“Forgive me, blood of Vijayroodra,” she said. “For my rage and my awful actions.”
“Rage?” Araz frowned, looking to me.
I was momentarily torn as to whether I should tell him what had happened. Because revealing that might reveal Ilara’s feelings for him, and it wasn’t up to me to tell him about those. They were Ilara’s emotions to share or not.
“She tried to kill Leela,” Joe said bluntly.
“Yeah, but Leela petitioned the tree to let her live,” Blue said. “She got banished instead.”
Okay, so my friends had other ideas.
Araz’s gaze sharpened, his jaw tensing, and when he spoke, his voice was as cold as ice. “Why would you hurt the woman I love?”
She looked up, her eyes brimming with tears, and something in my chest cracked and softened. Love was a strange beast indeed. I felt for her, but I wasn’t an idiot either. I knew when to look harder, to see the sharp edges, and the slight hardening in her gaze when it flicked from Araz to me. The torch she carried for Araz wouldn’t dim if it wasn’t exposed and put out.
Araz needed to know the full story. If she was to understand and accept that there was no romantic hope for them, she had to hear it from him. But I needed to give her the chance to come clean herself.
“Will you tell him the truth, Ilara, or would you like me to do it?”
She sucked in a breath, rising slowly so she was eye to eye with Araz. “I am not ashamed of what I feel. I love you,” she said. “I have loved you all my life, and I am here because this is where I belong. With you.”
Araz blinked sharply, his eyes flinching. “You love me, so you attempted to take from me that which I love?”
Her hands fisted, words exploding from her lips. “She took you from me!”
I flinched at the vitriol in her tone, and Araz bristled.
“I was never yours to be taken,” he said, tone calm and cold. “You tried to erase the person I love the most, and yet you have the gall to stand here today and petition me to allow you into my inner circle?”
Her gaze flicked to me, unsure and panicked now. “I…I am yours.”
Araz lifted his chin. “No, you are not. There is no place for you by my side. I release you from the bond.”
Ilara stilled then let out a soft keening sound, her hand going to her chest, her eyes filled with tears, and then she crumpled, hitting the deck on her hands and knees.
“No…Please. Take me back. Please.”
My gut twisted, and empathy warred with the sense of justice. I could have said something. Could have begged Araz to change his mind, but I’d learned that compassion had its place, and when it came to a woman in love, one who wanted what you had, compassion needed to take a back seat.
“Leave,” Araz said, his tone cold and detached.
Ilara stood slowly, tears tracking down her cheeks. She stepped back, turned, and ran for the edge of the ship, leaping into the air and bursting back into her thunderbird form. We watched her vanish into the clouds above.
“You did the right thing,” Joe said.
“I know.” Araz smiled down at me. “No one will ever come between us again. I vow it.”
I believed him, but there would be no relief until Mizikiel was truly gone.
Pakshiraj let out a soft screech, and I felt it like an invitation.
“Go,” Araz said. “Ride with him. Reconnect.”
I nodded, a lump in my throat.
Blue hopped onto Araz’s shoulder. “Good to have you back, big guy.”
I ran for the edge of the ship and leapt onto Pakshiraj’s wing on an upsweep, ran fast on the down drift, caught hold of the red and gold feathers at his neck, and swung up onto his gargantuan back.
