Chapter 47
Ifumed, blinking at the backs of the gods as they were pulled away like shackled dogs. They continued sneaking glances back at me, until they curved around a tower and were gone from sight.
Serafina never looked back. Not once. But I saw her shoulders strengthen. Her chin lift. As she was pulled away a fresh spark crept into her eyes. A spark of hope. A spark of faith. A creeping chill skittered up my spine making me shiver.
How many of the gods were enslaved? Why was their slavery okay? Surely the empyrean could thrive without their forced labor. Who instituted—
Quazar squeezed my hand, trying to get my attention. I turned my head to him, trying to focus on what he was saying to me.
“One dawn,” Quazar said. “One dawn is all I ask. Look away from the truth. The darkness. This mirage of piety. Just for this one dawn.”
I sighed, nodding. I pushed the thought of the gods to the back of my mind. But I wouldn’t forget them. I wouldn’t forget what the angels were doing to them in the holy city.
I would never forget the goddess with the hazel eyes.
I would never forget Serafina.
Ashiris, she had said. The only thing Papi let slip once upon a time was that it was an ancient star that had shot across the realms, collided into a planet, and burned nearly everything else around it to its twinkling death.
Which to me was entirely preposterous. There was no data or evidence such an event had ever taken place historically.
Quazar flew me through the bustling crowd of angels until we pulled short in front of an ivory chariot stand with gilded wheels.
There were platters of food already made, and even more being fried in the compartment behind the angels taking orders.
Quazar and I waited in the long line. I was salivating by the time we could fly up to order next.
“Two bowls of akra, patties, and the caramel-filled, powder-dusted donuts please.”
I licked my lips as Quazar also ordered us drinks and dropped the pieces of goud—Ouanaviel coins worth more than silver or gold—into the angels hand. The greedy fiend grinned wide at the jeweled coins.
“A generous payment,” he said to Quazar.
“I’m in a good mood.”
The merchant tilted his head at me. He leered, his eyes going from my neck and down the curves of my body. His eyes danced darkly. I squeezed Quazar’s hands, scooting closer to him as my feet floated in the clouds beneath them.
“I can see why,” the male said.
I gasped in the same breath Quazar whipped out two wing pairs, slamming the male against the length of his chariot. Golden blood trickled from his temple, as Quazar pointed one of his sharp talons at the male’s throat.
“Should I rip out your eyes and show you how to properly use them instead?”
Several angels nearby turned, looking at the scene. Gossip began spreading like wildfire.
“Quazar…”
“What? You’d prefer I rip off his balls instead?”
I shook my head. There was no getting through to him.
“Can we get the food and go please?”
“Whatever you desire, my Starling.”
Quazar didn’t release the male until I collected the bag with our food and drinks.
“Be thankful she’s as sweet as your donuts,” Quazar snarled. He slammed the angel one more time, purposefully making sure his head rammed into the sharp overhang, before letting him go. Still holding my hand, he tugged me away through the staring crowd.
“If my wingmate isn’t a savage like that, I don’t want it,” I heard a female say as we passed. I snorted, shaking my head. Angels were nothing if not nosy gossips.
We weaved through the heart of the city passing flower shops, art stalls with colorful tapestries, and endless fruit stands. We also passed several scrollbook stores.
I shrieked.
“Can we go in? Please?”
I’d beg if I had to. I wanted to go in one and get lost for the rest of the dawn. Quazar’s eyes twinkled.
“Another dawn, Starling,” he answered out loud.
I pouted. He squeezed my hand.
“I promise where I’m taking you is worth it. Valoryen’s honor. Trust me.”
I sighed loudly. On purpose.
“Fine,” I grumbled clinging to our bag of food.
Quazar laughed to himself. “Little gangster you are. Killing the rot out of Stareaters one dawn, and pouting cause you can’t fly around and smell scrollbooks for hours another dawn.”
I looked at him and stuck out my tongue. “Piss off.”
He tossed his head back and roared with laughter.
I noticed we began flying away from the city center.
Our wings carried us over the clouds to a starry area with endless greenhouses encased in glass and perched on a bed of starlight and clouds.
The closer we flew, the wider my eyes grew.
I’d never seen a sight so beautiful. And Ouanaviel Island was full of jaw-dropping scenery.
Quazar rubbed his thumb over the back of my hand as he brought me closer to what had to be a park in this city in the clouds. Towards the very end was a garden so mesmerizing I found myself tearing up.
The flowers were ginormous, standing tall and towering higher than some of the city’s towers. There were endless rows of the colorful flowers. Some of them had petals made of crystal. Others of glass. A few were covered in jewels. The rest either had gilded petals, ivory, or iridescent.
Quazar brought me to the garden encased in glass so clear I’d probably fly straight into it if not for him. He flew us down to our feet. I instantly kicked off my sandals. There was no better feeling than the brush of clouds against the bottom of your feet.
Quazar bent over, scooped up my sandals into his hands, before removing his boots and socks so he could walk barefoot, too. Holding our shoes in one hand, he tugged me along with the other, again squeezing my hand.
I realized that was his way of communicating his presence, his excitement, his fluctuating emotions. It was all through touch. I smiled at the thought. At the vulnerability. It was so simple yet so pure. And the connection was entirely ours.
We walked along the cloudy floor. I breathed in the refreshing, airy scent of the garden.
I shook out my hair, loving how the breeze flowed through my strands.
Upbeat music played throughout the garden.
I couldn’t help but move my hips and shake my shoulders in rhythm to it.
I tossed my hair, swaying along, completely forgetting the bag of food in my hand.
By the time I took a break, I lifted my head and found we’d made it to the other end of the garden that seemed to balance entirely on top of the clouds.
On this end, the glass enclosure was open. A great breeze flew into the garden and clouds blew in and out. Quazar sat on a starry bench, his foot crossed over a knee, his arm laid out over the back of the bench, the food and our shoes perched beside him as he watched me.
“You look at…” I couldn’t think of the word I was looking for.
“Peace. Peace is the word you’re looking for, you magical, prepossessing creature.”
I smiled, biting my bottom lip.
Then one of my favorite tunes kicked up over the garden. I laughed, twirling and dancing along.
Quazar left me be, lost to the throes of the music.
The spell of the song. I circled my hips, threw my arms into the air, and let my hair swing as I danced and danced.
It felt like shackles were falling off with every swing of my hips.
Every step of my feet. My wings flapped in rhythm as I twirled in the clouds and laughed to the joyous rhythm of the music.
After three more songs I’d worked up a strong appetite.
“Mm, she’s ready to eat now,” Quazar rumbled down our bond.
“She is,” I laughed.
Without thinking, I burst into a run and threw myself on top of him at full speed. He caught me like he’d been expecting it, twisting me in his arms, gripping me tight.
I tossed my head back, the air filling with my laughter. I shook out my hair as I tossed my arms around Quazar’s neck. Stars. I hadn’t realized how much I’d needed this dawn.
How much I’d needed him.
I sat up in his lap, my thighs on either side of his hips, my hands lost in the soft, full tresses of his hair.
“You are so handsome,” I whispered down our bond. “And so deliciously tempting.”
Quazar licked his lips.
“This is not the twinight to toy with my emotions, Starling.”
I laughed like a drunken fool who’d lost her senses. I was high on joy. And I was ready to take everything that came with it. Including his mouth on mine.
“Princeling, I want to taste your darkness. To dance with your shadows and be consumed by your twinight.”
Quazar tugged me closer and gripped me tight. His eyes had turned to blackened pools burning with insatiable hunger and desire.
“Safah,” he grunted, his breaths getting heavier. “You’re dancing in a raging fire.”
“I am made of fire, Quazar.” I batted my lashes at him, leaning in to nibble the edge of his winged ear. “I was born with a hunger to burn.”
“Hèls,” was all Quazar snarled.
Then he crushed his lips against mine.
Holy stars, yes.
I pressed into him, flattening my hands against his chest as he wholly devoured my mouth. His lips tasted like smoky flame. Like taunting sin. I wrestled with his mouth, pressing my scorching lips to his again and again as my hands danced from his chest, to his neck, to his hair.
“Stars, you’re as intoxicating as I imagined you’d be,” Quazar groaned down our bond. A growing pool of heat made my stomach clench as I came unglued in his arms.
I gripped those luscious strands as I spread my thighs over him, sinking my hips onto his lap. Quazar growled, angling his head, taking my mouth deeper. He sucked on my bottom lip, then sank the sharpened points of his teeth into the soft skin.
Heat exploded in the pit of my stomach as I blazed in heat for him. Everywhere he touched me, he left a brand. I was feral for this cursed prince who’d stormed into my world, and made off with all seven of my hearts.
We were fire and passion. We were lost. In each other. In desire. In mind shattering need.
I gasped into his mouth, letting out breathy sounds that escaped me as pleasure rolled over me in waves. Quazar slipped his hands beneath my gown, pressing his fingers into my heating skin. He squeezed my thighs, moaning into the back of my mouth. His tongue slipped inside, demanding. Conquering.
I relaxed my body into his arms, melting into him. His shadows erupted from his body—groping my neck, bosom, hips, and thighs—while they simultaneously barreled across our bond, pouring into my mind. My hearts. My burning soul.
Stars.
I loved this male. And his passion. All of his dark edges and every way he was unrefined.
I loved the way he loved his angels.
I loved the way he loved me.
“Princeling,” I said breathily down our bond. His pet name on my tongue made him groan as he gripped me harder. “They call you wicked. They call you cursed. But Quazar Valoryen, don’t you ever for a second doubt. Don’t you ever forget. I call you mine.”
He snarled down our bond, flooding me, lovingly, with a barrage of shadows that made my hearts swell.
“I love you, Safah Eloise Anathelle. Star of my life. Heart of my world. You’re the hope I was too scared to believe.
The love I never deserved. The dream I never thought would become real.
You are the axis on which I spin, and the answer to every one of my blasphemous prayers.
I am yours, and you’re mine. No matter the realm, across every Age, and throughout every lifetime, you. It will always, infinitely, be you.”
I kissed him until I felt my hearts exploding. Until I could no longer tell where I ended and he began.
When we pulled away, we were breathless, gripping one another as if we’d fall apart if we let each other go.
A spattering of stars danced overhead, shooting across the skies.
I rested on Quazar, nuzzling into him entirely as he wrapped his arms around me, bubbling with a joy I hadn’t felt since entering the temple.
After we watched the starlights pass, I looked at him. My Princeling. My love. My Quazar.
“Assuming they’re still warm, we should probably eat our food now, huh?”
Quazar laughed, stealing several more kisses, before pulling away.
He dug into the bag, pulling out one of the food containers.
After he popped it open, he pulled out a sizzling hot fritter, fried to perfection.
Quazar’s grin stretched from ear to ear, his dimples standing out in his perfectly carved face.
“Okay, you’ve got to try the akra first.”