I gasped in horror as they all fell to the ground. Wide, blank eyes unseeing. Dead.
They may have been Fae bastards, but I didn’t wish them dead.
I snapped my head around and looked at this Fae. He was staring at me with a heavy gaze, before he slowly smirked. He bowed down to me, making a mockery of it.
“Until we meet again. Let that rage flow where it’s earned.” With a parting look, the gorgeous soldier disappeared into the darkness.
I stood there, stupefied, for far too long. He didn’t kill me. Shock was too tame an emotion for what I felt. Was the Night Kingdom not as bad as people claimed? They were attacking, which didn’t lend any sort of credence to that theory.
But—but he—he didn’t take me against my will, didn’t kill me. He tried to convince me Cyrus was a monster, which I already knew, even if I refused to concede the point to him. But I just saw him crack the necks of a bunch of innocent soldiers. As innocent as Fae could be anyway. There was no way that man wasn’t just as much a monster as Cyrus, if not more. After all, he served under King Calix, the man who hunted down and killed humans.
I swung my gaze along the street, but all I could see now was Night Kingdom warriors in their black armor, leaving. Like a wave, they disappeared as quickly as they’d come.
Cyrus appeared from further down the road, running towards me with lightning crackling at his fingertips. When he made it to me, I was still in a daze over what had happened, trying to furiously get my mind in order. He reached for me, but I flinched back. His lightning magic was still crackling around his fingers, and I didn’t feel like being struck. Even so, Cyrus’s eyes hardened, and his jaw ground back and forth.
The lightning intensified, and when I looked into his eyes, they were similarly flashing with sparks. I withered a bit despite myself. I prided myself on staying strong, on being able to stand my ground, but this was different. This was powerful, royal, Fae magic at use.
I had no idea what that lightning would do to my regrettably weaker human body. Would it kill me? Stop my heart?
I watched as Cyrus took a deep breath, closing his eyes. When he opened them after a few beats, the lightning was gone, and I relaxed a fraction.
Until his wings unfurled.
I jolted. One moment, Cyrus was standing before me, in his normal man-shaped form, for all his Fae features anyway. The next, giant dark pink feathered wings had sprouted out of his back. I ran my eyes along them. They were—Old Gods, I hated to admit it, but they were amazing.
I didn’t have much time to appreciate them though. I hadn’t thought of why he’d summoned his wings. But as Cyrus quickly took me into his arms, and I felt my feet leave the ground, I regretted not thinking that through.
I gasped and squealed in terror, somehow managing both at the same time. An impressive feat. But Cyrus didn’t seem to appreciate it.
“Quiet.” He snapped at me.
I closed my mouth to avoid snapping back at him and then closed my eyes against the wind as he flew us quickly back to the palace. When I opened them, I pushed the shock of the unexpected flight out of my mind to appreciate what was actually happening.
I was flying!
A huge smile took over my face at this simple fact. All my life, I wanted to feel the freedom of the sky. I sighed deeply and looked up into the sun. It shined down on me in a soft caress against my skin. It felt closer than ever before as I dared reach a hand up towards it. Like I could caress it back in turn.
It wasn’t perfect, since it wasn’tmeflying. It was just the closest I would ever get. That feeling though, the one I sometimes got where I felt like my skin was too tight, too small—it felt worse than ever at this moment. Maybe because I wanted to crawl out of my skin, spread my own wings, and fly.
Ridiculous. But I couldn’t help the feeling.
I looked up with reverence at the sun, thanking Hyperion, the Fae’s god of the sun, for this gift. The Old Gods weren’t responsible for this one. It was still too far away, of course. But I hoped he felt my genuine appreciation at being this close.
Chapter 9
Ireachedfor the stars. My fingertips brushed against the twinkling light, straining to get closer, but it was no use. I brushed against it, but that was as far as my reach allowed. I frowned in consternation. Why couldn’t I reach them? What was keeping them from me?
The sky rumbled around me, and I blinked with shock. I’d never seen it do that before. Before I knew it, the sky seemed to try to touch me back, but it hit a barrier. I reached out once more, attempting to touch. I flinched as I swore I felt another’s fingers reach back for me.
I looked down and gasped—my hand looked like the stars themselves, bright, shining light emanating from me. I looked up again, seeing tendrils reaching for me, the darkness of night itself shaping itself into a hand. I forced my shock away to try to focus on what was happening and how it was even possible.
My fingers and the night sky’s reached for one another, but right when I thought we’d touch, our embrace was halted. I yearned for its touch, to discover what was happening. Why was the darkness trying to reach me? What kept us apart? Whatever this barrier was, it was solid. Unmovable.
I let out a cry of frustration and the sky roared in response. I swore I could somehow feel its own frustration and desperation in that moment, shaking me to my core. I could sense it, like the darkness’s emotions beat in my own heart. It wanted to touch me, more than anything, to wrap itself around me and hold me close. But something stopped it.
I was sure this wasn’t the first time I’d experienced the sky’s agony. I recognized this scene as one I’d dreamt of often. Only, I was the one always trying to reach the stars—and I’d never come so close to touching them as I did tonight. And somehow, that proximity let me take on the light of the stars themselves.
Something had changed.
