“Where am I supposed to go from here?” Cassiel looked up at the version of Yoel who had been with him all winter.
He sat on the windowsill against the sunrise, smiling at him tenderly. So young and carefree. A soft white light hovered off him and his wings. He no longer seemed solid anymore.
“I can’t tell you where to go. Only to keep going.”
He shook his head. “I should have been faster. I should have been stronger. If I had reached you in time, you would still be here. We were supposed to have more time. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“I am here, Cassiel. Didn’t I say I would be with you for as long as you needed me?”
His throat tightened. “But I have to let you go now, don’t I?”
Yoel stepped down and came over to him. “There is a time for everything, son. What is coming is far better than what is already gone.”
Cassiel lowered his head to hide the way that hurt. “You should have lived...”
“I do.” His father laid a hand on his shoulder, yet he could no longer feel it. “I live in your memory.”
His shoulders shook with silent sobs. How was he supposed to go on without him? His father’s presence was the only thing that had provided any guidance in the void of his life. “I feel lost.”
“I know. But now it’s time to find your way back.”
“What if … what if I can’t go back?” he asked in a broken whisper.
Smiling gently, his father held out a hand to him. “Then we will find our way back together.”
He took it, and Yoel pulled him up. When he blinked his eyes again, Cassiel found himself still in bed. He had been dreaming. But it felt too real to be a dream.
His father had come to say goodbye.
“Sire?”
He turned his head, noticing Yelrakel standing guard at his door. Her shoulders slumped with relief, and she rushed to his bedside.
“My king, how are you feeling?”
Cassiel looked at the empty windowsill. The moon had replaced the bright sun and the last traces of that assuring presence faded away like a breath on a breeze.
Alone.
There was a hole in his chest, and he didn’t know how to fill it. How did he get here?
Cassiel missed the days when he didn’t know who he was, when he was a stupid boy taken with a girl he met in the forest, learning what it meant to love. How could he find his way back to who he used to be?
Without his father and mother, without his mate, what was there to live for anymore?
Sometimes he thought death would be easier. Life was much harder. But Cassiel reminded himself he had returned to this world for a reason.
“Dyna?” he asked.
“My Queen and her Guardians departed Greenwood through the Elder Tree,” Yelrakel said. “They are on their way to Red Highland.”
“I am going after her.” Cassiel sat up and began dressing in fresh clothes. He had been too late to save her in their first life, butElyongave him a second chance. He wasn’t wasting it. “Have the squadron prepare to depart.”
“I have already sent them ahead with her, sire.” Yelrakel put on her helmet. “My ride awaits me on the roof.”
She looked back at him steadily, ready to serve. With her Pegasus and the speed of his flame, he could recall the rest of his Valkyrie from Sellav and catch up to Dyna.
“I will see you there, General.”
