Page 181 of The Legacy of Ophelia
“Cypherion!” I called, and my Second was there in an instant. “You and Mila will lead the Mystique forces?” When he nodded, I ran my hands through my hair and took a deep breath. “If you can find any gap through the city walls, get as many people out as possible. There isnoshame in warriors not wanting to be trapped in here.”
They may have been willing to give their lives on a battlefield for this cause, but they did not volunteer to be carrion picked off one by one within closed borders. The commanders may have had a plan in case of siege, but no one anticipated this level of destruction and betrayal.
“Will do, Revered,” Cypherion said, turning back to Meridat.
“Where the fuckareMila and Malakai?” Tolek asked. I gripped my Bind absently, the North Star as dull as ever.
“They’re fine. They’re somewhere.” With the noise mounting through the city shielding my words, I whispered, “Tol...”
But he gave me a smirk, one hungry for an Angel’s blood on his blade. “I know where I’m needed.”
If there was one thing I was certain of right now, it was the way our hearts sang to the tune of revenge.
And I matched his depraved smile as I muttered, “There he is.”
Before he could leave, he cupped my cheeks and pressed his lips to mine. It was one of those kisses that traveled through my entire body, that made my chest ache and my stomach flip, sent a shiver across my wings to the tips of every soft feather. It was a kiss that said more than words could in the face of certain death, one that latched on to my heart, my spirit, my very bones, and promised to see me at the end of this.
“I love you,apeagna,” he whispered when he pulled back, stroking his thumb across my cheek. “Make those fuckers scorch for ever thinking they could manipulate you.” He kissed my forehead one more time. “I don’t want to find you in any realm but this one, though, so be sure to be here at the end of this battle.”
And that was the thing that might have finally undone me. The reminder that we’d already lost so much and we may stand to lose more tonight. For this was a war greater than any we’d fought, and how many times could one truly beat the odds?
“I love you, too, Vincienzo. I’ll see you over a god’s corpse.”
With one last hungry, torturous smirk, Tolek left. The fae and Rina prepared to dispatch behind him to aid the foot soldiers. I hugged my Bounty friend as tightly as possible before they disappeared.
“You are capable of such greatness, Santorina Cordelian. And you deserve all the love in the world.” My eyes landed on Lancaster where he waited, irritated. “Go show the Angels and warriors what a human can do.”
“And you remind them of the legacy of seraphs the world dared to forget,” she whispered back, tears cracking her voice. Then, they were off.
Sapphire pranced over to me, nudging my shoulder with an impatient whinny.
“Ready?” Jez asked, nodding to Vale behind her, Dynaxtar’s and Zanox’s slitted eyes bright.
I hopped onto my pegasus and flared my wings as she did hers. “Let’s get to the skies.”
Chapter Sixty-Six
Malakai
“What in thename of the Spirits is going on out there?” Mila asked, rising from where she’d reclined against the wall, a book in hand.
The tunnel that revealed itself had been short, leading to a small, cramped room stacked with dusty volumes. An altar with lit candles sat beneath an image of Xenique, and I was trying really hard not to be unsettled by any of this.
“Probably the festivities getting rowdy,” I commented, but Mila crept back up the corridor into the room with the mosaic of Artale, that ivory gown clinging to her every step.
I didn’t follow, my attention locked on the book in my hands. We’d been here for hours, and I knew I should have gone to find Ophelia and the others, but we were still trying to make sense of all the information here and the sort of fated luck that opened the door in the first place. And we wanted to wait until Barrett and Dax had left so we didn’t take over their night.
But what we’d found—the records on weapons and the pure sources of magic they were imbued in—it was inconceivable.
The fucking Angels, always scheming. Each page I turned, I thought more and more that those damn winged beings wereperhaps even more clever than the gods. That while the gods had fought wars among themselves and their realms, the Angels were planning for a larger overhaul. One that could stretch beyond the bounds of Ambrisk.
I flipped to a new page as another roar echoed from outside.
“Fucking Spirits,” I breathed, pushing to my feet. The weapon recorded in this book looked like?—
“Malakai!” Mila said, running back into the room. She was braiding her hair, a band held between her teeth. “We have to go.”
“What’s wrong?” I rushed out, abandoning the papers. She appeared fine beyond a distant echo of fear in her eyes.
