No one was here to stop the sorceress from enacting her will. With a flourish of her hand, Von’s body flipped over on his back.
“Don’t,” Geon begged. “Please!”
Dyna only looked at her, silently pleading.
The sorceress huffed. She flicked her fingers and from Von’s pocket emerged a silver pendant floating in the air. Diamonds and engraved runes bordered the circumference. Dyna had only glimpsed it in the time rift. Seeing it now, she was certain it matched the pendant in Azeran's journal. But there was a groove in the center where the Moonstone should be.
The sorceress secured the pendant around her neck and she laid a hand over it, closing her eyes from visible relief.
“The Luna Medallion,” Dyna murmured.
The sorceress spun to her. “What did you say?”
Cassiel’s faint voice drifted over the hill. Dyna’s heart flooded with joy at the sight of him soaring through the air, his black wings carrying him over the trees. She called his name and his storm-cloud eyes locked on her.
He circled overhead once, not waiting to slow his descent before he tucked in his wings and swooped down. He stumbled on his awkward landing, running the rest of the way to her. Dyna choked back a sob and reached out to him, needing to touch him.
“I found you,” Cassiel said, breathless.
He dropped to his knees and removed the bindings from her wrists. His arms closed around her, holding her tight against his chest. The energy hummed between them, gentle and soft.
Tears spilled down her face, and she crumbled against him in shaking sobs. He held her as she cried. Even when she quieted, he didn’t let go.
“I feared I would never see you again,” she murmured, listening to the rhythm of his heartbeat.
“As did I,” he said into her hair, his breath caressing her cheek.
“You can say it. I’m a stupid human.”
Cassiel pulled back to look at her. He lifted her face and gently wiped her tears away. “I’m the stupid one. I should not have let you out of my sight.”
She chuckled faintly. “Stupid Celestial.”
A smile lit his face for the first time since they met, and her stomach pitched. He looked at her with a tenderness that left her heart soaring as though it had a pair of wings.
He leaned forward and pressed his forehead to hers. “I am glad you are safe.”
She closed her eyes and leaned into his embrace. With him here, everything had righted again.
A massive black wolf came tearing down the hill. Cassiel stepped back as it rushed into her arms.
“Zev!” Dyna hugged him tightly. The wolf pressed his head against her shoulder, whining. “Lord Norrlen is here as well?” she exclaimed when the elf slipped from the trees next.
He lowered to one knee beside her. “I am glad we have found you, Lady Dyna. Are you injured?”
“You’re bleeding.” Cassiel touched the cut on her temple, making her wince. His gaze hardened into steel when he noticed her other injuries. “Who hurt you?”
“I’m fine,” she said, looking him over. His coat was missing, leaving his wings exposed. His torn clothes were bloody from wounds that had already healed. “What happened?”
Cassiel looked away from her. His balled fists covered in dried blood hung at his sides. His irises dulled to the muddy wisps of smoke blowing in the wind after all that mattered had gone up in flames.
He killed to save her.
All because she spoke to Von.
Dyna shook her head, covering her face. “This is my fault.”
“It’s not,” he said.
