“We are going on a journey that will take us further than either of us have gone before. I suppose it will take all of us to make it to Mount Ida alive. If he can learn to trust us.”
Dyna’s responding smile lit up her face, and the sunlight danced on her freckles. “Trust is hard to come by. Perhaps we must put effort into earning his.”
“Aye.” Zev smiled, sensing she was glad. She wanted to give the Prince a chance, as she had given him one when no other would. “Shall we go back?”
She picked up the journal and shouldered her satchel while he gathered their packs. The shrubs were clear by the time they passed through them.
Dyna ducked past a stray branch. “What is the difference between a Seraph and a Celestial?”
“A Seraph has six wings, and a Celestial has two,” he said as they cleared the forest and entered the small clearing where they had camped.
“It’s more than that,” the stoic Prince said. He was leaning up against a tree with his arms and legs crossed. The afternoon sunlight gleamed on his ink-black feathers as he gazed at the sky. “Our ancestors were Seraphim, butElyonremoved four of their wings before they fell here, taking most of their power and their immortality. In Heaven’s Gate, there is no marriage, nor the need for procreation. Whence the Forsaken were cast here, they were given the means to form Blood Bonds and have families. However, the children born unto them were not born of the grace ofElyon. They only developed two wings. Therefore, they weren’t Seraphim. They were given the name of Celestials, for they were still descendants of the Heavens even if they were not worthy of it.”
Cassiel sighed and brushed his black hair out of his eyes to meet Dyna’s. “The difference is simple. I am not from Heaven’s Gate. I was born in the Mortal Realm, as were you.”
She fixed him with a soft look. “Nonetheless, I would not say you were unworthy of it.”
He flushed and looked away with an odd expression Zev couldn’t read.
“I understand your need to protect yourself, but you need not do so from us,” she said. “Do you mean to harm me?”
He frowned. “No.”
“Then believe me when I say that Zev is not a threat to you. I ask that you both get along, and for there not to be another repeat of today.”
The Prince rubbed his neck. “As you say.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
“You need not be so formal. My name will do fine.”
“Cassiel,” she said, drawing his eyes to her again. “If we should hurry, we may arrive at Landcaster by tomorrow morning.” She turned to Zev excitedly. “And if the inns aren’t full, we could stop for lodging.”
Zev smiled, infected by her enthusiasm before he noticed the Prince’s obvious displeasure at the idea. At the sight of his large wings, he remembered why. “We can’t. No one is to see him, Dyna.”
“I will manage,” Cassiel said.
Zev furrowed his brow. “How?”
“I have my ways.”
“I will leave it among you both to discuss then,” she said. “After you have apologized to each other.”
Dyna spoke the passphrase to the journal before handing it to him and ambling north to the forest. Zev and Cassiel stared at each other, then at her in astonishment. When she fell out of sight, they quickly followed.
Zev couldn’t think of a reason to apologize when he was the one who had been wounded. Neither he nor the Prince offered one as they hiked through the forest behind Dyna. The moment passed, leaving the opportunity to do so behind.
They camped again for the evening near a small pond, lively with the croak of frogs and the fluttering of dragonflies. Once they ate and put out their bedrolls, Dyna fell asleep as soon as she lied down. Zev pulled a blanket over her shoulders and tucked it around her. The long days of travel had worn her out.
The Prince lounged in a tree branch again, spinning his flute between his fingers. Without Dyna to hold the conversation, an uncomfortable silence dragged between them. Zev sighed. They would always be at odds if they didn’t understand one another.
“I did what I had to do to protect Dyna,” he said, keeping his voice low. Cassiel glanced at him from his peripherals then to where she slept. “They planned to come after her. I couldn’t let that happen, so I finished them all.”
He had almost succumbed to the Madness after seeing what became of the Pack. The reminder to return to Dyna was all that had kept him sane. He had to shapeshift so he wouldn’t have to think about it. His thought process and instincts were different as a wolf. But the scent of blood coating his fur stung his nose, no matter how many times he washed.
“You are right to call me a beast,” Zev murmured. “For that is what I became to keep her safe.”
The Other may have inadvertently protected her, but it was an entity that killed anything in its path. If she had been in the glade, it would have torn through her as well.
