Something lifted off him then, and his lungs expanded with a full breath. He was better. Not good, but better. The weight of his loss was still there, but a little lighter. A little more bearable. His father was gone, and he was grieving, but it would be all right.
As Cassiel returned the letter to the envelope, he felt something inside. Turning it over, two silver cuffs landed in his palm. The bands were in the shape of wings coming together.
“What is that?” Dyna asked softly.
Cassiel didn’t think he could cry anymore, but a burning clamped his throat. “Wing cuffs…” He swallowed, struggling to speak. “These are given to Celestial children when their wings first sprout. They fit over the margins where the shoulder blade meets the wing. The sacred steel draws out the divinity in our blood to ease the growing pains and to help us fly…”
He turned over the cuffs in his palm. They were hardly an inch in circumference, made to fit a three-year-old’s wings. Polished and still new. They wouldn’t fit him, not that he could use them anymore.
With a shaking hand, Cassiel opened the box, and inside lay golden plates.
Wing armor that he couldn’t use either.
That was a bit much.
Rising, Cassiel went out onto the terrace, letting the cool air ease the tightening in his chest. He looked out at the skies that he would never be able to reach again. It was a choice he made and would readily make again, but he could admit it was another loss he mourned.
“My father must have had these made when I was a child,” he said when Dyna joined him outside. She rubbed his back. “Why give them to me now?”
Cassiel placed the cuffs on the banister, and they glinted in the moonlight. He could have used them as a boy.
“Perhaps he wanted to make up for lost time,” Dyna said. “You can still wear them to remember him by. They are small enough to fit as rings.”
She took the cuffs and slipped each one onto his thumbs. No sooner had she done it, all the remaining divinity inside of him whoosh through Cassiel’s veins to his back. Heat burst on his skin and blue light washed through the terrace. Gasping, Dyna covered her mouth, tears springing to her eyes.
Cassiel fell still, staring at her face. His hands trembled, his breath catching. Slowly, he looked up at his reflection in the glass doors and his heart lurched. There were two wings rising above his shoulders.
One as black as the night, and another made of pure flame.
Cassiel looked out at the horizon. How … how could his father have known?
Then it occurred to him then, these cuffs weren’t made to train his wings, but made specifically to help control his Seraph fire. Yet they came to be exactly what he needed.
His power didn’t vanish when he lost his wing. Here’s what remained.
“Does this mean what I think it means?” Dyna asked shakily.
Sighing, Cassiel tearfully smiled at her and held out a hand. “Why don’t we find out,lev sheli.”
Dyna didn’t hesitate. She rushed to him, and he swept her into his arms. Her green eyes gleamed beneath the glow of his fire. They both looked up at the night sky, twinkling with stars and the pinnacles of the impossible.
And he soared.
CHAPTER 97
Dynalya
The days passed too soon for Dyna’s liking. Before she knew it, spring came to an end, and it was time to leave the Valley of Sellav. They gathered outside the gates of the Norrlen estate in the early morning to say goodbye. The sun rose over the horizon, golden light bathing the land like a new beginning.
Rawn looked like a knight in his new armor and sword gifted to him by the king. Kneeling before his wife, he pressed his lips to her hand. “My lady, I give you my sworn oath to return to you again.”
Aerina said tearily, “I will hold you to your word, Rawn Norrlen. Do not keep us waiting long.” She lay a hand on her flat stomach, smiling happily. His eyes widened, and they all burst with cheers as he kissed her.
Raiden crossed his arms when he turned to him. “You have nine months to complete your mission. If you miss the birth, I will denounce you as my father.”
A gentle smile rose to Rawn’s face, as it always did when he looked at his son. “I will not fail you.”
“That remains to be seen,” Raiden retorted, but he couldn’t help smiling back. Their relationship had grown over their stay, and it warmed Dyna to see it. “I have taken the liberty of choosing a horse for you.”
