That’s not for me to tell,he insisted.Don’t use me to bypass tough conversations. If you want to know what she’s feeling, why don’t you just ask her?
Fair enough.
I needed to steal a moment with her alone before we took that potion, and I wasn’t going to manage with our friends hanging around. This couldn’t wait any longer.
I stopped in the hallway. “You guys go on ahead,” I told Marcus and Kallie. “We’ll catch up with you later.”
They continued on their way. Ava stopped beside me, and Oberi nosed my hand.
“Is everything all right?” Ava asked.
“Pidge—” I started, but I cut off when I heard footsteps coming in our direction. This wasn’t the type of conversation to have out in the open. The Angel Aviary wasn’t far from the Witch Tower, and Chancey had said he and Ivy had worked out a lot of stuff there. It seemed like the best place to have a hard conversation.
“I wanted a moment to talk before we leave,” I said. “Let’s go somewhere private.”
I led her down the hall and through a doorway. We stood in what appeared to be an open field, though it was only an illusion. Birds chirped overhead, and the sun shone on my face. A soft breeze passed through the room. The sound of a harp played overhead, but I didn’t hear any voices. It sounded like we were alone.
Ava gasped. “I haven’t been to the Angel Aviary before. It’s lovely. The tower is massive. It appears like there’s an expanse to the clear sky. It’s an illusion of a sunset, with fluffy clouds passing overhead and purple, orange and pink colors reflecting off the clouds. It almost makes me feel like we aren’t in the Institute at all.”
She took a breath. “To think, by tomorrow, we’ll be able to watch a real sunset together. I mean…”
“No, it’s fine. I may not be able toseea sunset, but I’ll watch it with you. Sunsets are amazing— the way the sun hits your skin differently, and the shift in the air. I agree. It’s beautiful.”
And fluffy!Oberi said as he raced across the grass. I felt the shift through the bond as she became a phoenix, flying high into the clouds.
Ava snickered. “Oberi looks like she’s having fun.”
I took her face in my hands, then bent down to place a kiss on her forehead. This was our last night here, and although this place had been nothing but cruel to us, it was our home. It was strangely bittersweet to be leaving. She’d never been to the Angel Aviary, and I wanted her to experience its magic properly before we left.
“I can take you to the sky, my dear,” I whispered.
“Please do.”
I swept her into my arms. Her proximity made my heart soar— quite literally. We hovered inches off the ground as my Air magic swirled around us. I wanted to take her away, to a place where nothing could hurt hereveragain. This room may be an illusion, but for just the briefest of moments, we could pretend that it was real.
Air magic swirled beneath my feet, and I flew us up into the clouds. Ava reached her arms outward, laughing as her fingers passed through the water droplets. The air got colder the higher we flew.
“The sky is so pretty up here above the clouds,” Ava said dreamily. “I can see the stars. It reminds me of what the sky looked like in the Ancestral Lands… the day and the night, combining all at once.”
She sounded happy, as if Ihadactually managed to fly her far away from all her problems. I sensed a cloud passing by beneath us, and I used my illusion magic to make it solid, like a giant ball of cotton in the sky. Gently, I lowered the two of us onto the cloud. My feet sank into it without making a sound, then I set Ava down.
She sighed as she melted into the cloud. I sat beside her. The cloud was soft as velvet and cozier than anything I’d ever felt.
Ava ran her hands over the gentle texture beside me. “This feels amazing.”
I gently caressed the side of her face. “It does. But that’s not why I brought you here. I know the trial was a hard day for you. It killed me that I couldn’t be there.”
It’s a good thing they didn’t let me go. I didn’t think John would’ve survived the trial if I’d have been there. I couldn’t get all the things he’d done to her out of my head. I was grateful I couldn’t see the evidence they’d presented, because it sounded horrifying. Ivy had to describe the photos to me, because they were the only person who could stomach doing so.
As the trial had uncovered every gruesome detail, I wanted to smash that TV on the ground, as if that would bring it to an end. The only thing keeping me in that chair, forcing me to listen to the evidence, was knowing that no matter what I did, Ava would still be in that courtroom. Turning away from the TV meant leaving her alone in this, and I’d never do that to her.
I remembered wanting to cover my ears, just to make it stop. I’d tugged on my hair instead, sinking down in my chair as I tried to hide my sobs from my friends. The defense made my wife out to be a liar and a whore, and I hadn’t been able to do anything about it. I’d wanted to save her from that pain… but I couldn’t, and that was a really fucking hard pill to swallow.
“It was difficult. But it’s over now,” Ava replied gently. “It would’ve been wonderful if you’d been there in the past to protect me, but you weren’t able to, so I don’t want to torture us with what-ifs.”
“It’s more than that. I didn’t get to be there for you then, so I want to be here for you now. I’m not trying to pry. You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to. I just need to know that you’re okay, and if you’re not, I want to help you.”
Ava squeezed my hand. “Youarehelping, Charlie. Just being here shows me how much you care. I’m not shutting you out because I’m not okay. It’s more that I don’t really understand how I feel— in a good way. I used to break down all the time because this terrible thing happened to me. Now I feel fucking victorious, because it’s finally over.”
