“How do I keep you from feeling me?” Dyna asked.
Cassiel scratched his cheek. “You cannot.”
“Then why can’t I feel you?” She glowered. His emotions had been so clear to her before he’d confessed about what he’d done. “You’re lying to me again.”
He dragged a hand through his inky hair as his frustration washed through her. “I’m not. I’m shielding myself, but it takes a great deal of concentration, and it is not infallible.”
It had to be true, because some of his emotions occasionally slipped through.
“How do I do that, then?” she asked. “How do I make a shield?”
“Construct a wall in your mind. Make it solid and fortify it.”
“That will block the … bond?”
He exhaled a heavy breath. “No. Emotions, perhaps—but I will always know where you are.”
Dyna bit her lip. That part didn’t need explaining. The moment the bond formed, something inside of her linked with Cassiel, tying her to him in a way she didn’t fully comprehend. Wherever he went, she simply knew the direction. His presence was like a pinpoint on the map of her soul. If ever they were separated, she knew the bond would lead her to him.
The autumn gust passed over them, coursing through the meadow. A small black feather slipped from his wings and caught in the grass by her boots. She hesitated to take it, remembering how he had reacted the last time she tried to. Cassiel watched her steadily as he came closer, close enough to buffer the cold. His warmth pressed into her, and she inhaled the ambrosial scent she was convinced only his kind had. He picked up the sleek plume and tucked it into his jacket.
“You gave her a feather,” Dyna stated evenly, and an unexpected twinge of jealousy passed through her. She didn’t know the feeling had been buried in her heart until she mentioned it.
Cassiel’s brow furrowed as he searched her face, then he glanced away. “I hesitated.”
His meaning wasn’t lost on her. He had hesitated to trade it to save her.
“I understand why you would. But what I don’t understand is why you would freely give your feather to a stranger.”
To someone he believed to be a witch when he couldn’t stand for her to touch them. She didn’t want to know the answer.
Dyna turned to leave. Cassiel’s hand clamped on her arm, and a fiery bolt of the bond’s energy zapped them both—stronger than it ever had before. He swung her around so hard the momentum sent her sprawling against his firm chest. A scowl etched his mouth as his heated eyes met hers.
“You do not understand why I would not abandon you to your fate?” Cassiel asked, his voice low and harsh. His fury and another emotion that tasted of despair swarmed through Dyna, draining the air from her lungs. “At the moment, my fear of losing you was greater than my fear of the law. I was so far beyond myself I would have given my blood to save you.”
Any words she could have said caught in Dyna’s throat, and her heart thudded behind her ribs. He would have given his divine blood? That was the most vital thing to a Celestial, the thing more sacred and protected by his kind.
“Are you ashamed of that?” Cassiel asked, sensing her again.
“No, I’m ashamed of myself,” she admitted, her vision blurring. Her inability to protect herself constantly put him at risk. “I’m truly so helpless. It’s pathetic.”
“Why should that be of surprise?”
She suspected he thought of her as weak. Spoken aloud, he crushed her heart in his fist. This was why she wanted to be stronger, so she wouldn’t feel so inadequate. So he wouldn’t think of her as a stupid human.
“That was a poor choice of words. What I mean to say is, you have not had the same training as us,” Cassiel amended quickly, but she didn’t need him to soften the blow for her sake.
He wouldn’t dare say the same about Lucenna. If he did, the sorceress wouldn’t take it kindly, nor should she. Dyna’s Essence burst in a brief gust, shoving off his grasp. Surprise flashed across his face. Cassiel stared at her as if he’d never seen her before.
“No, I have not trained as you have,” she said. “A fault I am well aware of.”
“I did not say it was a fault.”
“It certainly seemed that way.”
He groaned and pressed on his forehead, muttering under his breath. “Why do I have the sense that no matter what I say, none of it will be taken well? Your emotions are such a complicated mass that it is beyond bewildering.”
Dyna clenched her fists. “If it’s so bothersome, simply ignore them.”
