Cliff tightened the zip ties to a painful point, leaving his father’s hands purpling as he dropped them, standing.
“Blow me,” Cliff said.
When he turned to us, my grip tightened around Ben’s shoulders. Cliff’s eyes found me first and settled as though he was immune to the chaos around him, including the berating calls from his father.
I’m sorry,his look shouted to me.
As he reached for our glass enclosure, Rowan stood protectively before Zia, and I couldn’t blame him in the slightest. How could any of us trust that Cliff was really on our side?
The glass of the siren’s tank beneath us continued to crackle. I wanted to warn Cliff to be careful of the siren should it escape, but my voice was stuck. His hands didn’t come directly for us, instead gripping the top of our tank.
“Get to one side and brace yourselves,” he said. “I’ll turn this thing over. Your magic will come back once you’re out, right?” His attention lingered on me, and I nodded numbly to sate him.
Amidst the rattling of the runaway vehicle, he kept the container remarkably steady as he turned it onto its side, allowing us to escape. Ben gingerly set me on my feet. I grimaced, favoring my right leg.
Cliff spotted the injury at once, but just as he began forming a question, Rhett staggered to his feet behind him. Turning, Cliff stood before us like a human shield. When Rhett lunged, Cliff pivoted, driving his heel into his midsection that sent Rhett staggering backward against the opposite wall. Cliff stalked forward—apparently intent on keeping Rhett on the ground this time.
“Can you feel your magic coming back?” Ben asked me, one hand to his chest.
I nodded, looking at my trembling hands. “Slowly.”
It certainly wasn’t returning quickly enough for my taste. The sparkling pull of my affinity ebbed in my core like it was being shaken from a deep sleep.
Waiting for its full return was a luxury none of us could afford. We had to help Cliff incapacitate the three remaining of Eros’ men and find a way to stop the vehicle and get out,now.
And we had to help…him.
I glanced in Father’s direction, still unable to fathom what I was seeing. His face was bloodied, but he was still fighting. Whatever he was—shapeshifter, phantom, orreal, I needed him alive. I needed answers.
“Let’s get these off,” I said, jogging behind Zia, hovering my hands over her cruelly bound wings. The cuff was painstakingly secure—a perfect design to make any haphazard attempt to remove it disastrous. There must’ve been some sort of instrument to release the mechanism, but it was nowhere in sight.
“Rip it off of me,” Rowan said without an ounce of hesitation. “There’s no time to be delicate about it.”
I knew with utter dismay that he was right.
“The same for me,” Zia said with a firm nod.
Rowan cupped a hand to her face, leaning in fiercely. “Absolutely not. It will be agonizing. We’ll find a safe spot for you before attempting such a thing.”
She squeezed his hand. “I am the only one who can heal our wings straight away. Pain is a small price to pay. You must agree that I’ll be left in far more danger if I can’t fly.”
At that, Rowan couldn’t argue.
With Zia’s blessing, I looped my fingers through the clip at her wings while Ben worked on Rowan’s. I braced myself, asecondhand shiver racing through my own wings. But it had to be done quickly, rather than gradually tearing the membrane apart bit by bit. I took a deep breath, then yanked the cuff straight down, ripping through the inner edges of Zia’s magnificent wings.
She whimpered and staggered to the ground. Rowan appeared unbothered by his own pain as he swiftly knelt before her. Zia dropped her head, leaning her forehead against his shoulder. I thought she was weeping at first, but I began to catch words of an incantation—a healing spell far more complicated than I’d ever dared to touch.
Within seconds, their wings were mended, and Zia looked no worse for wear. I uttered an awed curse, realizing that a noble’s power was no mere fanciful tale.
When the four of us took to the air, Eros shouted at his men. “You idiots! Get a fucking grip and secure the fairies!”
Rhett reacted the swiftest, managing to get the upper hand long enough to slam Cliff’s head against the wall, stunning him. Then his vicious eyes turned to us as we scattered in different directions.
I turned to the siren tank below. The spiderweb crack in the glass was still spreading, and I was happy to help it along. I had to dig far deeper than usual as I murmured my incantation. Frost faltered in its crawl up my hands and weirdly. For a horrible breath, I feared I wouldn’t conjure enough power, but the water gave me the push I needed. Focusing on the inside of the tank, I willed my ice to make the glass finally burst outward.
“Motherfucker!” Rhett gasped as the siren spilled onto the rumbling floor of the vehicle.
The horrifying, decayed woman was muzzled. As she shook off the effects of the bronze-lined tank, she ripped away the metal clamped around her mouth, tearing flesh in the processand creating a permanent, gory grin. She set her hungry gaze on Rhett, bits of shredded skin hanging from her jaw.
