I felt them; my fingers burned with the heat of them, as they moved from my thoughts into this reality. The room grew punishingly hot. I opened my eyes to a room so bright, I was blinded. I felt my way across the bed, feeling Feather’s small, cold body lying still, with Mikhail to her left and Righteous next to him, their arms entwined.
I was lost for a moment. At a loss for how to do this miraculous, made-up thing, this ridiculous task that no one had ever done before, in all the histories of the High Angeli.
What would Feather do?The voice that whispered that question in my mind wasn’t my own. I was filled with a strange certainty, though, that if I followed Feather’s lead—if I let her teach me how to love—I would succeed. What had Feather done, when she set her mind to taking off Rafe’s armor?“It’s always a kiss in the fairy tales,”she had whispered.“It’s a kiss that ends the nightmare.”
“We’ll start with a kiss, then,” I said. I leaned over Feather, placing one of the new light-feathers on her chest, directly over the old one. Then I pressed my lips to hers, singing her name and mine, praying for the feather to sink into her.
For a moment, the face in front of me wasn’t Feather’s, but Arabella’s. The moment so similar to all those years ago. I had failed then, and begun four centuries of heartache. But this time, ithadto work. This time, it was my soulmate who waited for my mark.
Feather gasped and sat up suddenly, pressing a hand to her chest. “Gavriel?” she whimpered. Her green eyes were confused, and something in them terrified me. She was frantic, trying to speak, her lips moving, but no further sound emerging.
“I can’t understand you,” I said, grasping her arms. As I held her, her small hand fell away from the feather. And then she went still once more, the only movement flecks of glitter falling away from her as her light fled, until the golden feather I’d tried to press to her chest floated to the ground.
The sound it made was one I had heard before. Over four hundred years before, when the first feather I had tried to give to my mate had fallen.
For a feather of light, it made a heavy clang when it slipped from her chest, and down onto the floor.
And the naming chime echoed the sound: the mournful final tolling of a funeral bell.
Chapter 36
Gavriel
Ilay trembling on the bed for a long moment, wondering if this was it.Is this where I give up?I couldn’t survive without my beloved, though the energy I carried would keep me alive for much longer than I would before it left me a cold husk. Like her. Like her other mates.
Her othermates.I could almost hear her mischievous voice emphasizing that last word. Almost see her eyebrows wiggling inthat ridiculous, exaggerated fashion, her tongue creeping out to wet her pink lips. She truly was my beloved antagonist, even in dea… insleep.
Oh, fuck it, I had to try. I climbed over Feather’s form—I would not think of it as her corpse, though her spirit was gone, from what I could sense—and reached for Mikhail. I placed one of the other feathers on his chest and placed my lips right over his.
“This is weird. But it will work,” I vowed, and pressed my mouth to his, while singing his name and mine. I had my eyes closed but I felt the feather sink into his chest.
And then, I was inside his thoughts. No, hissoul.
Mikhail’s soul was a replica of his workshop in Sanctuary: filled with tools and tables, but lit with brilliant strings of lights, glitter on every surface. It smelled of spice and roses, and in one corner, there was an enormous…Is that a chocolate fountain?
You like it, Gav?His soul laughed as it brushed against mine.I’ve been redecorating.
I do like it. It’s perfect for you.
You woke me up, brother,he said, and his soul song harmonized with mine as we merged. It felt completely right, like resting in a favorite chair after a long journey. Like falling asleep in my own bed…
And then Mikhail began to fade as well, his spirit pulling away.What’s happening?I asked, desperate as his inner light began to dim.
Righteous,was all I heard before Mikhail’s soul was once again closed to me. When I opened my eyes, though, the feather I’d placed in Mik’s chest was still there.
Quickly, already feeling the drain of yet another soulmate pulling on my reserves, I moved my mouth to Righteous. “Righteous Arm of Justice, Head Protector of Sanctuary who shall henceforth be known as Anaconda Pants, I am Gavrielthe Grumpy Lightbearer, Soulmate to Feather, the Beautiful Sacrifice, my Chief Antagonist and Adored Nemesis; and mate-friend to you and Mikhail the Great-Souled.”
His lips were still for a moment, and then, they moved. Softened. I felt an unmistakable movement—his soul opened like a bloom in the sun, the scent of roses almost overbearingly sweet and heady around us both. I parted my lips to take a quick breath at the splendor that was Righteous’s soul—the silvers and greens all the shades of our mutual beloved—and felt the unmistakable intrusion of a probing tongue in my mouth.
And a hand on my ass.
My eyes flew open, and I found myself staring into his bright gold, laughing eyes. “I knew you liked me, Gavriel,” Righteous said, one eyebrow arching up. “But not this much.” He batted his eyelashes. “You didn’t even ask.”
I snorted, and pushed back. “You’re the one who slipped me the tongue.”
His pale cheeks flushed as he shrugged. “How’s?—”
Before he could finish, Mikhail’s tortured cry split the room. “Feather! My sweet soul, is she…” I turned to see Feather lying as still as ever, with Mikhail hovering over her.
