Instead, I say,“You flitted far enough that we couldn’t sense you.”I brush my fingers over her cold cheeks.
She mouthsoh, then clears her throat. “Kane, I’m fine. Julien and I are just going on a… walk?” I arch a brow at her, trying not to smile. “There’s no need for you—”
“Where is she?” Ezekial, from further away, but his voice is the same. Tainted and echoing.
Jasmine blinks up at me.
I sigh again. “They lost themselves to the dark before they remembered I could feel you.”
I lower my voice, keeping it calm and clear. “I amwithher, she is safe. But she has asked for a moment.”
Kane growls. Ezekial grunts. Sai mutters an exasperated curse.
“I’m really sorry for making you worry,” she murmurs, so soft, yet it cuts straight through my chest, and it isn’t even meant for me.
I can imagine the effect it has on the others. Kane’s stern expression softening, Ezekial’s rabid dogs flattening their ears.
Then, just to sweeten the blow, she adds, “I’ll make it up to you.”
A heated rush pulses through the bond. We might not be able to communicate across this distance, but emotions transcend many things.
“And… I’ve got it back,” Sai says with a breathless laugh. “Good job, baby.”
Jasmine tries to shake off Sai’s praise, but I hear the little pick up in her pulse.
“And what about us, Red?” Sai drawls, smirk obvious in his tone. “Do big guy and I get any credit for keeping the shadow twins on their leashes?”
She laughs, the sound soothing us all, our once turbulent bond settling. “Maybe you can share first place?”
Sai’s silence crackles through the phone as I stare down at the alluring nymph in my arms. Her lips curl into a teasing smile, scarlet gaze burning bright.
“Keep them busy, Sai.” I end the call, knowing too well what reckless thing he’ll say next. The phone slides back into my pocket.
Her weight rests against me as I walk, one arm holding her close, my free hand framing her face. That sly smile has faded, replaced by a quiet study of me. The shift draws the question from my lips before I can stop it.
“Why did you flit?”
Her fingers tighten in my shirt. “I’m still figuring that out,” she murmurs, gaze falling away. We walk a few more steps in silence. Then, softer still: “I think it was the… what-ifs. What if I was with the Green Cloaks all that time? What if the rune really is suppressing my immortality?... It all just became too much.”
Just like Kane, she flees when she’s overwhelmed. Two sides of the same storm.
But now she has us, and we’ll always find her.
I wait, watching to see if she’ll say more. Unlike Sai and Kane, I can be patient.
“Where are we going?” she asks at last, and I realise she isn’t ready. Not yet.
“Somewhere quiet.” I flit.
Her soft gasp is the first sound I hear as we step out of shadow, the temple rising before us. The sight steals her breath, and for a moment I simply watch her take it in.
“Most districts have two temples,” I explain, leading her beneath the great stone archway. “But the Council district has only one. A dualist temple.”
One side is the epitome of light, the other darkness. Where obsidian marble stretches alongside iridescent stone. It is a temple of contrasts, built to honour both goddesses in balance.
Jasmine tilts her head back as we enter, eyes catching on the silver chandeliers wrapped in golden vines, then to the altar where two statues, nearly ten feet tall, stand side by side.
The Goddess of Light:Ak. Lýsa. Lumen.Draped in snowy gossamer. A porcelain crown of pearls, opals, diamonds. Her face veiled in ivory lace.
