Page 24 of The Legacy of Ophelia
And finally, the light softened. The beam became misty, sprinkling the air with a lilac haze and sparkling stars.
“Damien will continue to teach you brute strength,” Valyrie commented. “And that is useful in many cases, but it would be beneficial to learn all facets of your seraph.”
The storms and seas and souls. The cosmos and cleansing fires. I wanted to conquer them all.
“You have been spending a lot of time in Damenal,” I stated as I tried to maintain the power of the light.
“I enjoy the wares,” Valyrie explained.
I laughed, and the starlight twinkled with it. “I’ve noticed. The tapestry you brought back two days ago was so large, I thought you wouldn’t be able to fly.”
“It had been a while since I’d seen one of such make,” Valyrie said sadly. “The story it told of the gryphon armies was one of my favorite tales before…”
Her words trailed off. Before the Ascension. Before the Angels were locked in a Stone Realm. It was unfair that they had suffered for their master—that any of us were dragged into these wars among power hungry gods.
I was about to apologize to her—to an Angel after all they’d put me through—but Valyrie turned her navy galaxy-swirling eyes on me and elaborated, “The gryphons had an affinity for my clan when they roamed Ambrisk, just as the phoenixes did for Ptholenix. Each of us had our favored mythical beasts.”
“Why did they all disappear when things like the nemaxese stayed?” I asked.
“A nemaxese may have properties of magic and be woven into their own legends, but they weren’t the creatures of the gods.”
I yawned as I considered that. Ambrisk, the bridges, the gods. Everything was so much more complicated than we’d been led to believe. But perhaps—perhaps, we were on a path to leaving a legacy worth remembering, if Echnid was right.
“You should get some rest, Seraph Child,” Valyrie said. I hadn’t realized we were at the door to my suite, blocking out the other rooms in this corridor out of habit.
“Yes,” I said with another yawn, my Curse mark tugging. “I think I would like to sleep and speak with Echnid again tomorrow.” Part of me wanted to seek him out now, to keep learning.
And as bubbles gathered in my stomach, a haze slipping across my vision, a traitorous part of me thought I might be able to trust him.
“That would be wise,” Valyrie encouraged.
She left without another word, but for the first time since waking here, I realized I was content. Maybe Iwassafe.
Chapter Nine
Malakai
When Ophelia wasn’t trainingwith the Angels or being called to meetings with Echnid, she slept a lot. I guessed it was an effect of the magic she was expelling every day. But between that and my own research, I’d barely seen her in the weeks since we arrived in Damenal. Not enough to understand the things she was talking about with the Warrior God. Every time she returned from their discussions, she was contemplative, and she’d even begun insisting the god may have a point.
But until she gave me a firm reason why, I was going to keep researching what Annellius may have uncovered and ways you could banish a god’s influence from a realm entirely.
This morning, I woke before Ophelia, and when she started to stir, I made my way down to the kitchens to prepare tea for her. As I waited for the water to boil on the mystlight stove, I stood before the long window above the counter and fought my mind from wandering to the thing that mattered damn more than anything else.
To the person I’d tried not to think about since we got here.
Mila.
My chest rattled, throat tightening.
I braced my hands against the counter, recounting facts.
Lyria was dead.
Mila was hurting.
And I was…here. Trapped.
My nails dug into the marble, and my vision wavered. Iron doors slammed in my memory.
