Her lip curled, but it was not a pleasant expression. “Lesser? Hmm. So I’m not the only one whodiminishesmyself.”
His brows rose. She was wrong, but he liked that fire in her. Very much.
“It’s not diminishing if it’s the truth. Interesting, though, for you to automatically assume I meaninferiorwhen I say lesser, instead of the intended meaning—which is that I am, quite literally, smaller outside of this form.”
Brand knelt and stretched his arms out, waiting for her to come to him.
Instead, she backed away.
That unfamiliar fear spiked again, stealing a little control. “Please. Don’t fix so desperately on trying to hide, on being defensive, that you abandon reason.”
Wrong thing to say.
She began weaving her fingers, lips a thin line. “You wish to move more quickly? Find him with haste? Fine.”
Sisters save him. They were in a bloody fucking Dread Chasm, and she wasstillchoosing stubbornness over sense.
“Luna…”
A writhing orb appeared between her palms, wings of light springing from the mass. She lifted a hand as the silhouette of an owl took shape, the ghostly bird circling once above their heads before coming to rest on her outstretched arm.
He was transfixed, marveling at the spectral creature, each feather wrought from the ether in stunning detail.
She brought it close and whispered to it, the owl bumping affectionately against her cheek before it took flight again and shot away—a glowing blur amidst the damp gloom.
It was the white-hot ring of glowing blue around one of her irises that was perhaps the most surprising. “I see what he sees. I’ll let you know whether he finds anything worth increasing our speed for. Then, you can pick me up.”
With that, she left him behind and stomped after the faint dot flying off into the distance.
Contrary female.
For the dozenth time,Lunara met Axanderus at the edge of the shield, cleaning his feathers as he waited for her to clear the shadows.
It was disorienting every time he blinked round eyes at her and she saw herself from his angle. Pale. Fuming. Looking as harried as she felt.
Even worse to see Brand calmly striding up behind her with long, slow steps. He’d stayed on her heels as they’d traveled, never letting her get too far ahead of him, no matter how quickly she forced her feet to move.
What could he mean by ‘lies do not become you?’ Lies keep you safe. It’s not a bleeding act, it’s survival!
She hardly recognized Brand in hisgreaterform, never expected his frank honesty. The bald statements that left her naked and exposed.
How dare he be so direct? High-handed, overbearing... Ugh! He thinks he’s better than you, pointing out your secrets like it’s nothing.
Lunara was a hypocrite, but she didn’t care. She burned to know what he was thinking. What he planned to do with the information. Wanted answers, though she was unwilling to give them.
Is he going to tell Araxis? The Elders? Bare your deception to the world?
It was all assumption on his part, but his taunting conjectures had been right on the nose.
Just like Lyriat.
Damn him.
She bent and ran a hand down Ax’s back, her only true companion all these years. The voices didn’t count. And it didn’t matter that he was a figment of her imagination brought to life. He was loyal—and he couldn’t bleeding speak unless she willed it.
He also can’t judge, taunt, abandon, or betray you.
Indeed, he couldn’t even fly too far away from her without disappearing, else she’d have used him to scout the chasm and avoided this entire fuckingmess.
