At least the Issaraeth hadn’t been able to give his pet a mark, otherwise we’d have been bound in bronze already.
Heraphia and I shared a panicked look and chased after Zuriel. His wide shoulders battered a path forward, but branches still stung my face. A twig snapped into my skin, and a hot line of pain bloomed.
My innate healing abilities—a power that granted both Angels and Demons millennia-long lives—started stitching the wound. Virelthorn only suppressed my Sight and not my primary light power, a small mercy during a torturous pursuit.
I pressed my sleeve to my face, trying to stem the flow of warm ruby. Or at least smother the metallic tang of iron.
Equine screams nipped at our heels. A hum buzzed overhead. Tears pricked my eyes.
They are so much closer than the last time.
It wasn’t my first desperate escape from the hunters; I didn’t want it to be my last.
Gritting my teeth, I pushed myself harder, faster. Heraphia put on a burst of speed beside me. We skidded into a clearing, finding Zuriel standing at a river’s edge. White capped the fast-flowing water where it broke against boulders bulging from the depths.
“We can lose them if we cross,” Zuriel panted, his gaze fixed on the path—or lack thereof. “They’ll lose our scent. Then we can fly.”
I studied the distance and attemptedto gauge the depth. But in the grip of night, it was impossible. The water could be waist-high or knee-deep. Branches could wait beneath the surface, ready to tangle us or snap a leg. Goddess, there was no telling what kind of creatures inhabited it either, waiting for their next meal.
“Fuck it. We’ll die if we do, die if we don’t,” I stated, bending down and yanking off one boot, then another. There was nothing worse than running in waterlogged shoes, I’d learned from experience.
Zuriel and Heraphia did the same. I hoisted mine overhead and stepped toward the water.
Furious shouts shattered my concentration. I whipped around, ethereal white magic forking among the boughs.
Air fled my lungs as one of our pursuer’s faces flashed in the dark. I yanked myself forward and into the water. A scream rose in my throat as ice slicked my skin. But I gritted my teeth and pushed forward.
Desperate splashing drew the attention of our pursuers.
“They’re getting away!”
The hairs on my arms rose—and not from traversing the swift river. I glanced over my shoulder mere moments before Heraphia slipped, head dunking underwater.
“No!” I gasped, snatching for her. Zuriel dove after her, the water carrying them downstream. I cursed and followed. I was not leaving them, and they were not leaving me.
A rock appeared in my path, and I flung myself to the side in an attempt to avoid a collision with it.
I failed. Miserably.
The smooth surface pulled a strangled scream from my throat as it hit my knee. My leg wobbled beneath me when I tried to dig my feet into the pebbled bottom. The momentum of the river carried me on, bobbing after Zuriel and Heraphia.
My best friend’s head breached the water, her strong armsfighting the current to drag herself to shore. Beside her, Zuriel did the same. Nostrils flaring, I looped my laces around my wrist and followed them.
So much for dry shoes…
By the time the three of us collapsed onto the opposite embankment, we were entirely soaked. Dirt and sand coated my skin, my clothes, my hair.
I fished in the pockets of my bag, yanking the vials of virelthorn free. To my utter relief, they weren’t waterlogged. Neither were the root clippings I wasn’t ready to plant yet.
Small victories.
Heraphia turned to her hands and knees and coughed, spewing river water all over the ground. Zuriel sat upright and smacked her back. I scanned the area, trying to judge how far down we’d been swept. But the terrain was unfamiliar. Lakes and streams carved from millennia of glacial melt dotted the southern part of the Angel Realm. Flora grew with abundance here, just like in the cloud forest surrounding Sivy, the capital.
Honestly, it all looked the same.
But baritone voices didn’t tear through the night. The auravane gave off no signature sound or warning that it approached, from what I’d been told of the rare creature’s powers. Only its ghostly glow amid the dark.
I peered back the way we’d come, searching for a hint of movement.
