Those were the only words the Dyabèssa spoke. Then she turned away from me without another word. A tendril of blood, coiled with scarlet fire, seeped out from her robes.
Burning stars.
Her ethèr was bloodfire.
I screamed as cords of fiery blood wrapped around my body and that of Bones, who had fallen unconscious. The tendrils of bloodfire drug us through the air. Then we were dumped into the gilded cage before the Ivory Rain turned to my beloved Nahomie Manor, my beautiful, palatial home for nearly one thousand cycles, and set every inch of precious stone on fire.
Chapter 3
Nahomie
Salty tears stainedmy cheeks as another hideous sob wrenched from my throat.
“Please,” I whispered to no one in particular. “Please, let me go. I’mnotwhat you think I am.”
My whispers were soft. Weak. For the millionth time, they fell on deaf ears. Apopsounded in the air. A loud creaking noise jarred my senses. Then the cage shrank.Again.
“No, no, no,please,“ I cried out, batting my hands against the gilded bars.
Every time I spoke, made a request, lifted a plea, this hèls-infested cage became smaller. I hunched over my knees, tucking my wings close. My tears wouldn’t stop falling as I wrapped my arms around my knees. Dread gripped me with an unshakable fist. Every story Papi ever told me about what happened to angels who’d been captured by the Farasee Order played, over and over in my mind.
The Ivory Rain had one sole purpose.
To fulfill the will of the Farasee Order.
We’d always been told by the Order that everything the Ivory Rain did was on behalf of the Empyrean. It was for the good of all angels and every species we co-habited.
The Farasees lied.
We’d all been fed a heaping pile of rot.
I shivered uncontrollably. Whatever power the Ivory Rain used, it made it nearly impossible for me to summon blackfire. Not to mention, the interior of this cage wasfreezing. The colder it became, the more my ethèr shrunk inside of me, making itself inaccessible.
I coughed, jarred by the sensation. Edenael wasn’t an island that often had the wintrien season. Our winter was nothing more than a chillier than cool breeze, flowing across the island for about two weeks, before the full blasted sumyrin season warmed us again in scorching summer heat. My gown, though made of velvet, was still too thin for this dreadful temperature.
I clung to myself while shuffling close to Bones. He was still unconscious. My only consolation was that the cinderwolf was still breathing. Paranoia drowned me in anxiety as my concern grew for my beloved pet. He was strong and could withstand most things. But whatever it was, the Dyabèssa had done to him; it had practically drained him of his life.
I pressed into Bones’s side, still crying. Shivering.
Utterly miserable and forlorn.
“I’m not a monster,” I cried faintly, almost inaudible. “Please release me.”
If the Ivory Rain wouldn’t hear me, maybe the Infinite would?
How often had Manmi and Papi dragged my hide to Titombwe—the biggest amphitheater on Edenael Island used for hosting ceremonies, performances, worship services of the Infinite, and even gladiator-styled trials pitting the different races against one another—and made me take part in all the worship ceremonies? All of those twinights of endless prayer. Spiritual lament and renewal. How often had I repented and sought to be made a better angel than I was?
Surely all of that amounted to something.
If these horrid hunters wouldn’t have mercy.
Wouldn’t the Infinite be so kind?
I glanced at the oversized pile of grey that was stuffed in the cage's corner once we’d passed Edenael’s borders and began flying over Barrenrock Island. The pile was so large it nearly took up all the space in this wretched cage. It was heavy, too. I could feel the cage dragging because of its weight. I couldn’t tell what the pile was.
A battered angel? A captured giant?
I sniffled, wiping at my tears, squinting in the dark to piece out what it was. Dawn had long descended, leaving us in deep twinight. The Ivory Rain had dropped the pile in here after the seven suns had gone over the horizon.
