23. The Turret #2
Silver turns his head, just enough to look at me.
I hold my breath, waiting for the interrogation.
Instead he says simply, “So you understand, then.”
I nod.
I do.
He reaches past me and unlatches the window. Warm air rushes in, lifting my hair so Silver has to bat it out of his face.
Opening the window wide, he steps through it, out onto the sloped tiled roof, boots sure and steady like the height means nothing to him. Why would it?
He turns back to me and holds out his hand. “I won’t let you fall,” he says, voice low but steady over the wind.
My heart stutters.
“I want to show you something.”
I stare at his hand.
This is a terrible idea.
I take it anyway.
His fingers close around mine. Warm and solid and grounding in a way I’m not prepared for. He doesn’t pull, waiting until I step out of my own accord.
The roof tiles are tacky beneath my boots, but Silver doesn’t let go.
The sky burns its last red breath across the horizon as we move along the curved spine of the turret.
The wind is stronger out here, tugging at my hair, at the loose fabric of his shirt.
I keep my eyes forward, fixed on the narrow ledge ahead, the highest point of Vulcaris, where stone disappears and becomes sky.
I step where he steps.
Almost.
My foot slides on some kind of grit I can’t see. I gasp, and Vulcaris tilts violently as my life flashes before my eyes.
A strong hand closes around my waist.
Silver’s arm bands across my middle, the other braces against the stone beside us, caging me in.
He hauls me up against his chest. I twist away from him at the last moment and my back hits him hard enough to knock the breath from my lungs.
I hiss at the sudden agony.
“Fuck, Scar. Careful,” he warns, his breath warm against my ear.
My heart slams against my ribs.
Then he eases his grip, his hands lingering long enough to be unforgettable before he steps back.
“Okay. We're here. Sit,” he says, nodding toward the ledge.
I do, gladly. Anything to get off my wobbly legs.
We settle side by side at the highest point of the turret, legs dangling over the edge. The world falls away beneath our boots as the wind whips around us, carrying salt and ash and the low rumble of the sea far in the distance.
That’s when thousands of orblights begin to glow all at once, lighting every path and trail from here to the shore.
The view steals my breath.
I glance at him. “Is this what you wanted to show me?”
His gaze is fixed on the horizon. “No. Though it is pretty amazing when the sun sets and the orblights take over.”
The beach curves empty and distant along the western edge of the island, waves breaking against black stone below the harbor market.
Beyond it, anchored fishing boats and ships bob around, and the sea stretches endlessly.
Around us, volcanoes ring Vulcaris like sentinels, their peaks releasing slow ribbons of smoke into the sky.
“Can cambion power orblights like nephilim and seraphim can?” I ask. “Or is the magic on the island powered by those like me and Diana being here?”
“They are powered by those with blood that speaks to magic.” He looks at his arms, twisting his hands and wrists slowly, making the patterns ripple and pulse as though he mentally orders the veins to light up liquid silver beneath his skin.
“People like me. Like the Sisters themselves. And yes, those like you. Magic feeds off blood, so bloodlines are important. The Sisters’ bloodline is…
different. They might look like you and me, but they are as unique as they are powerful. ”
My eyes search his glowing markings. “Powerful like the seraphim and pure-blooded demon Nobles?”
By the angels, against the dark evening sky, he’s even more impressive.
He doesn’t answer, and I can’t blame him.
Whether that means they are stronger, weaker or on a par, I don’t know, but it makes sense for him to keep that to himself.
I might be competing for a place in their Iron Choir, but he knows I was brought here against my will and see most of his kind as monsters.
I sigh, wondering when I changed my mind to most demons being monsters instead of all.
I realize I’ve been staring for too long when Silver clears his throat. I look up at him and the amber of my eyes locks with the gray-gold of his.
“I wanted to show you the island as you’ll see it when you fly again.”
The words hit harder than the wind.
I swallow. “Silver—”
“We’ll start as soon as you’re healed,” he cuts over me, already getting to his feet again.
A bitter smile pulls at my mouth. “Based on my recovery last time, the final game will have been and gone by then.”
His jaw tightens. “You didn’t have my help last time.”
I snort softly. “And what exactly do you think you can do that’s so superior?”
Rather than answer, he holds out his hand to me. I take it more easily this time and he pulls me to my feet beside him.
He doesn’t drop my hand once my footing is steady. Instead, the gray, vein-like patterns beneath his skin begin to glow again. Faint at first, then brighter, pulsing like embers in a fireplace stirred awake.
I suck in a breath when heat rolls off him as flames bloom in the palm of the hand holding onto mine, licking around our fingers, somehow without burning either of us.
Silver turns my hand over, his eyes looking over my wrist and up my arm, searching for something.
There’s a shallow cut along my forearm from Lilliana’s blade. It won’t take long to heal, but so fresh and new, it’s angry and red right now.
Silver brings his flame-touched fingers closer, his eyes flicking to mine in a silent question.
I nod.
The heat kisses my skin.
Not pain. Warmth. Deep and soothing, sinking beneath the surface.
I watch, transfixed, as the torn flesh knits together beneath his touch, the cut sealing itself clean and whole in… seconds.
I stare.
He releases my wrist slowly, as if reluctant to break contact.
“I don’t make promises lightly, Little Nephilim,” he says, his voice rougher now. “When I say it’s possible to fly again, that I’ve helped someone like you before, I mean it.”
The wind howls around us and I stare down at my healed skin.
Then at him.
For the first time since my wings were torn away, the impossible doesn’t feel quite so far out of reach.