Page 198 of The Legacy of Ophelia
It wasn’t only life we needed. Not the power of a seraph or the Angels after all.
Tightening my knees around Sapphire, I sent out one mighty wave of Angellight against Echnid, using all the power of Angels within me to light up the god’s magic and burn straight through its haze. Then, my pegasus took off into the night, speeding toward the stars as Echnid roared in fury.
And I prayed to any deity listening that this theory was right. Because I may be the last seraph, balancing the powers of all seven Angels in one being, but I was onlyhalfof one myth.
I needed my balance.
I needed my sister.
Chapter Seventy-Four
Ophelia
I hadto allow Echnid to get closer to Xenovia as I found Jezebel, but Spirits, it felt so fucking wrong as he crossed through the city gates while I circled above. Like I was handing over the keys to everything I held most precious. And all those innocent warriors…I was supposed to protect them, and I was letting in the enemy.
It was for a good reason, I told myself. Because if I was right, Jezebel and I could truly end him. Together.
“Ophelia?” Jez and Zanox sped to a stop beside me in the skies. “What’s happening? Are you hurt?”
“No,” I told her, despite the very clear gash still open in my wing. “I need your help.”
“What?” Her gaze flashed between me and the Warrior God marching through the gates below.
“Jez, remember when Echnid killed Moirenna? He seemed to absorb my power.”
“Yeah, he siphoned it off?—”
“Malakai, Tolek, and Cypherion thought Damien was trying to tell me to imbue a weapon with seraph magic. They thoughtthatis what Echnid was afraid of because it’s the might of allseven Angels and hasn’t been seen on Ambrisk before—why he wants me.”
“Because the power of seven Angels combined can overcome the god,” she said, her hair whipping in the wind as Zanox beat his scaled wings.
“It can’t, though,” I explained. “I just stabbed Echnid with the Vincienzo dagger, and…” I gestured to the city below, and her face paled when she saw him walking among the ruin, bleeding warriors at his feet. “I think it’s the myth magic, Jez, not the seraph power. That’s what we need to imbue the blade with. Echnid tookbothof our power that day in that desert. Yours was chasing mine, remember?”
“But how? Your magic gives life, and mine can’t kill a god. Even together, they can’t do that.”
“Think about it, though. We keep asking why,” I reminded her. “Why now, why us? The gods, the Fates, the Angels—whoever reincarnated the myth of the warrior sisters in us knew it would be needednow.”
To balance each other—to balance the entire realm—we had to try.
Echnid was now strolling through the city. His cerberus had joined him, his mist pouring around him and making it look like he was floating across the rubble. They passed warriors battling feline-like creatures without care.
I turned back to Jezebel. “We have to be quick.”
“Okay,” she rushed out. “Of course. What do we do?”
And the way she accepted it so easily had me taking a breath. My sister was unflinching, even when she was scared. Facing every problem head on because it was the way through the challenge.
She’d been dealt a power that would cripple older warriors, but Jezebel had grown up with it. Her spirit speaking and death magic were part of her. Though the strength frightened her attimes, it was as natural as breathing. And now, as we called on that power for a feat neither of us imagined, she did so without quaking.
“I’m going to toss the dagger up—get it far enough away from both of us—then, we shoot. Don’t relent until I say so.”
Jezebel nodded, and I met her eyes, letting the battle below fall away. We had to trust everyone else to defend the city now, hope the Angels foresaw Echnid’s betrayal and that they may grant us one act of grace in exchange for their cruelty.
The Vincienzo dagger was cool against my palm, humming slightly like it was excited to accept such powerful magic. With a breath, I threw it as high in the air as I could manage, watching the legacy of Tolek’s family flip end over blade.
When it reached its peak, I shouted, “Now!”
And gold and silver erupted, colliding in the night sky with enough force to rattle Xenovia below. Light flashed, cracking and searing. I squeezed my eyes closed against it as I poured forth all the life-giving myth magic I could muster, and when I opened them?—
