Page 164 of Wings of Lies
“No.”
I couldn’t let him touch me anymore. Not that I’d have much say in the matter if my eyes closed.Wouldn’t that be wonderful?I would much rather die that way. But in my core, I knew how I’d die, which was why Aspen couldn’t pick me up. Michael said he’d seen demons explode with the Reversal Rune. If my skin frosted over when the cold took hold, I didn’t want to know what would happen when I transitioned to my Glory. It wasn’t safe. For him or me.
My eyes fluttered.
“Sweetheart? Stay here. Stay with me. Please, just hang on a little longer. I’ll take you to a healer first. I promise.” I wished I could give him a smile for his sweet admission. But I didn’t have the hours it would require for him to find a healer. Nor did I have the energy to dissect the wordfirstas his rune flickered.
I wished I could’ve saved him like his mother wanted. That was my one regret. That and… I glanced over at my mom, noticing her hand was healed. She’d be okay. I made sure of it. But I wish I could’ve said goodbye.
“Stay with me, sweetheart.” He grabbed the knife in my hand. I cringed. Carefully, he slid it from my cut.
“Put it in my waistband,” I whispered on a whim. I’d die today, but at least I could say I tried for him.
He removed a dagger and sheath from his belt, exchanged it with my knife, and carefully tucked the humming, protected blade into my waistband.
The heaviness subsided, and I gave a weak smile—a lie of my own. I focused on the handsome male gazing down at me with thatdamned broken expression and something tender and raw. My eyes lifted to his deep brown locks, unable to hold his gaze, and I noticed a flickering shadow behind his ear.
The ache in my shattered heart paused. A figure cloaked in shadows spun a sphere of darkness and hurled it toward Aspen’s back.
“Aspen! Behind you!”
It didn’t matter I was seconds away from an agony that would kill me. It didn’t matter only part of him was here for me. I knew one thing. Aspen would live.
I reacted when I saw the ball, anticipating his turn but knowing he’d keep himself between me and the threat. I rolled and pushed myself off the table, throwing myself in front of his body and screaming as the gashes in my thighs split further.
“No!” a voice yelled from the shadows as the ball hit me in the chest—a deep tenor filled with angry desperation.
I jolted, and Aspen caught me around the waist.
It was him. The one that woke me from my shadow prison.
I stared into horror-stricken golden eyes, and my pain ceased. A familiar, tantalizing blackness enveloped me and whisked me away.
Chapter
Thirty-Eight
BLOODHOUND AND RUNE
A DAY AGO
“Sir, Rune lost eyes on them... again.” I stood in front of his desk. The mahogany wood stretched half the length of his chambers, centered with the fireplace. The king faced the fire, only the top of his ice-blonde head exposed above his cushioned chair.
“What do you mean, general?” The room dropped to an uncomfortable temperature. Usually, I didn’t fear him, but tomorrow was the day, and we still didn’t have a location.
After I let the king drain the last of my power to help out the female, we didn’t have enough to connect to either her or the Nephilim again. So, Rune was our last resort. A fickle beast still in training. One we couldn’t wholly trust at her age. Not when so much was riding on this mission.
“Sir, Rune chased off some Hellhounds and lost their trail.”
The temperature plummeted. Fuck.
My skin burned from the frigid air, but I ignored it. I’d been through a lot worse in my three hundred years.
“We have five hours, general. We need to figure out where she is. You’ll only have so much time to retrieve her.”
My concern wasn’t whether I could retrieve her but the matter of our imprisonment. It’s been nine years since the gates shut.
“Sir, the gates?—”
