A roaring filled his ears.
His opponent came forward, glowing like a living flame.
She brought her hands together, one above the other, and a crackling sphere of fire formed between them. Her power violently charged the air, lifting the hair on his arms. She hurled her spell.
Cassiel was too slow to react. Her spell hit true and hurled him back with the force of a firestorm.
He crashed into the stairs below theHyalustree. Hard enough to make it rattle and send glass leaves raining down. Cassiel groaned, gasping for air. He blinked up at the smoky sky. Past the branches, Yelrakel argued with another Celestial with red wings.
That spell.
It held massive power, as if the Heavens had struck him down. He wouldn’t be surprised ifElyonhadsent someone to punish him for his deeds.
The goddess landed lightly a few yards away.
Her magic dimmed to reveal her face as she strode forward. A beautiful terror that had come to vanquish him. And that wrath that had been seeded in the fragments of Cassiel’s soul faded as all of him fell still.
Her boots clacked against the stone floor, the firelight catching on the black leather fitting her body like a second skin. Her red tresses fell free from her coronet and flared around her face in the wind.
A face he had dreamed of for the past three months.
Her cheeks were now speckled with a constellation of freckles, yet all the more enthralling with a fierce beauty that left him speechless. Because she was different.
Strong.
Powerful.
Dangerous.
Cassiel stared at Dyna with a stunned reverence as she strode through his flames. Silent words caught on his tongue like barbs. He was stuck between begging for her to truly be there and fearing she really was.
A part of him was sure it was a dream. He couldn’t get up. Couldn’t breathe. The sound of his beating heart drummed in his ears.
Cassiel’s throat bobbed, words falling from his lips like a wisp of smoke.“Lev sheli...”
Dyna crouched in front of him, her expression cool and impassive. Bindings of green Essence ensnared him tightly and pinned his arms to sides. Yanking him up, she brought them face to face. He couldn’t move, and it had nothing to do with the magic immobilizing him.
A shiver coursed through him at the sensation of her breath against his skin. His eyes widened further.
She was real.
Her beautiful lips curved in a cold smile. “Hello, darling.”
Lifting a glowing green finger, Dyna tapped his forehead.
A blow whipped through Cassiel’s skull. He fell through a black void, sinking into the darkness.
And the world vanished.
CHAPTER 43
Dynalya
With a wave of her hand, Dyna lifted Cassiel’s limp body into the air. She encased him in a swath of her Essence and layered it with a shield, in case anyone else tried to attack him while he couldn’t defend himself. Standing, she gazed at her former love as he soundly slept.
Cassiel’s hair had grown. It floated around his handsome face, almost to his shoulders. Black wings cushioned his back. He looked like an innocent young man with the messy locks on his forehead and the perpetual soft glow to his skin. Like a being who had stepped out of the Heavens. Not like the creature of annihilation who had almost demolished this Realm with his power.
Her barrier was beginning to rebuild.
