Cool metal sent chills across the back of his neck, her vambrace brushing his skin as her fingers idly stroked his hair. Even lying next to him, both completely bare, she’d refused to remove the vambrace. Not that he minded. He understood perfectly clearly that she was unwilling to be utterly defenseless. The part that confused him was that she could incinerate him with a single thought if she wanted to, rather than making a bloody mess with a dagger.
His chest tightened. “Yes,” he uttered softly.To feel nothing for you.
“Did it work then?” she murmured against his neck, trailing kisses along his jawline.
“No.” Nothing ever worked to get Adara off his mind, not even erasing his memories of her, for she eventually found her way back to him, clawed her way to where his heart should be, andmade a home there. Her soul was so deeply entwined within him, and she had no clue.
Adara propped herself up on an elbow. “What about now?” she asked, eyes sparking with amusement.
Hel no, he thought as he stared at the girl he loved years ago. The girl who’d grown into something else entirely and still managed to make him want her. “Yes,” he lied. He wondered if it was possible to fall out of love with someone. He hoped so, or he’d lost this war before it even began.
“Good,” she said with a smug smirk.
Dominic slid his fingertips up and down her spine, tracing an outline along the jagged ridges of the mirrored scars between her shoulder blades. His brows pulled together, lips pressing into a thin line.
“What happened?” he asked softly. Although his memories were returned to him, Dominic had never known what torment had been inflicted upon her back. She trembled slightly, her eyes squeezing shut. Dominic moved his hand to rest on the small of her back.
“The empire,” Adara said quietly, breath coming a little ragged, as if reliving the pain. “They—They cut off my wings.”
Dominic’s mouth parted, but no words came out. Something inside his chest strained. Fury coursed through him, but it was quickly washed away with sorrow at the misery evident in her features. “I’m so sorry,” he said, though no amount of apologies could make up for what had been done to her.
Tears pricked at his eyes as he imagined Adara in her half-shifted form—all human except for the scaled wings—kneeling beneath knights of black armor as they hacked away at the base of her wings, tearing them out from the roots. He imagined the gaping gashes on her back, skin ripped apart, bone gleaming white through the spurts of blood gushing from the lacerations. He imagined her curled over her knees, rivers of scarlet runningdown her back, pooling around her lifeless wings that lay broken on the floor. He cringed at the sound of her tormented screams that echoed through the dungeons. It was like he could really hear her shrill cries, her uncharacteristic begging, promising anything to keep her precious wings.
“It was the most painful thing I’ve ever felt,” she said sorrowfully. It was a relief to be drawn back to the present with her voice. “After years of torture from their experiments, I thought they had already broken me down to nothing. Clearly, I was wrong.” She shook her head mournfully, eyes distant. “Just when you think you’re done, that there’s nothing more they can do to hurt you, theyalwaysfind a way. You’re not broken until you’re dead. And when you’re dead, they win.”
Despite the sadness in her voice, Dominic noted the anger that fueled her.
Her skin heated against his, warm and comforting. “Eventually, I grew strong enough to grow them back. But before then, the gods marked me with a permanent pair of my own. Ones thatno onecould ever take from me.”
Sorrow turned into undiluted rage. The Shadow Empire had takeneverythingfrom her. They’d taken her from her family along with all the other heirs to the kingdoms, giving her friends only for her to watch as they tortured and experimented on each one of them. Sliced off her wings to undermine her power, to remind her she was weak in their presence. Then they took the ones she loved by enslaving their thoughts and turning them against each other, and threw her into a portal to never return home. He wanted to kill the ruler of Zenura for all the suffering that had been inflicted upon her.
No, he wanted to give the emperor a fate worse than death. But that was Adara’s revenge to take. So he would march into battle by her side and watch the empire crumble beneath her fiery fingertips.
“Adara.”
“Hmm?”
“When this war of hearts is over, no matter who wins, I’m helping you get your revenge,” he vowed.
Her eyes searched his for any indication that he was lying. She wouldn’t find anything. Then she broke into a timid smile, eyes gleaming. “You’d do that for me?” she asked in disbelief.
He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, then let his hand rest along her jaw, thumb drifting over her cheek.I’d walk through Helfarrow and back.I’d follow you to the end of time. I’d do anything for you.With his other hand, he held out his pinky for her to hook hers around. He wouldn’t let her walk into the arms of those demons again, not without him. “Of course, love. I promised you’d never fight alone.”
Her smile widened into a radiant grin, her teeth as white as the moon. “Till death and beyond,” she said, throwing her arms around his neck, pulling him into a crushing hug.
Wrapping his arms around her waist, he nuzzled his face into the crook of her neck, breathing in her sweet lavender scent, and smiled, forgetting all about their game of love that cursed their hearts. A game that ensured eternity with one another was out of reach.
Chapter 56
Adaraloungedinachair across from Asher, sitting on his cot in the crew’s cabin. Caleb swung back and forth in an olive-green hammock on her other side. The taste of rum in her cup and the sound of Caleb and Asher’s singing had her choking on laughs. They continued to obnoxiously sing a shanty about a certain Flamecarrier who had defeated a mighty lykren, saving them all.
Well, not all, she thought, with a pang of guilt washing over her. Her fingers curled around the wooden dragon in her pocket. They’d be arriving home in mere hours, and they didn’t evenhave Silas’s body to bring back. The bubbly laughter that filled the room between the three of them was genuine, but still couldn’t mask the sting of sorrow. The Andreilians were all eager to be home, their steps bouncing and their lips pulling into smiles. It was hard to see how quickly they all recovered from the lykren attack, but everyone mourned in different ways. The Andreilians sagged with sorrow for a few days, letting their grief take over, but now, they celebrated the life Silas had, grateful to have known him at all.
Adara covered her ears, a dramatic exaggeration. Finally, she lowered her hands and said, “And I thought the lykren was torture. This is even worse to endure.”
“Hey!” Caleb shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at her as he swayed in his hammock. “Me and Ash have beautiful voices. You’re just jealous.”
Asher nodded, raising his cup to a toast before knocking it back. “I can’t disagree with him on that.”
