“If you go to war for vengeance, it will not fill the hole inside of you. It will consume you.”
It already had.
“This is not what your father would have wanted for you.”
Cassiel leaned his head back and laughed. The harsh sound echoed through the sky, tainted by his madness as he faced his startled cousin. “Oh.Did you expect that to change my mind? I no longer have a heart for you to sway. If you search for sympathy, you will not find it. If you hoped for compassion, I am free of it.” Seraph fire flamed in his fists, coursing up his arms. “Choose a side, Asiel. You either stand with your king, or you die with those I intend toburn.”
Asiel’s throat bobbed as he stared at him. “All of our lives, you and I have never been on the same side. Do not force me to stand against you now.”
He didn’t want to fight. Of all times, he was choosing now to be noble. Maybe Cassiel should have told him the truth, but he didn’t trust anyone anymore.
As far as the Realms knew, the High King was on a rampage to eradicate them and didn’t care what innocents died. It had been true in his past life. Let them believe it in this one. All the better that assumed him a mad king.
Only then would his true enemies appear.
“Whether you live or die, it will be by your will alone.”
His cousin’s face fell. Cassiel saw the struggle there, but it wasn’t a question of who Asiel would choose. He had to stand with Nazar for Sarrai’s sake. His mate came first.
As Cassiel’s did.
Asiel flew back and mounted his Pegasus. “I would have followed the man you used to be, Cassiel. Not the tyrant you have become.”
He soared away with his unit of soldiers for the south, leaving Cassiel with the weight of his words. They caught the wind quickly, and soon fell out of sight as they vanished through the clouds. With his new strength and speed, Cassiel could keep up with the Pegasi, but the same couldn’t be said of his Valkyrie.
Asiel had a head start, and they both knew it.
Yelrakel came to his side. “Sire, if you let him go, he will inform Lord Gadriel of our impending arrival.”
“I look forward to it.” Cassiel was prepared to become the monster the Realms believed him to be. For his mate, he would swallow up the darkness and let it consume him whole.
His soul be damned.
CHAPTER 19
Rawn
It was a calm evening around the campfire as Rawn worked on fletching more arrows. Zev lounged on his bed mat while the others wandered the open field searching for four-leaf clovers. The evening air carried an earthy scent. Lightning flashed in the distance, then came a faint rumble.
“Smells like rain again tonight,” Zev muttered.
“Yes,” Rawn agreed, a droplet landing on his cheek. The wind picked up, shaking the wet branches of the tree above them. A few more droplets landed on the golden ring on his pinky. It bore the sigil of his House and the sight of it pulled him back to memories he would rather not remember. He had been dreaming a lot of his past lately. It started a while ago after the magical explosion when Dyna’s barrier had first broken.
“Rawn?”
He blinked. “Pardon?”
“I asked what that ring was,” Zev said, sitting up. “You were staring at it.”
“Oh, it is the signet ring of my household.” Rawn twisted it around his finger, watching how it glinted in the firelight. “It was passed down to me by my father, and one day … it will belong to Raiden.”
“Raiden?”
“My son … I have not shared his name, have I?” Rawn smiled faintly as he looked out at the girls still searching for clovers. “He would be about your age now.”
At times, Rawn liked to picture his son here among them, but he couldn’t place his face.
“I found one,” Klyde announced, spinning a little clover stem in his fingers.
