I shoved my fist into my mouth to smother a sob.
No, please, no. Not Heraphia. Korona Iaoth would suck every last vision out of her without a second thought. My best friend was too gentle-hearted for that.
Guilt knotted my stomach. We’d been through everything together. Was I really going to let the Issaraeth have her?
But I didn’t fight. Didn’t know how. Zuriel did, having grown up noble. When he’d offered to teach us, we’d both refused.
Nonviolence had never given me rest or respite. And now, I wished I’d given any other answer.
Because then maybe, just maybe, I could do something. Even if it meant forsaking everything I valued. Or becoming a monster like the hunters who pursued us.
Instead, I bit into my hand and tried not to shatter among the cloud entombing me.
“Yes, sir. We’ll keep patrolling the skies.”
A gust of wind buffeted me, and through a gossamer-thin break in the cloud, I caught a glimpse of iron-gray hair. My chest didn’t loosen because he was leaving.
If anything, it tightened further.
“Spread out and search,” a different male commanded.
Wings beat in all directions. When I was certain no one was nearby, I gasped out a breath. Chest heaving, I sucked down air. That didn’t stop the tears from falling. Yet I couldn’t move from my hidden position in the cloud. Couldn’t do anything to save my friends.
All I could do was drift.
Drift.
Drift.
Lost in the skies. Lost in grief.
And hoping that my betrayal of my friends was worth it in the end.
6
The silver-haired Seer was a clever little thing. She dropped her bag and sailed away, unaffected by my magic. Had she had a vision of what I was about to do? Listened to her highly attuned intuition and known?
Regardless, neither female had Seen us coming. And Zuriel? He was in so much fucking trouble.
I couldn’t wipe the sinister smile from my face as I watched the Seer flap her white wings. In the sun, they glittered like diamonds. Worn leather plummeted from above, and I caught it before it smacked against the ground. The smell of crushed ghostflower drifted from within, intoxicating and reverent. My head swam like I’d imbibed an entire bottle of sape. Burning my nose into the fabric, I inhaled deeply, drowning in her.
The scent called to me in a way no other ever had. I knew, without a doubt, the next time I spotted her she’d be mine.
They didn’t call me the Issaraeth, the Mindbreaker, for nothing. I’d hunt her, Command her, and catch her in my arms as she fell from the sky.
Bending my knees, I prepared to race after her. She wasn’t getting away from me this time. Maelsar was already airborne, shouting at others to follow him. Blood heated in my veins as my wings unfurled.
Nothing excited me more than a chase.
And when I was pursuing something as stunning as this creature?
Well, perhaps my bed would be more comfortable tonight after all.
Maelsar halted overhead, and I flew up to meet him, scanning the horizon. Clouds dotted the azure sky, thick and swollen. A breeze tousled the strands of my hair that had come loose from the leather strap.
“Where the fuck did she go?” I snarled at the male closest to me. Maelsar soared ahead, slicing through a shroud and dissipating the wisps.
“We don’t know, sir. We saw her come this way,” he replied, fingers flexing over the dagger in his hand.
