“We’re alive?” I asked, gasping for breath. “You’re okay?”
He winced, clearly winded and in pain. “One word for it.” Something flickered in his aura, dark and foggy. It was even cloudier than before. He gritted his teeth and turned his head. “Realms. I feel mortal.”
Our seraphim had fallen not far from us. Her wings twisted, her eyes closed. A sword pierced her heart.
“No,” I cried.
“She’s dead,” Auriel said. “Nothing we can do.”
My eyes watered, as I nodded against his chest, and tried to breathe. But the fear was beginning to leave my body, replaced by exhaustion. My body began to tremble, every shake sending a new shock of pain down my arm. “How? How are we okay?” I asked.
“I jumped,” he groaned. “It restarted the fall, closer to the ground. So we had less time to build speed. And … I used a little magic to give us a boost at the end, slowing us down further. But I think … I used up what I had. For now.” He frowned, looking me over. He winced again, looking almost as if he were having trouble breathing. He was clearly in more pain than he was admitting to, but I could see in his eyes he was far more concerned with me. “Can you move at all?”
I nodded, and gingerly rolled off him, giving the world a moment to right itself. As I stood, my vision doubled and my ears filled with the sound of rushing water. I swayed, closing my eyes as a rush of nausea flooded through me. My body felt so hot. Almost feverish. I blinked hard, forcing back the tears in my eyes before Auriel could notice.
“What about you?” I asked quickly, diverting his attention from me. Auriel was motionless on the ground. He still looked like a God. A fallen God. But it was more than evident, seeing him like this, just how mortal he was. “Can you move?” I asked.
His chest heaved, his face and neck still red from exertion, but he reached for my hand, and sat up, taking a few labored but deep breaths. Then slowly, I helped him to his feet. “I guess, I can,” he said breathlessly.
Our fingers entwined together, the gesture as startling as it was natural, and something pounded in my chest.
“You’re sure?”
Auriel nodded, smiling softly, until his eyes dipped with concern to my arm. The cloth was matted with dirt from our fall as well as my blood, still seeping from the wound. Quickly, I placed my hand back over the bandage.
“Looks a bit different since the last time I was here,” Auriel said with a smirk.
Urtavia’s main streets and shops were not far from where we stood. The Temple of Dawn was in the distance. I could just make out the rounded structure of the Katurium looming beyond. In the opposite direction, there was a small neighborhood designated for soturion housing. Several small apartments had been built at the end of the waterway beside us.
“If we go through the city,” I said quietly, “we have a better chance of blending in. Enough people will be out that we could disappear into the crowd. Make our way toward Elyria.” It was still early, but I knew we were just reaching that time of morning when Bamarians would be heading out to restaurants for breakfast. Most vendors would have opened their shops for business, and any street sellers would be calling people over to their tents.
Auriel placed both hands around my face, brushing loose strands of my hair back. In the chaos of our flight and fall, my hair had dried. And now, it was a huge, frizzy mess of waves and curls.
And bright fucking red in the morning sun.
“Not with the way you look right now. We need to hide your hair,” he said, already unfastening his armor and tossing it to the ground. He unbuckled his belt next, and began unwrapping the long swath of green material folded around his waist. He tossed it to me, and I quickly tucked it into pleats beneath my belt, then drew the excess material up around my shoulders and over my hair as Auriel refastened his belt and armor. Then he touchedmy arm, his fingers gently dancing over my skin, careful not to touch any part of the bandage. I clenched my jaw, determined not to let him know how much pain I was in. Or how dizzy I was starting to feel.
“Your arm is hot,” he said. “I need to clean this properly. Check for infection.” But I pulled out of his grip.
“Not here,” I said, gritting my teeth. My skin was growing clammy. I could feel my hair sticking to the sweat on the back of my neck, and my stomach twisted again. “Not out in the open.”
Auriel frowned, ready to argue, until shadows loomed overhead. Three seraphim carriages flew right over us.
I stilled, barely daring to breathe as they passed. Canopies of leaves and branches kept us hidden for the moment, but they’d find us soon enough—especially once they located our fallen seraphim.
“Were they the same ones chasing us before?” I asked, reaching for my blade.
Auriel squinted. “I don’t know. Doesn’t matter. We have to view everyone we see as a threat now. Follow me.” Threading his fingers through mine, he ran, leading us both into the trees, as the sounds of seraphim and soturion boots hitting the ground reached us.
“That’s the one!” came a shout. “Search the carriage and perimeter. “They’re close.”
My pulse thrummed so loudly I could hear it in my ears, when suddenly, the clock tower began to sound. But it wasn’t an hourly call. The bells were ringing out a new pattern—one I’d never heard before. It reminded me of the bells we played for akadim—but this was different. Darker. A new kind of warning.
Auriel spotted a small clearing ahead and led me to its edge, carefully keeping us obscured between the branches of two suntrees. My chest heaved as I leaned back against one, Auriel sliding beside me.
The ringing had intensified, growing louder and louder, until they stopped abruptly.
A tree branch snapped in half not too far in the distance. Someone was coming.
