Page 113 of Wicked Prince of Curses
Chapter 46
The first thing that struck me about the Citadel was how overwhelming it all was.
“Why in the stars are there so many angels here?”
I looked around in every direction, unsure of what to focus on. It was so much, all at once. The angels, the colors, the activities, the food smells, the sounds, the chariots…My head started throbbing. I wouldn’t be able to stay here long. Not in the middle of all of this.
“Well, there are several thousand Farasees in the Order. Their families have to live and thrive somewhere,” Ellabeth said.
“But I thought they lived back on the main island of Ouanaviel?” Amayah said, her voice shaking. “I agree with Safah. There’s just so…manyof them. And not just Seraphim. It seems at least ten out of the twelve angelic ranks are here.”
I frowned, trailing a slew of Seraphim flying past us. Many of the elemental angels chose to fly around in theirfyusedskin instead of their Seraphim ones. I watched as bodies of fire, water, ice, earth, metals, shadows, lightning, and other elements I didn’t have a chance to process, flew by. None of them were starry like myself, which was odd.
Then I ogled the Mortents, with their jeweled eyes and glossy skin. Unlike Quazar and his Marked in Xadari Legion, these wereunmarked. I narrowed my eyes at them, wondering how so many Mortents became Marked, yet somehow, these angels had escaped the same fate.
A slew of Lawrents and Goverents flew by. They were so similar. Both angelic ranks had colorful, galactic skin that shimmered like the stars, and five pairs of feathered wings. One would think they were the same rank until you looked into their eyes.
Lawrents had stunning, multi-colored eyes. Many of these had one eye of gold, and another jeweled like color. But the Goverents had brightly lit, incandescent eyes. As if a lightning bolt had ignited behind their irises and never burned out.
Prodding shadows gingerly trailed my arms and hips as my anxious twitching grew more evident. I wasn’t liking this at all. I hadn’t expected the Citadel to be so overstimulating, and my friends weren’t helping.
“We should find the food stalls,” Isandra was saying. “I want a drumstick.”
“A drumwhat?” Vashari asked, crinkling his nose, and curling his lip at her.
Isandra didn’t skip a beat. She tossed her hair, lifting her chin at him.
“Clearly you need a proper education on culinary culture. Come on.”
She grabbed Vashari’s elbow, starting to fly away.
“I’m not understanding why we would go get food when we just ate!” Ellabeth huffed. “How are we not agreeing to go see the museums first?”
“No one wants to go get lost in some stuffy house of artifacts, Ellie,” Daelun grumbled.
“I know what you need.” Dakairi chuckled darkly, wrapping a wing around Ellabeth’s waist, beginning to tug her away. She swatted at him, which only made him laugh more as he pulled her tighter.
“Screw the museums. I want more shadowbolts,” Chen said, crossing his arms.
Ivyana rolled her eyes.
“Why is italwaysweapons with you? This is a happy time. You’re supposed to enjoy what makes you happy, Chen.”
“Having enough weapons to clear out a legion of carcassesismy happy place.”
“Are we seriously…”
The words trailed off as I tuned my friends out.
Gentle tendrils of shadow brushed down my spine, before lingering at my hips, squeezing my waist. I slid my gaze to Quazar. When our eyes met, he nudged his head to the side, putting a finger to his lips. I slipped my hand into his. He interlaced our fingers as he pulled us away while our friends kept arguing about what to do first.
“It’s like herding goats,”I said.
Quazar laughed.
“Where do you want to go?”I asked, thankful to be pulled away from the mayhem of our friends. The Citadel was organized chaos enough.Quazar looked at me, his eyes wistful.
“Nowhere in particular, my Starling. I just wanted to get you away before they made you combust. You have one dawn in the Citadel, I want it to be a good one.”
