“You are not in charge here, Vago. But thank you for bringing the flowers.”
He grinned and pulled me in for a quick embrace, and once he let go I kissed Greta’s cheek and bade them farewell once again. I’d barely gotten into the library when the mirror howled a terrifyingly human sound, and his pleased face showed through the glass.
“That’s awful. Can you change it to the teakettle sound like the other?”
“Will you hear it if I do?”
“Yes. Who in the worldcouldn’thear that?”
He chuffed, highly amused. “Rylan. He never seems to hear it unless it’s the most terrible noise possible. Too many stairs and distance between rooms, or at least that’s what he claims.”
“Well, we’re not dealing with the same kind of space here, so the whistle is much preferred to the howl.”
“I’ll change it.” It was nice to see Vassago in such good humor.
We spoke through the device long enough for him to tell me that Seir was in fact still at the collegium, and that he, Rylan, Magnus, Coltor, and several other stone kin soldiers were working out a guard rotation for both the glade and Revalia, and Magnus would be sending several units through to the doors that Coltor had noted with unusual activity.
The angel sighting had put everyone on high alert, and they were wasting no time setting up some defenses just in case.
While using the mirror was a bit strange, it was nice to be able to speak to them easily if I needed to. There was no telling what trouble might find us in the coming days, and I told them so. Without hesitation, they informed me that the whole of the stone kin outpost, plus our family, would respond in kind should something happen.
When I finally signed off and headed toward the kitchen to assemble something substantial for us to eat, grateful if exhausted. That peace didn’t last, though.
I’d just begun peeling a potato when I heard something heavy fall, and Phin’s muffled cry.
Chapter 28
Tap
Iburst through Phin’s bathroom door and found her hunched over on the floor next to the tub, water splashed all over the room.
She looked up at me, fear and pain in her eyes. She didn’t speak, but I could see the plea for help plainly written on her face. Her arms moved to cover her exposed flesh, and I surged forward.
“Saints.” I grabbed one of the plush towels she’d left on the counter by the sink and wrapped it around her body. “Are you hurt?”
Phin cried out again in her quiet rasp as her wings partially erupted from her back and then retracted again. “I don’t know what’s happening,” she gasped.
Phin groaned, and the appendages violently burst through again and fully extended, the silver feathers looking wilted and worn, like they were ready to molt.
“Can you control it at all?”
“No. I’m trying, but it’s like they’re separate from me. Like they can’t… hear me.” Phin’s body curled in on itself even further and she stuttered a pained cry as they retracted again. “Ihaven’t used them in a very, very long time.” She sobbed, and the bond roared. I despised how helpless I felt.
“Shall I pick you up?” I asked.
Phin nodded aggressively, and I wasted no time scooping her into my arms. I hated myself for feeling relief because I was holding her considering her discomfort. She was burning up. I tucked the towel around her more securely when one of the ends flipped open and held it closed with my arm. I carried her out of the bathroom, intending to lay her in her bed only to find that it was stripped to the bare mattress. After a brief hesitation, I took her across the hall into my room.
My private chambers were set up the same as Phin’s, though done in a darker color palette. Where hers was cream and pastels, mine was navy and charcoal. I preferred my mattress on the floor rather than up on a frame, and I had amassed a pile of assorted pillows, blankets and cushions over the years in an effort to make the bed the more appealing place to sleep. None of them had worked on me so far, but the collection of them all piled off to one side made the space look inviting enough that Phin reached for the bed as we got near it.
I laid her down on her side and went to my armoire, pulling out one of my oldest, softest shirts. It had been made with custom openings in the back for my wings to slide through. I hadn’t worn it in eons.
“Here.” I helped her shrug into it, mentally cataloging the sprinkling of freckles across her shoulders, the grouping of moles in the shape of a star with one very short leg on the right side of her ribs, the faint silvery scar across her lower back on the left. I inhaled firmly through my nose as my chest burned and my cock twitched, the sight of her in my clothing affecting me far more intensely than I’d dared consider.
She groaned and pulled her knees into her chest as her wings appeared again, flaring wide. I reached out and stroked alongthem, several feathers falling out. I collected them, impulsively stuffing them into the little pocket on my shirt right over my heart.
“Can you feel me touching them? Or are they fully disconnected from you?”
Phin made a very different kind of noise, one that made my brain stop for several heartbeats. I began to sweat, and struggled to stop the inappropriate visions from flashing across my thoughts, the ache between my legs rapidly becoming as profound as the one in my chest.
