Chapter 40
“So hear me out,” Daelun said, shoving another cinnamon roll into his mouth. He waved his gooey fingers, his eyes dancing. “We’re in some kind of simulation and we’re all trapped. Us, the gods, the shifters. Everyone.”
I stopped mid-chew, my mouth half full of bacon, while I held two pieces of fried plantain. My eyebrows rose to my hairline.
“I promise he gets dumber,” Isandra said, rolling her eyes. She flipped her long, black hair over her shoulder while digging into her plate of spaghetti mixed with sausage links.
“And more ridiculous,” Amayah chimed in quietly, sipping on her mangogo cider. “The conspiracies keep growing with this one.”
“Your friends are idiots,” Quazar said down our bond while he continued piling meat onto his plate. His mouth was full of eggs and bacon, and he used one wing to grab a platter of fruit, while using another to refill his goblet with more mangogo cider. “The astronomical kind.”
“Piss off,” was my only answer. He chuckled down the bond while stuffing his mouth with more food.
Seventh Choir and the Xadari Talons had taken to eating all meals together since the dawn Kaelthos nearly had me killed by the Scourgers.
A wall had broken between us from that moment on. It felt nice no longer being separated by Quazar’s wall of shadows. Or glaring at one another every second of each dawn. Now we were all in the mess hall of our wingtower, scarfing down firstfast before it was time to go to Sanctuary.
“Daelun,” I started slowly after swallowing the food in my mouth. “We are…not in some kind of simulation. This is very, very real.”
“I don’t believe it.” He shook his head, determined.
“Because we are in a temple, Safah. A temple! All of this bloodshed. All of this death. All of this torture. In a temple?” He looked around, looking for support.
“Come on. I can’t be the only who thinks this is a simulation.
This can’t be entirely real. This is not a Spiritscape. ”
Dakairi snorted, filling his plate as full as Quazar’s. Ellabeth watched him. Her face was wrinkled with an interesting expression. She had a twinkle in her eyes.
Ellabeth watched Dakairi scarf down his eggs and bacon. Then he took a sip of his cider. Some of the juice slid down the planes of his handsome chin. Ellabeth trailed that drip of juice all the way down until it fell onto his plate. Dakairi licked his lips. Ellabeth’s cheeks flushed.
“What the heck happened between those two that I missed?” I asked Quazar.
He slid his gaze to me, the emerald of his eyes twinkling.
“That’s not our business you know.”
“They are our best friends. Everything about them is our business. Spill!”
Quazar smirked, turning back to his plate.
“This conversation isn’t addressing anything important,” he said out loud. Every head at the table turned to him. “What I want to know is, why in the Hèls have they not fed us any rice and beans yet?”
“Now that is worthy of discussion,” Ivyana chimed in. She lifted a piece of bacon off her plate, chowing down. I noticed her plate was as full as all of the Talons. Stars. How much did these Legionnaires need to eat? “I want rice. Beans. Pikliz. Plantains. Fried pork. Yuka.”
“Same, little sister. Same.” Quazar nodded.
So, she was his little sister.
A million questions popped into my head. Chiefly, how in the stars did she get conscripted into enrolling at Azarath Academy when she was clearly so much younger than the rest of the Talons? Had she been raised by the Fallen King, too?
“I don’t think there’s anything serious between them.” Quazar snuck his tendrils of shadow across our bond, letting them slip into my hearts. Into my spirit. “Pretty sure they get on each other’s nerves.”
“I know Ellie better than I know myself. It’s not her expression to look at. It’s her eyes.”
Quazar slid his gaze to Ellabeth who was seated across Dakairi. Her eyes were swirling aquamarine, growing darker with hunger. With need.
“Mm, she wants him.”
“Bad,” I added.
“Good thing is he’s been wanting to taste her, too. Now, has he? Don’t know, don’t care. That’s his business.”
I scoffed out loud. Ellabeth’s gaze snapped to mine. I tore into my plantains playing off the outburst.
“And us, Princeling. What is happening here?”
Quazar lifted his gaze to mine, bringing his goblet to his lips. When his pearls of emerald met mine of lavender, his eyes darkened.
“Not nearly enough for my liking,” he rumbled down the bond.
I clenched my legs as knots twisted in my stomach.
“We hated each other basically two dawns ago.”
“We’re grown, Starling. That’s behind us. We’ve dealt with it. Now I’m focused on what’s in front of us. Well…” He tilted his head. Licked those full lips I wanted to taste, to explore, so badly. “Until we can focus on what’s inside of us.”
I’d started sipping on my mangogo cider and choked, coughing on the sweet drink. The entire table turned to look at me. Omarion patted my back with a wing until my coughing fit passed.
“You okay?” he asked.
I nodded, not trusting myself to answer. Ellabeth looked between me and Quazar, her eyes slanting. Dakairi kept his eyes on his plate but he chuckled to himself longer than I appreciated. I opened my mouth to speak when a scrollport surfaced at the center of our table.
“Burning Hèls,” Daelun grumbled.
I stiffened. What was this about?
We all put our forks and goblets down, waiting for the burning thing to unfold. The scrollport unfurled until a Babephim surfaced in its center. The messenger ranking angel was beautiful with wide eyes and a sweet demeanor.
“Hello Disciples, it’s time for your next trial.
Fear of terror at twinight—nor arrows at dawn—should ever befall you.
Whether a thousand fall at your side, even if you witness ten thousand die around you, evil will lay no finger on you.
Keep your wings and become the pride of the Order.
Lose them and be their ridicule. I wish you the Infinite’s Blessing.
On behalf of Profèt Samael and High Farasee Manazzra Ahabiah, wings high. Ascend, or enlarge the Hèls.”
“I’m sick of this temple,” Daelun muttered.
“Truly.” Isandra sighed.
I waved my hand, summoning my sandals. I slipped them on, lacing the straps up my calves.
I snuck a peek at Quazar. Neither him, nor any of the Talons, moved to get dressed. They continued eating like nothing happened. He was in his loose robes again, opened over his chest. He looked relaxed like this. In his element.
“You’re staring, Starling.”
“I have a good view.”
He smirked, sliding his eyes to mine. A tendril of shadow slipped out from him, curling around my waist, squeezing. I bit my lip at the sensual touch, instantly hungering for more. A second tendril of shadow curled around my thigh. It slipped higher, making my breath hitch.
“That little breathy sound might just be my undoing.”
The shadow squeezed my thigh again. And rot if I didn’t skip another breath. Quazar brought his goblet to his mouth. My eyes fluttered shut as my breaths became labored.
“Safah.”
Quazar’s shadows crawled up the length of my curves like sin until they settled beneath my chin.
“Eyes here.”
He brushed a lock of my hair behind the winged tip of my ear, as he studied the side profile of my face.
“You are a glorious distraction,” he breathed down the bond, sending shivers down my spine. “One I want to lose myself in and see what I find.”
“You two good?” one of the Talons asked.
Vashari I’d heard Ivyana call him once. I looked into his light green eyes, so light they looked hazel, and flushed.
“Yeah,” I bit my lip, grabbing my goblet. I cleared my throat. Twice. “Why…why wouldn’t we be?”
Stars, I was hot. Seriously, I needed a breeze or something to cool down. How suspicious would Daelun get if I asked for a bit of wind? Better yet. Could I trust him to keep his mouth shut? Quazar chuckled down the bond, clearly amused at my visible distress.
“Don’t know,” piped in another Talon.
Chen.
He was as big as Dakairi, with short black hair, tattoos from the neck down, including his mark of thorns, and with the same hawkish eyes like Daelun. The sheer size and height of him was…astounding. Between him, Dakairi, and Vashari, Quazar had a group of titans in his Legion.
“You two look like you need some privacy,” Chen continued, smirking. “It’s getting a little steamy in here. Should we clear the table?”
“You can find the nearest cliff and jump off of it instead,” I said sweetly, batting my lashes at him.
Ellabeth, Isandra, and the Talon called Ariella, snorted into their plates. Ivyana nodded with a full mouth, pleased, snapping her fingers twice. Even Amayah chuckled behind a palm, covering her mouth.
“Spicy,” Chen and Vashari said at the same time, their eyebrows wriggling.
“Just the way he likes ‘em.” Dakairi grinned.
“But my friends are the idiots,” I threw down the bond.
Quazar laughed out loud, throwing back his goblet before refilling it for the fifth time. Just as he slipped a pair of wings around my shoulders, bright light exploded behind our table illuminating the hall. Seven star gates surfaced.
“Blessed lights,” Daelun hissed.
“Playtimes over younglings,” I grumbled, pushing off my cloudchair and away from the table. I looked at Quazar.
“No matter what it is you face out there, do. not. yield.”
I swallowed the growing lump in my throat. I nodded.
And for some stupid reason, without thinking, I leaned down and kissed him sweetly at his temple, letting my lips linger on his skin.
I was keenly aware of how deathly quiet the chamber had become. I held Quazar’s gaze, ignoring the rest.
“I won’t.”
Quazar smiled. Raised a wing and intertwined it with mine.
“You come back to me unharmed, or I will rage,” he promised out loud. His deep voice slipped between my hearts, making me feel stupid, reckless things.
I rose to my full height, standing tall. I turned to the star gates. They were each labelled with our surnames. When I saw mine, I frowned.
“Well, then.” I faced Seventh Choir and the Xadari Talons. “Wings high.”
The Talons instinctively clapped their wings once, all at the same time. Seventh Choir nodded their heads while looking at their own star gates.
“See you when we get back,” I said to my friends.
“In one rotting piece, Safah,” Daelun barked.
I looked at him, seeing the anguish on his face. Seeing the memories of watching me be beaten and tortured in front of the entire Disciple Order while he could do nothing.
“I’ll do my best.” I took and squeezed his hand. He squeezed back before letting my hand go.
Then I summoned my starfire. With my powers present, and my chin lifted, I floated through the portal as a tendril of shadow brushed my spine and remained until I entered the next trial.