He scowled and whirled around, not realizing how close she was and whacked her with his wings. She stumbled backward and slipped off the edge of the cliff.
“Dyna!” Cassiel lunged for her, catching her flailing wrist. He yanked her into the clutch of his arms, and they fell backward on safe ground in a tangle of limbs. Arms and wings held her securely to his chest. His heart raced from the horror of what almost happened.
Dyna shook against him. At first, he thought she was crying until she burst into a fit of giggles. She sat back on her heels and laughed until tears collected in the corner of her lashes.
He eyed her warily, fearing she had gone mad. “What is so amusing?”
She shook her head, grinning. “To think, all this time you were the answer to my problem. You were a mere forty miles from my village in a kingdom of divine beings no one knew still existed. Even so, it changes nothing.”
He finally drew her meaning. “For you still would have crossed Urn on your impossible quest to find an impossible place.”
“Corron didn’t change who you are, Cassiel. You are the same, ornery Celestial who saved me from a cliff. Twice.”
“Stupid human.” He smirked and curled a loose lock of her scarlet hair behind an ear. Realizing what he did, he immediately pulled away, but she took up his hand again and held it on her lap.
Dyna gave him a soft smile. “I’m sorry for throwing stones at you.”
“I suppose I deserved it.” Cassiel looked down at their entwined fingers, liking how well they fit together. He grazed her knuckles with his thumb. “I’m sorry for what happened at the inn.”
A lovely blush rose to her cheeks. “It’s all right. I understand.”
“I meant everything I said that night,” he murmured. “I truly wanted to slay the Shadow for you but …”
He couldn’t. Not anymore.
“It doesn’t matter, Cassiel. I wouldn’t have let you risk your life for me. This is something I must do alone. Whether you had told me about your ability or not, my path leads me to Mount Ida.”
“You say this because of the Seer’s divination?”
Dyna nodded. “Perhaps even Azeran’s creation of the map was all playing toward my future. I believe it. None of this is pure chance. So, please don’t feel as though you have failed me. The Raiders—”
She cut off abruptly as a sharp pang went through him. He let their hands break apart.
“Why do you want to go to Mount Ida?” she asked, surprising him with the unexpected question. He looked out to the western horizon, wondering if he would ever find what he sought. “Is it related to that?”
Her gaze flickered to his mother’s sapphire ring. He’d been mindlessly twisting the chain from which it hung around his fingers.
He tucked the ring away. “Do not ask me for I will not answer.”
“Why?”
He sighed. “It has nothing to do with you.”
“It does. You were angry that I was going to Mount Ida. I saw your face when your father brought out those books. That island means something to you. I feel it. Why is that?”
Damn. She could feel his emotions as he felt hers. He couldn’t hide it any longer.
“You’re nervous.” Dyna tilted her head. “Now you are anxious,” she added at his inner jolt. “Why do I know that? Why do I feel you?”
Cassiel dropped his head. The weight of the truth bore down on him. “You were also unexpected. I did not know saving your life would bring me here. By all rights, we never should have met, but I see now that you are the key to everything. The key to this entire journey. The key to the map. And … the key that changed my life.”
“What do you mean?”
His wings flexed, reflecting his urge to fly away from her again, but if he didn’t confess now, he may never say the words. “I must tell you something. Something unfortunate, but you must know. You have a right to know.”
Her alarm coming through the bond shackled around his throat.
“I made a mistake,” he rushed out. “Please know it was never my intention. I had only meant to heal you. You will most likely despise me, and rightly so, but—”
