Chapter 42
FORTY-TWO
Never get too comfortable.
CELINE
After a whirlwind breakfast with Sheena and her guys, Ciprian and I spend the rest of the day in bed. When the sun sets, though, I know it’s time for me to go home.
“Idris will make a portal for you,” Ciprian says, looking up from his phone.
I raise my eyebrows. “Are you sure he doesn’t mind?”
Ciprian snorts. “He always minds, but that never stops anyone from asking.”
After the wing goes quiet, we sneak out, hand in hand. I’m pretty sure the Therions know I’m here by now, but they haven’t bothered us, and the risk of getting caught is exciting.
Bathed in darkness, we meet the fae by the fountain in the courtyard.
“Thank you,” I whisper. “I appreciate this.”
Idris sighs. “At least someone does.”
He raises his hands, and purple sparks light the air. Within seconds, I find myself stepping into the swirling magic with a smile on my face. Sheena has her hands full, but I’m surprised by how much I liked them all. I’m even more surprised when I feel Ciprian follow me into the portal.
The twist in my belly coalesces until my entire body is being squeezed through a tube. A second later, the portal ejects us, and I stumble into an alley I recognize. It’s only a few blocks from the Fang.
Ciprian pops out next to me and raises his eyebrows. “This must be where Idris sent Sheena for her meetings with Alistair.”
I consider Sheena and her guys. I’m not sure how they define the relationship, but it’s clearly a relationship. Even while exhausted from everything they’ve gone through, they move like a unit, seeming happy to be together.
“Do you have questions?” Ciprian asks. There’s a twinkle next to the shadow in his black eyes that I’m relieved to see making a return.
“Are they all together?”
Ciprian cringes. “I don’t ask for details, but Sheena is with them all, and my brother and Gideon are sickeningly in love.” I’m not fooled by his grossed-out expression. Ciprian is thrilled for Callum, no matter what he says.
“Your brother watches you,” I point out.
“He’s always waiting for me to fuck up,” Ciprian says. “Or he used to be, at least.”
I tilt my head, unconvinced. I lived for two decades with someone who was always waiting for me to fuck up.
Callum’s behavior struck me more as the watchful stare of the little boy in the picture on the wall—someone prepared to rain down hell on anyone who threatened their little brother.
But what do I know about it? I’m an only child.
“He’ll kill me if I hurt you,” I say with a shrug.
Ciprian’s head snaps up. “Callum wouldn’t do anything to hurt you, I promise—”
“Whoa, chill out! It’s not a bad thing, Ciprian.” I pat him on the shoulder.
“You said my brother would kill you if you hurt me. How is that not a bad thing?”
I smile. “Because I don’t plan to hurt you.”
In a flash, the panicked, defensive expression on his face warps into something infinitely hotter. Blond hair ruffled from the portal; his expensive black joggers molded to his ass . . . Ciprian looks like trouble. And I want it.
He crowds me against the wall, eyeing me as if I’m wearing lingerie and a full face of makeup instead of barefaced and swimming in his oversized T-shirt and yesterday’s jeans.
“I don’t plan to hurt you either,” he whispers.
I grab his face and pull it down to mine. Ciprian kisses me with everything he’s got. It’s pure seduction. He’s entirely focused on giving me a kiss that exceeds my wildest dreams.
“Ciprian,” I moan into his mouth.
He wraps his arms around me, pulling our bodies together as he says, “I love it when you say my name.” When he holds me like this, I believe everything will be okay.
“Why did you come back with me?” I ask.
“Because you’re planning to execute a recon mission in a hostile realm.”
I caught him up to speed today while we hid away in his bed, needing to talk through everything and get my head on straight. Ciprian listened quietly when I told him I had decided to sneak back to gather information, but he never told me he wanted to go with me.
“I wasn’t trying to manipulate you into coming,” I say, the cursed itch digging into my shoulders. “This is my risk, and it should be mine alone.”
Ciprian rolls his eyes. “The others aren’t going to let you go alone, and they don’t exactly blend in. You need my nightmares, hot wings, and I’m volunteering, no manipulation needed.”
A muscle in my jaw ticks; I hate it when he makes sense. “I’m in charge,” I tell him. “You’ll have to listen to me. No cowboy shit.”
“Cowboy shit? Me?” He jabs his thumb into his chest. “You’ve got the wrong guy. I love powerful women, and I’m more than happy to let you boss me around.”
“As long as I don’t ignore you.”
Ciprian shudders dramatically. “Anything but that.”
Smiling despite my worry, I grab his hand, and we walk to my place quietly. I’m acutely aware of how good his fingers feel against mine. Somehow, this infectious demon has crawled under my skin and embedded himself there, and I don’t want him to leave.
When I unlock my apartment, I find all three of them waiting for me. Still, silent, and evenly spaced across my furniture, I can’t help chuckling. “You all look like you’ve been petrified.”
“Which reality star from our favorite show has a shriveled ballsack?” Luca asks, crossing his arms over his chest. I stare at him, confused, then realize he’s trying to verify my identity with an are-you-really-a-veydra question.
“Probably most of them.” I shrug and rack my brain for the guy’s name. It’s something dumb, I know that, but I can’t remember what it is.
“Celine.”
“I know, Luca, I know, but I can’t remember his damn name.” I groan at him. “Is it Bear?”
He shakes his head. “It’s Wolfe, baby—but I’ll take it.”
Luca stands and crosses the room to kiss me. He turns to Ciprian next, surprising us both when he yanks him into a hug. “I’m sorry, man.”
Ciprian grunts in response, but leans into the hug, his arms tightening around Luca’s waist once his shock wears off.
“How did your wings hold up, My Truth?”
Malach walks to my side and runs his fingers over my back, paying special attention to the spots where my wings are currently stowed.
Shivering beneath his touch, I shoot him a look.
But there’s nothing sensual in his green eyes.
As usual, Malach is studying me analytically, as if I’m a puzzle he’s putting together in his head. It’s infuriating.
“They’re fine.” I tilt my chin up and clear my throat. “I’ve decided to return to the celestial realm. Temporarily. I need to figure out what my father is up to.”
“I knew you wouldn’t let him win.” Malach murmurs the words in our thatsha dialect, only switching to English to say, “When do we leave?”
“After we go over the plan. Several times.” Alistair rises from the couch. His blue eyes dart to Ciprian then away, and the tension between them makes me squirm. They give off so much heat, especially when they refuse to look at each other.
“Food first,” Luca says. “I’ll order some pizzas, then we can hear what Celine’s thinking.”
I nod, doing my best to remain confident as all four of them focus on me.
Gods. This is happening.
I’m going home.
Grim determination fills me as we drive into the desert.
Squashed in the backseat between Luca and Ciprian, I refuse to panic.
We’ve gone over the plan. Several times, per Alistair’s demands, and all of them refused to be left behind.
It’s reckless to bring them near my father, I know that, but if they’re with me, I can at least try to protect them.
All night, I tossed and turned, imagining the faceless assassin killing them while I was gone.
The illegal gateway I arrived through is camouflaged and located a few miles outside of Vegas. It can only be activated by someone with celestial magic, and as we get closer, I can’t help remembering the last time I was here.
Scared, heartbroken, hopeful . . . My new life started that day, but it wasn’t easy.
Luca squeezes my knee, and I realize I’ve been bouncing it up and down, my nerves finding an outlet while I was distracted.
“It’s just ahead,” Malach says to Alistair, directing him toward a large formation of rocks.
Alistair grunts and parks in the shadow of the largest boulder. He borrowed this Jeep from someone who owed him a favor. Since we’re almost ten miles off-road and deep in the desert, I highly doubt anyone will spot it while we’re gone.
Even with the doors closed, the celestial magic hums against my skin. It calls to me, and from the goosebumps on Malach’s neck, he feels it too.
“Remember.” I clear my throat. “Keep a hand on Malach or me at all times. The gateway doesn’t work like the portals you’re used to. It will only recognize our signatures and let you pass if you’re with us. I don’t want someone to get cut in half.”
“Or be spat into the eternal beyond,” Malach adds.
“Please don’t explain where or what that is,” Ciprian mutters. “I’ll be glued to your ass, hot wings. I promise.”
We get out of the Jeep, slide into our backpacks, then shut the doors. I watch the gateway shimmer, its delicate runic patterns clustered in the shape of a wheel against the rough rock face.
This is it. We’re really doing this.
I roll my shoulders back. Luca laces his fingers with mine, and Ciprian wraps his arms around my waist, scooting flush against my ass. Alistair steps into my chest, dipping his thumbs beneath the waist of jeans.
I shiver and tell myself it’s because of the enormity of what we’re about to do.
With my free hand, I reach for the portal to activate it, then pause.
Malach is standing to the side, and it doesn’t feel right. Going with my gut, I lace our fingers together. “You unlock it,” I whisper before shifting into our language. “I don’t think I can do this without you.”
His beautiful green eyes dig into the side of my face.
They see too much. They always have.
“I’m by your side now, forever, and always. As long as my heart beats, you’ll never be alone.” Malach’s vow is a punch to my gut, but before I can react, he slams his palm into the shimmering edge of the gateway.
It begins to purr.
Unlike the fae portal Ciprian and I used to get to Vegas, the gate is thirty feet tall and wide enough for a dozen people to walk through at the same time. It’s a massive piece of magically engineered technology, and the most highly protected mode of transportation in our realm.
The purring gets louder, more of a whine now.
Hot, angry wind gusts around us, tossing my hair in everyone’s face.
Then the gate sucks us in.
One second, we’re standing in the desert while the sun beats down on us, and the next our feet are skidding along the dusty, cracked earth. A heartbeat later, I’m weightless, and all five of us are hurtling through space.
“Don’t let go,” I shout, the force of the wind doing its best to rip them away from me.
Lights flash—every color imaginable—some I haven’t seen since I left my home realm. I squeeze my eyes shut.
The whining turns to a wail, then a shrill scream, eerie and horrifying.
Luca grunts in my ear, his grip on my hand tightening. It’s too loud, too rough. I imagine blood dripping from my ears, and I’m not sure if it’s happening or all in my imagination.
It ends as suddenly as it began.
Like a rubber band snapping against an exposed wrist, the metallic screech cuts off abruptly. The wind rustling my hair is freezing cold. It makes no sense to me. The celestial realm is temperature controlled.
I open my eyes and look around, but there are no golden walkways. No bloodline-activated transportation tubes between the echelons. No background buzz of celestial lights.
Instead, we’re standing in a brutal wilderness.
Craggy, jagged peaks shoot out of the crumbling ground like spikes erupting from the core of the planet itself. In the sky all around, there’s a strange floating barrier made of glowing rubble. It reminds me of the cage at the Mouth of Hell—the one woven with dozens of enchantments.
Trembling from the cold, I look at Malach in horror. Something went terribly wrong, and the gateway we came through is nowhere in sight.
“This isn’t how I imagined it,” Ciprian says, chafing his hands against his arms.
Panic stirs in my veins, and I push it back desperately. I don’t know what happened, but this is my fault. I led them here. I have to be strong.
Gritting my teeth, I face them and whisper, “This isn’t the celestial realm.”
Then Luca drops to his knees and screams.