“That blade was meant for Cassiel, my lady. His father took the blow, and he couldn’t forgive himself for it.”
Emotion lodged in Dyna’s throat. When she had learned Amriel had assassinated Yoel, she didn’t know it was because he had shielded his son.
“Losing his father and rejecting the bond on the same night broke him. He couldn’t accept both losses. The burden was tearing his soul apart.” Sowmya’s voice wavered, and she took a breath. “He couldn’t bear to forget you, and he couldn’t bear to remember Yoel’s death … so he erased it.”
Because Cassiel had promised to never forgether…
“I think a part of him knew it wasn’t real,” Sowmya looked down at him. “Black clothes, refraining from revelry, and not cutting his hair are customs ofaveilut—the year of mourning for a parent. Then there is the name he gave the illusion. Netanel means ‘a gift fromElyon.’ For what else could his father be but a divine gift the Heavens had granted him. It was the only way Cassiel could accept the new reality he conjured.”
Dyna’s mouth wobbled. His mind created it, not only to cope with the loss, but because Cassiel had finally had Yoel back. He had lived all his childhood without a father. He couldn’t bear not having him after losing so much.
Dyna laid her hand over Cassiel’s. He felt so cold. “How could he do this to himself? Why reject our bond and go through all this pain alone? I don’t understand.”
“I think it was Yoel’s death that drove him to it, because he had already suffered failing to protect someone he loved before.”
“Do you mean … because of Sheli?”
Sowmya’s brown eyes held hers a moment, then dropped to theHyaluscrystal left on the bedside table. “What Cassiel feels for you is what my kind callahava nitzchit. A deep and eternal love that goes beyond duty and obligation. Beyond the threads of the universe and time itself.”
Dyna’s brow furrowed. She didn’t know what that meant.
“The depths of which his soul is bonded to yours could never be comprehended by another without feeling it for themselves. I know how much he hurt you and the anger you carry. But my wish, shouldElyongrant it, is for you to understand how much he truly loves you. I suppose only time will tell.”
With that, both Valkyrie bowed and silently stepped out of the room.
Dyna leaned her arms on the edge of the bed, watching Cassiel sleep. To understand everything, every reason behind every lie, she would need to live his life. Both lives.
Only time…
Would it be possible?
Taking Cassiel’s cold hand in hers, Dyna closed her eyes. She breathed in and out as her magic stirred. TheEssentia Dimensioopened before her. Dark with the two blue bulbs of light. The aura of a Celestial’s divinity. One was Cassiel’s and the other…
Dyna reached out to it with her Essence and cradled them both.
And she sank.
She found herself in a new dark void. Similar to theEssentiaDimensio,but it felt … different. A faint green light appeared ahead, and Dyna walked toward it. The ground beneath her feet turned into the reflection of water as she came out onto a trickling stream with shores of moss. Magic glittered in the air like green rain.
Her magic.
Did she pass through a new dimension? Perhaps within herself. She kept walking, and memories flashed around her, distorted with color and voices and sounds of music.
Memories of two lives.
Dyna didn’t sort through them. She let the past come to her as she dream walked through Kahssiel’s life, letting him decide how to tell his story.
The first memory halted abruptly and opened to darkness and the clash of steel. Blades of white flame cut through demons as a battle raged around her.
It was the Dark War against the God of Shadows.
Seraphim and humans fought and died as creatures of shadow tore into them. It was a brutal slaughter.
A bright blue ball of fire tore through the demon ranks. Dyna whipped around in search of him. And there he was.
Kahssiel in gold and silver armor, flying ahead on six white wings. “Here we stand!” he bellowed, and his familiar voice shook Dyna’s soul. “Cut them back!”
His army of Seraphs followed his lead, but demons came in an endless stream. Shadows writhed and sprang from the earth. They were darkness personified, with horns and talons of smoke. Each Seraph they cut down littered the ground with feathers, ash, and blood. Screams and the clash of blades rang in her ears.
