Six huffed out a breath, and padded softly over to stand by Ezer’s side, her beak still tipped towards the sky. And then she began to purr.
Ezer laughed, a joyful sound.
‘It’s lovely, isn’t it?’
She’d forgotten what it felt like to have the sun on her face.
Kinlear sighed beside her, his eyes closed as he, too, reveled in the sudden golden warmth.
‘It’s a beautiful day,’Kinlear said. The sun lit up the freckles scattered across his nose and cheeks. His hair shimmered bronze beneath the light, and for a moment it struck her how handsome he was. The other side of a coin she’d forgotten to flip over until now. Today … Kinlear Laroux glimmered with life.
‘Just … beautiful,’ he said.
He wasn’t looking at the sky or at Six.
No … he was looking right at her.
A tendril of electricity sparked through her as he said, ‘If I didn’t know any better … I’d say you were born for this.’
‘For what?’ she asked.
He smiled knowingly and nudged his chin towards Six. ‘Forher.’He swallowed, and said, ‘For me.’
Her eyes widened.
She flicked her gaze to Arawn … but found the space empty where he’d just been. And the stone in her pocket utterly cold.
‘For … you?’ Ezer asked, eyes back on Kinlear.
Her mouth had gone dry.
She wasn’t supposed to feelthatway.
Not for him.
‘Oh, Gods, I mean …’ Kinlear clear his throat and chuckled. ‘I mean for me and this mission. I feel as if you have been godsent, Ezer. The answer to the prayers so many of us have sent skyward, hoping the gods would take pity on this realm. I’ve never met a soul like you. You’re … unburdened.’ He smiled, and she realized he had a dimple on one cheek. She’d never looked at him this closely before, always too afraid of her dreams to dare search his face. It was endearing, the softness in him. ‘There is no greater joy than to share this moment with you,’ he added.
Her walls dropped a bit more.
‘I’m not godsent,’ Ezer said. ‘If anything … Six is.’
The raphon’s wings ruffled as she shook off a few flakes of snow. And for a while they stood there, just the three of them, staring up at the rare sun.
It was comfortable, this moment, and that surprised her.
‘Arawn has journeyed across the Expanse countless times,’ Kinlear said. Strange to hear him speak his brother’s name after she’d learned the pain that was between them. A twinge of something that felt likeguiltunfurled in her chest. Though she hadn’t the faintest idea why. ‘He has battled and taken out darksouls more than anyone could keep track of. The King Lordach needs, with my father’s inevitable end. But me?’ He sighed. ‘I’ve spent my life inside the Citadel, staring through the glass at a world that isn’t mine to know or explore. I can look … but I cannot touch. I thought I would die as forgotten as the ones who’ve abandoned us. I thought … my eternity would benothingcompared to Arawn’s.’
She glanced sidelong at him.
She never would have guessed the darkness that threatened to steal him away. The sickness that would not quit. The pain of his loss, when it came to Soraya.
How utterly unfair that a Sacred like him would die young. The same fate as one whocouldwield … and yet he’d never been granted even that small gift.
She felt like he was paying penance without ever having done anything wrong.
He cleared his throat. ‘When the War Table approved the Black WingBattalion, I was overjoyed. It gave me a sense of purpose. A chance to do something in this war, other than be the broken prince. The one people look at, and think,what a shame, he cannot be what his father wishes him to be.He’ll never be like Arawn.’
‘That’s not what they think,’ Ezer said gently.
