He opened his mouth, then closed it with the shake of his head, as though thinking better of it. They reached a door. Cassi followed Xander inside and waited as he sealed the opening behind them, then circled the room. Like any guest room housed in a palace, its walls had ears. Like any smart ruler, Xander had already identified them.
“We’re alone,” he said after a few minutes.
“You’re sure?”
“As much as I can be. Besides, I think the hummingbirds have more problems to deal with than worrying about my social life, or did you not notice the state of the city when you arrived? Damien hasn’t even tried to force a drink on me in a week, which should tell you everything you need to know, not that I’d take him up on that offer ever again…” He shivered.
Cassi swallowed, trying to ignore the searing heat spiking in her chest.
It was the closest he’d come to mentioning that night, but he seemed completely unaware as he turned back to her, his expression lacking any hint of the anxiety currently coursing through her body, and said, “So, the diary.”
“The diary,” she repeated, forcing the words to come smoothly to her lips.
He reached inside his jacket, slid the small leather-bound book free, and offered it to her. Cassi flipped through the pages, breathing in the musty scent, still certain it held the promise of greatness. Xander moved into the spot by her side.
“You kept it with you all this time?” she asked.
“I was worried it might fall into the wrong hands.”
An insincere undercurrent ran through his tone, drawing her attention. Cassi turned to the side, but Xander kept his focus on the open book. She couldn’t fight the sense that he was hiding from her. “If not for you, it’d be buried beneath the sea right now.”
“If not for you, it’d be safely housed within the archives.” His mouth twitched with humor and she bumped him with her hip. Their feathers pressed together, hardly any space between them. His body heat saturated the air, making her warm in more ways than one, yet his gaze remained resolutely fixed on the page, all work and no play. “I know you said you’re going to bring it to that mage in Da’Kin, the skryr, but can you read it at all?”
“No.” She sighed and returned her attention to the diary. “At least, not all of it. Maybe someone can, but I wouldn’t know where to start. Even in the world below, the ancient language is long dead. Only a few words survive, like this here. Aethi’kine.” She pressed her finger to the parchment, pointing it out. As Xander leaned over her shoulder, his breath brushed her neck, making her nerves tingle with awareness. “That’s our word for the magic Lyana has, and there are some other instances peppered across the pages. Whoever wrote this diary—and I’d guess from the loopy handwriting it was a woman—spent a lot of time close to powerful mages, or at least a lot of time writing about them, and the skryr should be able to unlock whatever memories still linger in the text. They could be useless, but I have a hunch her secrets are the exact ones we need.”
“Well, you are the expert on secrets.”
Cassi froze. All the warmth gathering beneath her skin turned to ice, burning her with the sting. It was all she needed to hear. Maybe he remembered their hours spent swimming through his glorious imagination, and maybe he didn’t, but either way, forgiveness was off the table. Those seven biting words made his position absolutely clear.
She snapped the diary closed and stepped back.
“Cassi, I—”
“It’s all right, Xander,” she cut in, angling her face toward the floor, too worried he’d see her heart breaking the moment he looked into her eyes. After everything she’d done, she deserved to be punished. She knew that. But still, there were only so many cuts a girl could take before she bled out, and Cassi had all but reached her limit. “I should go.”
“Wait.”
“No, really,” she continued quickly, ignoring his protest as she spun on her heels and made for the door. “I have what I came for, and if it’s as important as I think, there’s no more time to waste.”
“Would you just—” He grabbed her arm to stop her. “Cassi.”
“What?”
“Look at me.”
The corners of her eyes burned. Already, she could feel the tears gathering. “No.”
“Would you please just look at me? I don’t want to say this to the back of your head.”
“Say what?” She could almost hear his frown, his frustration tangible. Though her every instinct told her to run, she’d done enough running. Instead, she slowly spun. “What?”
“Cassi…” Her name turned into a sigh upon his lips and he took a step closer, reaching for her hand. Her breath hitched as he entwined their fingers. Against her palm, his pulse drummed, pounding just as quickly as hers. That alone gave her the strength to lift her chin. “Cassi, I—”
The floor jerked beneath them and they stumbled, falling together. He slammed her against the door, their bodies touching from chest to toe, but romance was the furthest thing on either of their minds as the palace walls groaned around them. The vibrations intensified, Cassi’s teeth rattling as they coursed through her. The vase on a nearby table crashed against the tiles. Bits of marble rained from above as the ceiling split.
“It’s not safe here,” Xander said as he pushed off her and pumped his onyx wings. “Follow me.”
They raced across the room and out onto the wide veranda covered in plants, then dove for the blue skies visible through the towering columns. Dust clouded the air above the city. Crashes and booms reverberated down the streets. To their left and right, hummingbirds spilled from the palace to escape the falling debris. Prince Damien hovered with a group of guards, his expression helpless, as though awaiting the inevitable. Her dread spiked.
“Xander,” she whispered, jerking on the back of his coat. He glanced over his shoulder, his body already shifting toward the prince. “Catch me.”
“What?”
“Catch me!”
She dove into her magic. The moment her wings stopped moving, her body plummeted toward the ground. Xander lunged for her, but she didn’t have time to see if he caught her. As little more than spirit, she raced for the sacred nest, hoping she was wrong.
42
Xander
“Cassi!”
Xander lurched as her body dropped from the sky and caught her in his arms. Limbs limp, she was too heavy to carry. With as much control as possible, he descended to the courtyard below and landed gently on the tiles. The ground shifted beneath them, rattling his bones. He hugged her torso to his chest as her legs shook haphazardly with the quakes. Her wings dragged behind her. He knew what she’d done and where she’d gone. A jolt of fear ran down his chest. “The gods, Cassi!”
It was too similar to the scene that had replayed so many times in his nightmares—Cassi lifeless as the House of Whispers sank beneath the sea, the water rising to pull her under as he watched stoically from above.
We saved her.
Lyana and I saved her.
Logically, he knew it was true. But his heart still hung on that brief moment when he had held her fate in his hands and felt torn. He’d never forgive himself for hesitating, just as he would never forgive himself now if anything happened to her before he’d had a chance to tell her the truth. He forgave her, as much as it was in his power to forgive the things she’d done. And more than that, he loved her—a fact he prayed Rafe would someday understand. After all, his brother knew better than most how uncontrollable the yearnings of the soul could be.
Gods alive, why did I say that foolish quip about secrets?
He’d ruined everything.
For weeks he’d been waiting for that exact moment—her body close enough for him to feel its heat, the sunlight streaming in from the veranda, not an ounce of hummingbird nectar on his tongue, everything just as she’d said she wanted, not a dream, but breathtakingly real. It had taken every ounce of his control not to blurt the confession the moment he saw her standing in the courtyard, the most b
eautiful thing he’d seen in weeks, her black-and-white wings shimmering like a mirage beneath the desert heat. Each step down the palace halls had been excruciatingly slow when all he’d wanted to do was race back to his rooms and tell her how he felt. Then they’d been there, and he’d been intoxicated by her nearness, the sweet floral scent of her hair, the smooth touch of her skin, the stunning sight of her smile. He’d lost his senses. It was the only explanation for how royally he’d messed things up.
Now she was gone. Her spirit was in the sacred nest where a monster might awaken at any moment, and only the gods knew if she’d return.
Please, Cassi. Come back this time. Please, come back.
“What happened?” Prince Damien asked, hovering a few feet above Xander. The air hummed with the rapid movement of his wings. “Is she hurt?”
“No. She— She—” Xander grappled for an excuse. “She fainted.”
“Fainted?” Damien snorted and shook his head. “Owls. Take them out of the library, and, well, you know…” He stared pointedly at Cassi. An urge to defend her tightened Xander’s throat, but he held back. They had, after all, evacuated Princess Coralee the week before, when she’d passed out in the middle of an earthquake. Some owls, maybe, weren’t made of stronger stuff, but Cassi was one of the toughest people he knew. “What was she doing here, anyway?”
“Bringing a message from Lyana.”
“Oh, what news?”
Xander looked away to hide his wince. The gods, his mouth was getting him into trouble today. What news? What news? Think…
Cassi gasped in his arms.
“Thank Taetanos,” he exclaimed, changing the subject as her eyes flickered open. All he saw in those molten silver depths was sympathy. She shook her head, the move so subtle anyone not perfectly attuned to her spirit might have missed it. His stomach flipped. The isle was falling. “Are you all right?” he said loudly, helping her sit up. “You fainted.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I’m fine.”
“Do you need help?” Prince Damien called. “I can take her ankles—”
“I’m fine!” Cassi repeated through gritted teeth.
The prince raised his brows toward Xander. “Touchy.”
You don’t know the half of it.
As Cassi jumped to her feet, the ground beneath them fell still. She and Xander shared a look. They knew exactly what it meant. The prince, however, dropped to the tiles beside them, joining their circle.
“That was a bad one,” he remarked while staring at the palace, where three of the columns framing the front steps now lay in shambles.
“Damien,” Xander said, his voice urgent. “Sound the alarm.”
“What are you talking about? It just stopped.”
“No!” He grabbed the hummingbird prince by the shoulder. “Listen to me. This is exactly how it happened in my home. Sound the alarm, now, while there’s still—”
The isle plunged.
All three of them took to the sky as the ground gave way, their wings catching them before they fell. An unidentifiable scream pierced the air.
“Go!” Xander ordered the prince, pushing him toward his guards. Moments later, a horn blared, followed by another, then another, the call echoing across the city as more and more hummingbirds spilled out of their homes. He turned to Cassi. “What was it?”
“I didn’t see it,” she murmured, her voice almost drowned by the alarm. “I left as soon as the god stone started to crack. But it’s blue, so it must have water magic.”
“Is that bad?”
“Well, our friends are stationed in a city floating in the middle of the ocean, so it can’t be good.”
“We need to warn them. We need to—”
“You really don’t feel it?” Cassi interrupted, her brows furrowed as she stared at him intently.
He shook his head. “Feel what?”
“Lyana’s already here.”
“Where?”
“Not here, here.” She cast her gaze toward the cloudless blue overhead, then across the rooftops, at everything and nothing. “Her magic is everywhere, a golden glow more potent than the sun. She knows, Xander. She probably knew before we did.”
“But that’s—that’s—”
“Impossible?” A smile flashed upon her lips. “You might want to remove that word from your vocabulary. Nothing’s impossible, especially when magic is involved. I have to go.”
His throat went dry. “Where?”
“To Da’Kin.”
“Wait.” He took her by the hand, stopping her, then dropped it as soon as he realized how familiar it might look to the hummingbirds hovering a small distance away. “If Lyana is using her magic, won’t that be where the creatures are headed?”
“It’s where I need to be.” She offered an imploring look as she patted her jacket.
The diary. Of course, the diary. How could he have forgotten? The uncomfortable pinch of the binding against his chest had become so normal, he almost missed it. Somehow, the absence made Cassi seem even further away.
“Surely, it can wait a day,” he tried to argue. “Maybe two.”
“It’s waited long enough.”
“Cassi—” He broke off, unsure what to say. Now that she was here, flying before him, flesh and blood, her presence stirring a spark within like tinder to a flame, he didn’t want her to leave. Not again. Part of him yearned to sweep her into his arms and kiss her the way he’d been longing to do in every one of their shared dreams. Part of him understood he was a king with a queen, and that an audience waited nearby. Part of him wished to take her by the hands and use whatever precious moments they had left to confess all the secret desires of his heart. Part of him realized such a gesture would be no different from a drunken confession, prompted by urgency and outside factors, when she wanted them to take their time.
In his torn silence, Cassi retreated.
“Whatever it is, it can wait,” she muttered, glancing toward the hummingbirds to hide her fear—not of how the world crumbled before them, he knew, but of what he might say. She was wrong, though. For all her experience uncovering secrets, she failed to see the truth in his eyes. “I’ll be back.”
“Cassi—”
“Goodbye, Xander.”
She fled, sparing a glance over her shoulder as she sped across the skies. The isle lurched beneath him, and his heart seemed to drop with it, tumbling from his chest to disappear into the chaos below. He watched, a sense of dread building under his skin as she shrank to nothing more than a black speck on the horizon.
What if they never got another chance?
What if that was their chance—and he blew it?
“It’s really falling,” Damien muttered, pulling Xander back to reality. The hummingbird prince hovered close by, a broken look in his normally proud eyes as he stared down at his home. The sight sobered Xander, reminding him of the gravity of their current situation. Cassi was right—she’d be back. They had time. He had to believe it.
“We should go meet your mother and father in the House of Peace,” he told the prince, sympathy deepening his tone. The isle dropped again, another fifty feet this time. “There’s nothing more we can do.”
“I know.”
“Damien.”
“I know!” Tears pooled in the corners of the prince’s eyes as he stared unblinkingly at the city growing smaller and smaller by the instant. “I know,” he repeated, more softly this time. “But I need to see it. I need to watch it disappear.”
Who was Xander to tell him no? When his isle had fallen, he’d clung to the stones like a dead man grasping for those final strains of life. The gods, he’d dropped all the way to the sea before finally letting go. The thought of Pylaeon slipping beneath those murky waters still cleaved like a chisel to the heart.
“All right.”
He signaled for the guards to begin the long flight to Sphaira. The prince threw him a sidelong glance, surprise lining his features. Xander just nodded firmly.
They did
n’t speak anymore after that.
They didn’t need to.
They simply watched in silence as the House of Flight sank into the mist, lush forests and vast deserts giving way to endless gray as the vapors swallowed the isle whole.
43
Rafe
“They’re coming,” Rafe announced. Not a soul beside him moved. The king’s mages were practiced in the art of self-control, and their focus was absolute. He could hear a pin drop as they waited for instruction, a fact he begrudgingly respected. True, there was no love lost between them, but with Malek and Lyana deep in their magic, it had fallen on Rafe to lead them. “The shadow and earth creatures are approaching from the north. Kal, stay close and I’ll tell you when. The water creature is moving more slowly but gaining speed. It’s coming from the west. So far, no dragons, but I suspect that will change. I’d say we have five, ten minutes tops to prepare for their arrival. Go.”
The mages dispersed. Spouts of water erupted near the western edge of Da’Kin, a symbol to the fighters stationed around the perimeter of the city. Shoots of green and black arched toward the northern edge. Horns blared, a signal for the rest of the citizens without magic to get to as safe a place indoors as possible. Unlike during the first attack, they were prepared.
Still, Rafe feared it wouldn’t be enough.
He pressed his hands to the stone parapets as he studied the fog. The view from atop the castle was the best in the city, but he didn’t search with his eyes. Spirits lingered in the back of his thoughts, fueled by fire and hate, cutting closer. There was nothing Rafe could do to stop them, so he didn’t waste his energy trying. The other souls, though, more animalistic and simmering with flames, were a battleground.
Stay away. He sent the warning down the bonds, along with images of dragons falling beneath swarms of magic and their hides being pierced by ferro’kine-directed arrows as they screeched in pain. Don’t come here today. Stay away. For your safety, for your protection, stay away.
He could feel the creatures fighting back, urging the dragons to eat and destroy, their orders competing with his for space inside those beastly minds.
The Dragon and the Queen (The Raven and the Dove Book 3) Page 31