“You left me,” he says. “And you were quick to accept the absolution you desperately craved. I’m the angel of judgment, Celine—did you think I would forget what you did?”
I recoil, curling into Alistair’s chest as every part of me rejects what he’s saying. My magic trembles inside me. It wants to know for sure, but I hold it back.
“Swear it,” I tell him, hating every second of this torture. My business, my heart, my greatest shame put on display for everyoneto see. My wings droop. Drops of water glide down the feathers, freezing before they can reach the ground.
“I dare you to lie to me, Malach.” I’m shouting now, but I can’t stop. “Tell me you don’t want me. Tell me you don’t love me, and I’ll leave and never think of you again.” The sting of my lie rips through me, but I’m hurting so badly that I absorb it without flinching.
Malach lifts his chin, and a muscle in his jaw ticks. “I don’t want you, Celine. I don’t love you. You’re not my truth, anymore. You never were.”
Agony tears through me. Alistair and Riven are no longer holding me back, they’re holding me up. My wings smack the ground, the frozen tips too heavy to support. I don’t have the strength. Malach took everything I had left in the span of thirty seconds.
My father gives the creepy veydran lookalikes a signal. In sync, they pivot and face the portal.
“Now,” Alistair hisses.
Riven lets me go and smacks the dial. Magic whirls to life, and a violent wind kicks up around us. I scream at him to turn it off, but he doesn’t listen.
The shifter realm blots out the sun, bathing us in darkness. As the portal activates, the veydran lunge for me as one. They’re too late.
The portal has already sealed us inside its perimeter.
I fall to my knees and bang my fists against the barrier, but there’s nothing for me to break through. My body is already leaving this plane.
Everything blurs. I hear myself screaming. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to stop.
The last thing I see before we’re ripped away is Malach, his face twisted with agony as my father advances on him.
We land in the street, and familiar heat rolls over me. A neon sign buzzes above a corner dive bar, and the arid breeze blows a piece of crumpled paper across the stained pavement.
My wings melt, leaking huge drops of water onto the asphalt.
We did it. We’re home.
And I feel nothing but pain.
“Baby.” Luca’s voice is gentle. Too gentle. He thinks I’m broken—I can sense his worry throbbing through the bond in my chest. And godsdammit, he’s right. This misery is as sharp as the day my mom died. Different, but every bit as painful.
It feels like I’ll never live without it. Like I’ll never draw another breath that isn’t tinged with hurt.Wall it off, Celine. Lock it up with all the rest.If I shove this memory into the vault with all the others, I’ll be safe. Except... it doesn’t seem real.
Moments with Malach rush through my head. Here in the Fringes. Trapped in the monster realm. His loyalty, his steadfast support. Every interaction like coming home.
I poke gingerly inside me for the tattered remnants of our vows. They’re bloody and bruised, cowering inside me, but they’re not gone.
I climb to my feet.
My hands fist.
If the vows remain, then everything Malach said to me was a lie.
I replay his words. It’s easy because they’re playing on a loop in my head. Everything he said was calculated, but calculated to do what, exactly? To inflict maximum damage or drive me away? My stomach flips. If he’d made it obvious, I never would have left. Hell, if Riven hadn’t taken the choice from me, I would still be standing there arguing with him.
Could it be that the only lie Malach has ever told me was to keep me safe?
“I’m sorry, angel.” Alistair sighs, and the sound is heavy. He hands Luca his sweatshirt so he can cover himself, and music spills from the corner bar as the door swings open. Three people stumble out, laughing and jostling each other.
Hope flickers to life inside me.
My wings stop dripping.
