I gasped, sickened by the thought of it. If I had one vanity, it was my wings. They were bright gold, almost too long for my frame. I could fly faster, and farther, than any of my cohort. Than most of the High Angeli, in fact. I’d won the annual Realm Rooftop Races for two centuries now. “You would never. Rafe, I know you would never do that to me.”
“I saw it happen in my next vision,” he rasped. “I was monstrous, with claws like daggers of filth. You kneeled in frontof me, and I sliced them away from you like I was slaughtering a bird.”
I climbed up on the bed next to him, and pushed the dark hair from his eyes, stroking it over one ear. We hadn’t ever been intimate with each other physically—which made me one of a very select few, as Rafe’s exploits were legendary. But we were more than intimate in another way, in that we cared for each other as brothers, and friends, and… Something else that I didn’t understand. Maybe it was that he was my teacher. But it felt like, someday, we would be something even more significant than lovers.
“Could they have been bad dreams, brought on by too much booze and too many merges?”
He let loose a desperate laugh. “The visions came first, Gav.” He rolled toward me and gazed at my face. “You kissed me, for the first time.”
“Well, shit, I’ll do that now,” I interrupted, leaning forward. “We’ll nip this prophecy in the bud.”
His smile was sad as he denied me. “You kissed me on the mouth, called me your brother, and asked me to take your wings. Begged me. And I did.”
My heart lurched. There was too much truth in the ringing finality of his words for it to be anything other than a real prophecy. “I hope it doesn’t happen,” I said at last, my voice trembling with fear and what I hoped was courage. “But if it does, if I do ask for that? I will forgive you. But I only need one thing.”
“Anything.”
I kissed his brow as he wept a bright, golden tear. “I need you to forgive me for asking you to.”
“You fucker,” he said now. “I can’t even be angry. I can’t hate you for it. Because you already have my forgiveness.”
My heart ached at the pain in his voice. “I may not be the smartest of all the High Angeli, but I had my moments.”
His eyes flashed. “Haveyour moments, Gav. Not had. You know I will have to be the sacrifice at the gate,” he said after a long, quiet moment. “You may lose your wings, but you cannot lose your life. I need her to live. The balance needs her to live.”
“Of course, my brother,” I told him, and he grasped my forearms in his corrupted hands.
I pulled him toward me and kissed him, singing my love into his soul. His soul tried to answer, but the voice that sang back to me was an echo of a cry from far away, buried under a mountain of evil. His breath tasted of ash and hopelessness. He really did have the void inside him, or a part of it.
Then we readied the cauldron, and stoked the fire. I gathered cloth for bandages, while Rafe heated an iron to cauterize the wounds he would make. I watched my soulmate sleep under the golden net, glad she wouldn’t hear my cries.
Rumple sang as he did what I’d asked of him. It was more excruciating than anything I’d imagined a soul could live through.
It was the most beautiful pain I’d ever felt. It was for her. To keep her safe.
I slumped into darkness with the pounds of a ringing forge in my ears, as my brother hammered my wings into Celestial swords.
Chapter 27
Feather
Iwoke to the smell of burned flesh and singed feathers, and the sound of weeping. A blanket—no, some form of net, made of golden light—lay tangled around my knees, and I kicked it down. It sank into the floor when it landed, vanishing.
“Rumple?” He was seated on a chair, head cradled in his hands, his wings and tail wrapped around him as if he were in deep grief. Or ashamed.
On his lap lay two long, brilliant Celestial swords.
To my left, I heard labored breathing. I didn’t turn to see. I knew, somehow, when I did, everything would change.
Rumple lifted his head after a moment, and his face was shining with a terrifying fire and a matching anguish as he spoke. “He needs you, little sacri…” He couldn’t say the final word, and that was what forced my head to the side.
Gavriel lay next to me, his hair half over his face. He was still flecked with glitter, his golden skin shimmering between the streaks of purple and dark gray. I hadn’t had many chances to just look at Gavriel this close, while he was sleeping. He was so beautiful, it almost hurt. His nose, his cheeks and chiseled jawline. I loved the strong curve of his shoulders and… My thoughts stuttered to a halt. “Rumple. What did you do?”
My gut churned as I took in all of Gavriel. All that was left.
I leaned over the side of the bed, throwing up the meager contents of my stomach as the horror of what I was seeing consumed me.
“He only did what I asked him to.”
