Chapter Fifty-Five #2
Yuri agreed, which was why he didn’t move but to pry off his left boot, finding the single feather hidden inside. It shimmered as he held it before him, feeling the gentle hum of its magic against his palm.
Thank the Light it’s still there.
It was the feather Lori had given him. One that Yuri had never anticipated needing to use.
“Hold on tight, Vex,” he warned, and a second later he was bursting out of Severin’s home and into the open air.
Trees blurred beneath him, and Vex’s claws dug deeper for balance, the vesper’s narrowed eyes scanning for threats. Why she didn’t flee was beyond him, though the Luminel seemed dead set on getting back to Aurelie.
It was a goal they both shared.
It wasn’t long before Rhovar rose in the distance, and only when he was clear of Veritas did Yuri let Glory burn through his body, setting Lori’s feather ablaze.
It wasn’t long before the young angel appeared, struggling to match his pace. He nearly pitched forward, catching himself with a panicked flap of his wings as he dipped below the treetops only to rise again.
“What’s happened?” the young angel called out, breathless. His gaze slid to Yuri’s shoulder, widening. “Light, is that a Luminel?”
Vex shied closer into Yuri’s neck.
He wished he could greet Lori properly, but there was no time.
“My bonded is in trouble,” he said, and even as the words left him, they felt too small for the situation. “The demons have bred something new, Lori. I need you to return to Sanctuary and find Xadriel. Tell him I sent you, and that all of Rhovar will fall if he doesn’t come now.”
The color drained from Lori’s face. He looked toward Rhovar, as if expecting to see the castle already collapsing.
“I don’t understand.”
“I’ll explain later, just go and get Xadriel.” Yuri turned, ignoring a strange sense of guilt as he weighed his next decision. “And tell him to send an army a bowshot north of here. There’s a horde nearby.”
Lori nodded once, numbly, before vanishing into a haze of light.
Yuri didn’t watch him go. He’d barely finished speaking before his own wings snapped wide, wind howling in his ears as he launched higher. His body ached, but still he didn’t stop. Not for the trees clawing at his feathers, nor the sickness roiling in his gut, begging him to rest.
He couldn’t fail again.
Not her.
Not her home.
Not this time.
“Someone’s down there,” Vex said suddenly, her voice sharp as she twisted on his shoulder to peer below. Yuri didn’t spare a glance until the vesper gasped. Then she was gone. Her claws slipped from his tunic, the wind tearing her from his shoulder and flinging her into open air.
“Vex!” he shouted, lunging for her only to realize that the vesper wasn’t falling. Her body flickered in and out of sight, shimmering as she let the wind carry her downward like a drifting leaf.
His heart slammed against his ribs. He’d slowed without thinking, wings flaring wide as he hovered above the treetops to watch her descent. He couldn’t afford a delay, and yet some curious force rooted him there, his body resisting every instinct to keep flying as he scanned the tree line.
There, in the shadows just past the clearing, stood a demon. Two massive wings jutted from its back, featherless and sinewy. He couldn’t see a face, just black horns that curled from the base of its skull, thick as a ram’s and twice as long.
A wrathborn. Or so he thought, until he saw the flick of a barbed tail.
A hybrid.
He should have left it. Should have turned away and hurried to Rhovar.
But Vex was suddenly before the demon, circling him in a tight spiral, and Yuri couldn’t look away.
His body was already tilting toward the beast, wings angling for descent.
A bow formed in his hand on instinct, though his fingers hesitated to draw the string.
Vex perched herself atop the demon’s horn, murmuring something. Slowly, the beast’s gaze lifted to Yuri.
The angel raised his bow, but the demon didn’t bare his teeth or turn to flee. Instead, he leaned against a tree and slid down its trunk, head bowed.
That was when Yuri recognized him.
“Varen?” The bow vanished from him grasp, and he felt sick that he’d ever thought to use it. He landed before the hybrid, his descent kicking up a flurry of dead leaves around his heels. “I don’t understand. How are you here?”
Vex clung to the demon’s horn, watching Yuri with an edge of wariness. Not for him, Yuri realized, but for Varen’s sake. To ensure he wasn’t harmed.
Light, she truly was a terrible Luminel.
Varen remained silent, his crimson eyes fixed on the dirt.
Yuri stepped closer, frowning. “Varen?”
Still no response. But this time the demon lifted his head, and horror hollowed Yuri’s breath.
“Who did this to you?” He stared at the space where Varen’s tongue should have been, realizing the answer a heartbeat later.
“Aurelie,” Yuri breathed, the name catching in his chest like a splinter. Light, why hadn’t she told him that Varen was a hybrid? “Is she with you?”
Varen tensed, eyes snapping up to scrutinize him.
“She went to Rhovar looking for you,” he said quickly. “She’s in danger. Everyone is.”
The hybrid hauled himself to his feet, closing the distance between them in three strides. He reached out a hand only to hesitate at the last second, glancing at his claws before peeling back.
Yuri stepped forward instead, setting a firm hand on his shoulder.
“I can’t promise your safety,” he said. “But if we don’t act now, Rhovar won’t survive the night. I need to know if I can trust you.”
Every muscle in Varen’s massive frame drew taut. His eyes met Yuri’s, and no words were needed to understand his answer.
“Very well, then.” Yuri stepped back, lifting into the air. “Keep behind me, Varen. Let’s hope those wings of yours can keep up.”