“Plus,” Niz added, “moving could just result in the same problem if they find us. We can’t live constantly on the run.”
“So we play the offensive,” Bastian smiled, the normal manic light to his gaze returning. “I love that idea.”
That didn’t surprise me in the least. I wouldn’t lie, I loved to see his normal, blood-thirsty side coming back to the forefront after everything that had happened.
“Unfortunately,” I started, but paused with a frustrated sigh. I took another long sip of coffee before continuing, “As powerful as we are, our numbers are not enough to counter Alfemir. Their population far outweighs the number of fallen in the Rebellion.”
“But if we could muster enough fallen, playing the offensive would be the perfect tactic,” Gabe said. “They wouldn’t expect it,and if we managed to gain control over Alfemir, Kieran would be able to focus on her mission without any threat.”
“Which would be ideal, but…we’re going to need numbers, numbers we don’t have,” Steele reminded us.
Niz cleared his throat, drawing everyone’s focus to him as he shifted from foot to foot, clearly a bit uncomfortable. I hadn’t realized how quietly he’d been up to his point, but I had a feeling he’d been deep in thought. “It sounds like we need an army, and I think I know where to get one.”
16
NIZUSS
Wasa unification against Alefmir what my people and the Rebellion needed all along?
I felt the heavy weight of multiple pairs of eyes on me as I struggled to find my words. I’d sworn to myself as I laid on the battlefield thinking I was going to die that the secret would go with me. That I wouldn’t put my people at risk, nor Kieran, at her knowing the truth about myself or the other wyverns..
Yet here I was, about to divulge it all. Was this a mistake?
My brow knitted together tightly, my eyes remaining firmly planted on the ground before me.
Fuck, maybe this wasn’t?—
Soft footsteps sounded before Kieran’s long legs came into my view, causing me to glance up at her. Without hesitation, she threaded her hand through mine, squeezing gently. It was like silence descended over my mind with that simple touch. How was it possible for one person to bring me so much peace?
“Are you okay?”
I sighed heavily, my brow raising at her question. “I just…There’s so much riding on my decision right now. I don’t know where to begin.”
Her free hand found its way to my forearm before her fingers began to gently sweep along my skin in a soothing manner. “At the beginning is usually the best, if you can.”
It was time to decide: could I trust Kieran and all these fallen angels to care about my people when the past made it crystal clear that angels held no love for wyverns?
My eyes ran along all the men waiting patiently for my answer, and as each of our gazes met, I received looks and nods of affirmation. Somewhere along the way, my wyvern had begun to accept them all as part of a pack, and so the beast within me lay dormant, content at the thought of sharing this side of our lives with them.
I had to trust that—I had to trustthem.
“Well,” I murmured before my lips pinched tightly together, thinking about exactly where the beginning started. “The genocide that resulted in the multitude of ‘dead’ affinities we’ve learned about wasn’t actually the first push by the Archangels and leaders in Alfemir to eradicate an enemy. The first was the wyverns.”
My admission elicited gasps of shock, and I nodded. “My people faced their first attempt to wipe the history books clean, and then they did it again with the now dead affinity wielders. Once upon a time, our people coexisted with the angels in Alfemir. Many found their mate within the other species. During that period, the Dominions from the second triad even came down from Heaven to visit.”
The room went still and unnaturally quiet. I swore, it seemed like everyone stopped breathing at that particular revelation.
Gabe was the first to come back to his senses as he spluttered, “That…that is literally unheard of. Even here in the Rebellion, with the history we’ve learned of. Dominions have never left the gates of Heaven.”
“You have your history books here and we have ours that have been carefully guarded and preserved,” I countered, shrugging. “Dominions frequently visited, they had their own tower to reside in during their visits. They were thetruegoverning body of Alfemir. Not the Archangels. Although I’m not sure the accuracy of this piece of information, it was also stated that there was the occasional sighting of a Cherubim.”
Steele cleared his throat before running a hand over his closely shaved head. “I’m struggling to wrap my head around this.”
“Truly, this should be the least shocking part of what I have to say, considering you already know Alfemir to be capable of wiping out memories and histories of angels. With the second and first triad involved, their powers far exceed any Archangel from the third triad.”
Kieran shook her head, her grip on my arm and hand tightening before looking into my eyes with confusion. “Why did they start a war against the wyverns, if they were such an integral part of the community and mating with angels?”
I tried to recall every little detail I could, reciting as I went.
