I take a deep breath and blow it out. “As I’ll ever be.”
Everyone gets up to say their goodbyes. When Callan reaches me, they linger, holding my hands. “Will you please tell my family I’m all right?” they ask. “And give them these? They hand me two thick letters sealed in pretty envelopes.
“Of course I will.” I accept the letters and place them with my father’s before reaching up to wipe a tear from Callan’s cheek. “I will keep your family safe. I promise you that.”
They nod, and I feel the trust granted me.
Then it’s just me, Neri, and Alexus standing there as everyone else looks on.
“Take care of her,” Alexus says to the northern god. “If you meet with any trouble, just get her back here.”
“No harm will come to her so long as I’m breathing,” Neri says in response.
He reaches for me, takes my hand, and draws me to him. My face burns at the intimate action, even more so when he slips my hands behind his head, tugs me close, and leans in to press his lips against my ear, as though there’s no one else in the room.
“Fly me home, little bird,” he whispers.
And with the ice around my frozen heart melting, I do.
24
NEPHELE
When I was a girl, I fell out of a tall tree while playing with Raina. I remember feeling like I was falling forever. Fear gripped me in a cold fist of panic as I primed myself for the inevitable impact. That same terror is what I’m feeling right now, only intensified as Neri and I plummet, cast from the aether’s dark embrace.
Eyes squeezed tight, wind whistles and wails around us, the air bitter cold.
“Legs!” Neri shouts, and I instinctively know to wrap my legs around him.
His arms tighten as we tumble head over foot, his big hand splayed around the back of my head, holding me close as though to protect me from the brunt force I know awaits.
We hit trees first, crashing through evergreens, the stiff limbs barely slowing our descent as the needly boughs slice at our faces. Birds erupt from their nests and creatures of the night scream as we’re tossed and tipped through their nocturnal world what feels like a thousand times before we’re ripped apart. Finally, I free-fall, the collision softened only by a snowy forest floor.
When I strike the ground, all the wind bursts from my chest and my vision goes black for long seconds. But a gasp hits me, and I inhale deep breaths of frigid winter air.
My heart lurches to life, pounding. Having landed on my back, I blink up at a snowy haze, a billion streaking flakes blurring out a canopy of tree limbs and a night sky beyond. Even through the gray obscurity, I can see the aether shimmering in the trees, dripping like quicksilver.
A groan snaps me out of my daze, and I turn, my head splitting with pain along the back of my skull as I look for Neri.
He pushes up from the snow and claws toward me, hovering over me and touching my face. “Are you all right? Is anything hurt? Broken?”
The snowfall is so thick I can barely see his face. But his golden eyes are impossible to miss, bright as stars.
“I’m… I’m good, I think. The snow saved us.” Already shivering, I hold out my hand, and he takes it, helping me sit up. Icy wind tears at my braided hair, making my head throb worse, which is distracting. But I instantly notice a loss. “My pack is gone.”
He glances around, and though the strong wind provides resistance to his effort, he pushes through, stalking several strides away to what looks like a mound of snow. I would’ve never found it, but he retrieves my pack.
“Night vision?” I ask when he returns, wondering how that works. I’ve never seen his eyes so reflective.
“Yes. It’s a bit more intense than usual. I’m not sure why, but I’m glad. Because I think we’re going to need it.”
“I don’t know what happened,” I say over the cutting wind, strapping on my pack. “What I did wrong.”
We even ate Mari’s stew before we left. I didn’t feel too weak to carry us.
He shakes his head. “It isn’t you. The aether rejectedus. Very likely because you’re carrying me, and it seems every godly power I possess is rejecting me now, and I don’t understand why. We’ll have to figure it out later. Right now, we must find shelter, and I think I know of a place.”
I look around, confused. “How can you possibly know of a place? Where are we?”
