Chapter 45
Stretching like a feline, I popped multiple bones in my body before relaxing into the ball I’d woken up in. Yawning, I wriggled around in my sheets. Two iron rod barricades were on either side of my body, keeping me in place.
What in the stars was happening?
I snapped my eyes open, panic threatening to settle in. I turned around. And found myself locked in Quazar’s embrace. Those beautiful jeweled eyes watched me, amused. He looked at my head, then back into my eyes, chuckling.
“What’s so funny?” I mumbled.
“Your head scarf is so cute.”
Quazar’s voice was a deep baritone, rumbling over my skin under my twigown.
“Thank you. It’s either a cute head scarf or not-so-cute bedhead that will take too long to wrangle when I wake up.”
He laughed again. The sound made my hearts sing.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
He shifted his head, tilting it down at me. His hair was an absolute mess, the raven strands falling into his eyes. Stars, he looked like the Celestials. So perfect. So handsome.
“For what?” He nudged me with his nose. I cuddled deeper into his embrace.
“For staying. You didn’t have to but—”
“I wanted to, Safah. Stars. I always want to.”
The way he said my name, like he was uttering a prayer, made my skin ignite.
“That was the best twinight I’ve had in a long time.” He nudged me with his nose again. “If you let me in again, I’m coming back. Every time.”
“Good. Now, we should probably get ready. We don’t have Sanctuary this dawn, but there’s always something.”
He snorted. “Always something in this stars-forsaken temple,” he grumbled. “I don’t want to.” He threw his weight on top of me, dragging me closer, tucking me into his chest. “Just a little longer.”
I nuzzled into him, having no will to argue. I brushed my fingers over his biceps, studying the inscriptions. They were in an ancient, beautiful script. I looked at the swirls, the swoops, the flourished ends. What could they mean?
“Safah.”
“Mm?”
“Can I kiss you?”
My hearts fluttered.
“Not with your breath smelling so rank.”
Quazar guffawed, laughing so hard into my pillows the bedcloud shook beneath our bodies.
“Safah Eloise, there’s no one in this empyrean with a sharper tongue, I swear. Ivyana and Ellabeth are distant seconds.”
“Ellie is actually worse than me.”
“I can assure you she’s not.”
He kept laughing while his fingers scratched my head through my head scarf.
“Can I take this off?”
“No.”
“What about this piece of string you call a twigown?”
I smacked his shoulder.
“No.”
“Your pretty underthings?”
“No.”
Quazar scoffed.
“It’s so rotting strict around here.”
I laughed out loud, wiggling out from beneath him.
“Come on, we need to wash up. We should be dressed and ready for whatever this bloody temple wants to throw at us this dawn.”
“Fine.”
He yawned, stretching his limbs, before rolling to sit up. The sheer muscles in his body, in his wings, was dizzying. I found myself staring. Damned near drooling.
“So you’ll ogle me but you won’t let me devour you?” He raised a brow at me. “Selfish.”
“Oh, shut up.”
I pushed off from the bed, letting my wings hang limp as I floated to my washroom.
“I’ll be back, my greedy Highness.”
“Please take a long time so I have a reason to break down the door and join you.”
I laughed, heading into the washroom, closing the door. I washed up quickly, getting dressed in the bathing chamber before surfacing. Quazar noticed my unclasped gown and licked his lips.
“Soon, Safah,” he promised in a husky breath. “Soon, all this fabric won’t be in my way.”
My eyes fell shut as I strangled my growing need for him. Quazar floated into the washroom leaving the door propped open.
“Quazar!”
“Just in case,” he taunted. “I’m always in want of your company, Starling. Fabric-free preferred.”
I knew the temple might break me. I could’ve never guessed that Quazar Valoryen would be my undoing. I shut the door after him before I got tempted.
Quazar took his lambasting time in the washroom. I tapped a foot and hummed while massaging makristi oil into my hair, getting my curls to shine again. My ringlets were perfect, the tight coils hanging down to my calves in lengthy vines.
My wings still had a buzz of pain from the trial where the Stareaters had shot their majik into me. I didn’t even bother going to see Zara. I had a feeling she’d been ordered by Kaelthos to never mend me again.
Burning Kaelthos.
I needed to talk with someone from my family to understand why the Zamariens hated us so much.
It couldn’t be just because we were the only females who’d been admitted to the Order.
That was too ridiculous a reason for them to be so hateful.
It had to go deeper than that. When I was finally able to see Papi again, I’d have to ask him.
“Rotting Celestials, this hair.”
I jumped, looking up in the mirror to find Quazar floating behind me. Wearing only a towel around his waist.
“You’re not dressed.”
My eyes widened as I stared at his chest. His stomach.
Lower.
Holy stars.
I wrenched my eyes upward, my cheeks burning hot.
“And you’re hungry.” Quazar smirked devilishly.
“Of course I’m hungry. We haven’t had firstfast yet.”
He leaned over my shoulder, pulling one of my curls, twirling it around his finger.
“You know rotting well I didn’t mean food, Starling.”
I looked away from him, my cheeks flaming.
“Clothes. You need clothes.”
“And you need to relax.”
He slipped his hands into my hair, pulling me into his hardened chest. My eyes fell shut as I leaned into him. I sighed, drowning in his delicious scent of mint and sandalwood. He wrapped his arms around me, tucking his head into the crook of my neck.
“I love that we don’t hate each other anymore.”
“Me, too, Princeling.”
Quazar’s eyes flashed with gold, his lips curling into a smirk. His arms tightened around my chest. He littered my neck with kisses, nibbling at my skin.
“Hearts-stealing thief.”
I angled my head to look at him, giggling.
“It’s only fair that we’re even.”
He looked at me, his eyes glittering like polished gemstones.
“I’ve lived through an angelic Age, battling against those who brought me war. Finally I’ve found a safe place to land. To be at peace. You’re no ordinary angel, Safah. Your fire, your passion, your seven beating hearts, all of you has become my home.”
I twisted in his arms, turning so that our chests faced each other.
He wrapped his arms around my waist, pressing me into him.
Fire for fire. Skin to skin. I wrapped my arm around his neck, pushing up on my toes, as he angled his head to lean down, about to close the gap between our lips.
As his lips brushed mine, sending me into a frenzy, someone started pounding on my door.
I jerked, gasping at the aggressive sound, whipping around to look at the door.
“For Infinite’s sake,” Quazar snarled out loud, in a quiet, menacing tone.
Before I could move to go open the door, Quazar had already teleported himself there. He yanked it open, his other hand gripping his towel. It was then I saw he was still dripping wet.
“What?” he barked at whoever it was.
“Where in the stars is Safah?”
Ellabeth’s voice was high pitched. A mixture of curiosity and mischief. The kind of tone she got before she went on a gossiping spree.
“I’m right here.”
I propped up behind Quazar, peeking my head over his broad shoulder.
“What’s up, Ellie?”
“Why is he—”
“What’s up, Ellie?”
She blinked at me, raising a brow. She looked between Quazar and I, raised her hands in surrender, and shook her head.
“Didn’t you get a scrollport? We’ve been told to evacuate the wingtower. The entire temple grounds itself. Stareaters were here. They fed on over half of Manna Order.”
“They what?”
I nudged Quazar, trying to squeeze forward to stand by his side. Without turning, he wrapped an arm around my waist, pushing me backwards behind him.
“What does Manna Order being offered up to Stareaters have to do with us exactly?”
“Quazar!” I swatted at his arm.
“Pretend to be offended all you want to, Starling. I still don’t see how the affairs of Manna Order is any of our business. Let them figure it out themselves.”
I looked at Ellabeth whose eyes had widened at Quazar.
“He doesn’t mean that.”
“Yes, the Hèls, I do.”
“We’ll be ready in five minutes, Ellie.”
I closed the door before Quazar could say something else to horrify her.
“You do realize for whatever this is to work,” I said, pointing my finger back and forth between us. “Ellabeth has to approve of you. Right? She’s my best friend. You don’t just get me. You get her, too.”
Quazar leaned his head back, sighing so deep it sounded like a snarl trying to escape from the back of his throat.
“Fine,” he finally spat. “I’ll try to be on my best behavior for the little blonde-headed, ocean bender.”
“Quazar!”
“What? I said would try. That should be enough.”
I pinched between my eyes. We didn’t have time to argue.
“It’s going to take you forever. Get dressed.”
Quazar tilted his head at me, snapped his fingers, and was instantly dressed in his obsidian finery. His hair was perfectly done, not a stray hair in sight, and his sharp, black boots were gleaming.
I narrowed my eyes.
I’d seen him wear this attire. So pompous, even if he was a prince. And I knew deep down, he hated wearing it, too. He did it because the Farasee Order made him. Because the Empràr made him, so they could parade him around like some foolish puppet.
“No. Take this off.”
“I’m going out in public, Safah.” His eyes were sad. “This is part of my…agreement.”
“I don’t give a star about any burning agreement. Take this off.”
I lifted my chin. We’d somehow gotten a moment of reprieve from the temple. He would not spend it in apparel that reminded him of the unseen shackles he always wore.
“Starling…”
“Take it off.” I took a step towards him. “Or I will.”
Those full lips curved into a seductive smile, stretching wide until his dimples showed.
“Tempting.” His eyes danced. “I’d let you.” His gaze slid to the door. “If I wasn’t positive that best friend of yours wasn’t going to break down this door before I could have my way with you.”
“That’s right!” Ellabeth cried from the other side. “Get dressed, your Highness!”
“Ellabeth, stop eavesdropping!” I yelled at the door.
“I’ll stop eavesdropping when you stop flirting and hurry the stars up!”
“So rotting demanding,” Quazar grumbled down the bond.
With another snap of his fingers, he was dressed in his raven black, loose robes again with the tunic unbuttoned over his chest. He’d changed his boots, too.
They were more fitting for a warrior on his dawn off, then a Prince expected at court.
The oversized robes fit him in a way that made him a complete heartthrob.
I bit my lower lip, devouring every inch of him.
“Mm, you do that to me, too.”
I looked up at him.
He looked at me.
I took a step towards him.
Then Ellabeth started banging on the door.
“Let’s rotting go. We have one dawn to lose our minds in the Citadel and I will force you to take it if I have to.”
I laughed.
“We’re coming, Ellie.”
“She’s running out of interruption strikes.”
My shoulders shook as I laughed, opening my door. Ellabeth snatched my hand, flying with me from our wingtower, across the Temple Efysis grounds, all the way until we made it to the infamous Citadel.