I narrowed my eyes.
Then my jaw cracked open in a loud yawn.
I arched my back, popping several joints, before settling back down. Rubbing my eyes, I was weighed down by the cinderwolf and increasing fatigue. I needed a hot bath. A fresh meal. A warm bed.
Hèls.
IneededManmi and Papi.
How would they know what happened to me?
What if I couldn’t reach them by tèlscroll? By creeowl? I couldn’t assume Mortevain had long distanced communication devices or messenger owls. If their archiware—angelic technology—was dated, there’d be no way to tell my family what happened. Where I was.
I needed a distraction.
“What is Everthorn Manor like?”
“Hmm,” Obsidian hummed. “What is it like?”
The gargoyle continued his flight, relaxed, as if we weren’t trapped in a chariot cage, headed for Prizon Noir, only a few short hours ago.
“How do I adequately describe the feeling of a long, chilly embrace while relishing the deepest winter? The kiss of snow as the flakes enliven your deadened hearts? A long gaze of a lover whose eyes brand your soul with their touch? The giddiness of dawn upon its arrival with the fresh gift of goodness and mercy?”
Obsidian sighed. His eyes were on the clouds, but his gaze was far, far away. He looked lost in a dream. He seemed eagerfor his home of magic. I envied his joy. Tasted regret on my lips as I listened to him reminisce.
“Everthorn Manor, Mortevain Island as a whole, is the imperfectly perfect home for me. For my... our kind.” His breath hitched with emotion. “It’s opening and welcoming. Eery and marvelous. It is enchanting. Alluring. It is the only place that could ever compare to...”
The gargoyle trailed off.
I wanted to ask him what he was going to say, but it felt like prying, and I didn’t want to be rude. If he wasn’t ready to share... if he didn’twantto share, it was his right. After all, I was just a stranger who had helped him once. He didn’t owe me the truth about his past. I hadn’t earned that right just yet.
Obsidian fell quiet, abruptly ending his pondering, and I let him be. Maybe speaking of Everthorn Manor, while still so far away, was too troublesome. He’d been captured from Mortevain, but how long ago? How long had it been since he was home? Since he was truly free like he’d just described?
Stars.
While I had the privilege of living in Nahomie Manor, I don’t think I’d ever felt what he just said. Certainly not alongside anyone else. Most of my life was spent alone, isolated, with the visits of Manmi and Papi. There was no real freedom to roam the island. To go back to the market in the center of the village. To frolic with my fellow angels. I had to stay in the manor. Stay within the boundaries of the Anshantmants. As I thought about what the gargoyle said, I yearned for what I never had.
An imperfectly perfect home.
Then another thought crossed my mind.
“And what of the king? King Everthorn. What is he like? How does he rule? I’ll admit I am no fan of Mortevain. We suffer the grief of the Ouanaviel Empyrean because of you. But the king. Is he still an ugly old ogre, stuck in the elder ways of the Fifth Age?Or boring and useless, wearing an empty crown? Is he still the thorn of the Empyrean?”
Obsidian’s eyes twinkled.
“You’ll see.”
Now what in the rot was that supposed to mean?
Obsidian dipped his body, dropping out of the cloudy cover of the billows. I was about to protest when I saw just how far we’d gone. I looked down and marveled. Below us was nothing but endless miles of Ouanaviel Sea. The gargoyle had flown so fast that we’d left Barrenrock Island far behind us. There was nothing but endless ocean for miles. At this rate, we’d reach Mortevain in no time.
I looked down at the sea, watching shrarks and dolfini swim in and out of the water, both hunting the same prey. My stomach rumbled as I looked down. I hadn’t eaten since firstfast and I’d lost a lot of blood. I was positively famished.
“You need food,” Obsidian observed.
“I do. I’m so hungry. My last meal was firstfast.”
“Firstfast,” he scoffed. “Weaklings, you angels are. Gargorètti can go weeks without a meal. The strongest can last months.”
