim my life,” he said dryly. “And you already knew about my curse and were healing me from my affliction anyway. It wasn’t hidden.”
“We’re bound, Archer.” I narrowed my eyes. “You’re dealing with a dangerous god known for his deceptive ways and delight in torment, and you thought my knowing was irrelevant?”
Archer lifted his hands in mock surrender.
“Forgive me, Feathers. I didn’t know we were sharing secrets now.
I’ll try to keep up. Do you want to swap confessions of our greatest fears and dreams next?
Or you can tell me what you want to name your first child.
” He smirked, pouring on the charm that he usually saved for the rest of his kingdom, which only annoyed me more.
I could feel his underlying frustration, sense that he detected my hypocrisy, but what did the phoenixes’ condition matter to him anyway?
He wanted us all dead.
Or did he?
I sighed, hating how confused I’d become. It was easier when he was my enemy, not when he’d started showing all these gentler, nobler sides. Softening toward him was terrifying. I couldn’t afford to care, couldn’t take that risk. “Let’s go,” I said firmly, slipping the blindfold from my pocket.
Archer’s brow furrowed, a question in his eyes.
This time, it was my turn to smirk. “We can leave from the balcony. I’ll transform in the air. You’ll have to hold on tightly.”
“While I’m blindfolded?” He tried to smile, but I could feel his fear through our bond.
“You don’t need to see to hold on.”
“And after you shift…then what?” Archer asked. “I hurl myself blindly onto your back from your…your talons?” He studied me warily, like he thought I was plotting to drop him to his death despite what it’d do to me.
I laughed. “I won’t shift completely, just enough that I can fly.”
Archer stood still as I secured the blindfold in place and slipped my hand into his, trying to ignore how my pulse hiccupped when he threaded his fingers through mine, the movement seeming instinctual, like he didn’t realize he was doing it.
We’d kissed and held one another more than once, so why did this make my skin flush and my eyes lock firmly ahead, needing to avoid his gaze? Why did this feel intimate?
Before I could examine any of the feelings hovering between us—shared or not—any further, I drew on my magic.
My wings sprung from my back with hardly a thought, such was the replenishing power of the sun and my eagerness to be back in flight.
The breeze ruffled my feathers as I used them to help me jump onto the railing, startling Archer so that he almost didn’t make the leap with me.
Unable to bite back my smile, I threw myself off the balcony. To his credit, Archer kept a firm grip on my hand even as gravity tried to pull him down.
But my wings were more powerful. With a laugh, I beat my wings and spun in the air, catching Archer’s other hand in mine to keep him from crashing to the jungle floor.
We launched upward, every wing beat taking us past a flurry of tangled vines, mossy branches, startled birds, and climbing flowers.
Higher, higher. The corner of Archer’s mouth twitched and he gave in, his smile widening to something like wonder.
Even though he couldn’t see the beauties of the forest, I could sense the awe he was experiencing while soaring through the air.
Without warning, an ache stabbed my chest. I gasped for breath and tore my stare from the crown prince’s as I flew us deeper into the jungle, intent on putting enough distance between us and home that I could shift completely. This was too intimate, too vulnerable.
If not for the bond, he would have killed you long ago, I reminded myself.
That didn’t alleviate the ache.