With my head stretched back toward the sky, under his painful grip and at his mercy, I should’ve hated him with every cell in my body. Perhaps I had at one point in my existence, but now I only saw a wrecked, pathetic creature eaten up on the inside with envy and covetousness.
“You’re as dumb as you are weak.” Crazed excitement flashed deep in his pupils. “I will carve your soul from your body, and instead of hurting your precious girlfriend myself, I will command you to do it for me.” A cruel sneer lifted his upper lip. “Son of Lucian or not, he doesn’t tolerate traitors. He might even come up with some rather inventive punishments for the both of you.”
The burning, radiant light encasing my body faded. Nausea, fear, and agony roiled inside my stomach. If Malachi hadn’t been holding my head with his hand and my body with his power, I might’ve thrown up and fallen to the ground. Blood coated the inside of my mouth and tongue...thick, metallic, and cloying. Death crept closer—I could feel it.
No one will save me, save Phoebe. What have I done?The only thing I had left to fight with were words.
“It doesn’t matter...” I took a gasping breath. “How strong you think you are because...” A sideways glance to Phoebe showed her still on the ground, her breathing shallow. I refocused on Malachi, whose grip tightened. “You’ll always be lost in the dark, trying to claw your way to the light.”
“Shut up.” Pure hate twisted his face. “You knownothingabout me.”
Like a delicate wisp of hair, I sensed his power slipping as a terrible rage seemed to rise in him.
His fingers clenched my hair painfully and I could feel his black, probing tendrils sliding into my wound, their agonizing invasion causing dark spots to dance in my vision.
“Icherishthe dark, and I’ve seen how weak the other side is.” He turned his head to glance over his shoulder at Phoebe’s prone form. “Look at her, nearly dead with the barest blast of power. Pathetic. Just like you.”
This is my last chance.Summoning the last dregs of light smoldering in my blood, I broke his ether-made chains from my body.
His eyes widened, and he stepped back, letting go of me.
Not giving him a chance to recuperate, I blasted a ball of pure energy straight to his torso, the flare so bright it tore away all remnants of shadows and ether.
Malachi yelled as he flew backward and hit the solid wall of the palace then slid down to the sand, his eyes closed and wings bent.
The sounds of Lucian’s pants and his foe’s grunts as they fought flitted about, but I only had one goal.
My wings drooped around me, and I fell to my hands and knees, my lifeforce spilling out even faster due to gravity. I crawled to Phoebe, laying only a few feet away. Her chest stuttered in erratic inhalations.
“No, please, no. I cannot lose you.” I scoured the sky above, praying somehow God would finally hear my plea. “Anything. I’ll sacrifice anything to save her.” Hot tears and bright blood ran from my face, dripping onto the sand as I clawed my way to her.
If you’re not afraid to die, then you’ve never found a reason to live.
Michael’s words haunted me. He was right. After all these years, I’d finally found my reason to live, and now death truly scared me. But not for the fact of dying itself. I’d been through that pain when Lucian first took me under his mentorship. His discipline had killed me several times over while I burned alive in the lava, but he’d always been quick to revive me so I could experience the torture anew.
His lessons had made me hard and strong, just like the obsidian of his palace. Yet, Phoebe became the microscopic crack in my glass armor, opening me up and laying me bare, reminding me my original form wasn’t brittle glass, but something flexible—bright and fluid lava—when I shed the trappings of hate and vengeance.
With two feet left, I pushed through the weakness, forcing myself to close the last two inches separating her body from mine. With a grateful sigh, I curled myself against her body, the coarse sand under my bare upper arm sharp and biting. “Live, Phoebe, please.” I placed bloody kisses on her cheek then tucked her head under my chin. “If I could go back in time, I’d have left you alone the day you found my home. I’m sorry.”
Her eyelids fluttered, and a finger twitched. “Cain?” Her hoarse voice whispered near my ear, splitting the quiet.
Realizing Lucian’s fight must be over since power and steel no longer clashed, I wondered who’d won the fight.Don’t be ignorant. Lucian’s too strong to be overcome by a mere angel.
Metallic scraping noises, as if someone in armor stirred behind me, but I cupped Phoebe’s cheek. “I’m here.” I had no more power, so I’d shield her with my body.
What is the purpose of having power if I can’t even use it to save the one I love?
“Did we win?” Her eyebrows drew downward. She tried to lift her head but groaned and let it drop back to the dirt.
I wanted to feed her a lie, to plaster a fake smile on my lips and whisper soothing words. Instead, I rested my chin on her shoulder, our noses touching. “No. I tried. I tried so damn hard.” My eyelids drooped, but I willed them open. “I love you.” I laid my palm on her cheek. “I’m sorry. For everything.”
A shiver wracked my body.I don’t remember Hell being this cold.
Feathers rustled nearby, and I clenched her as tightly as I could, feeling my life draining away, wishing I could funnel it to her so I wasn’t a complete waste of a person.
A weary grin tugged at her mouth. “Maybe it was never about winning, Cain. Maybe it was about trusting, about forgiving, even when it seemed impossible.” With a grimace, she tilted her chin upward and pressed her lips to mine.
Closing my eyes, I kissed her back, my salty taste of blood tainting the sweetness.
