Page 3 of Wings of Betrayal

The sadness I have lived with for weeks resurfaces, and I nod, glancing down. He cups my chin in his hand and tilts my face until our eyes meet.

“I’m so sorry. I knew something was wrong when that messenger angel came for you, and I didn’t want you to go, especially like that. Em means nothing to me, not in the way that you do.”

I give him a small smile. After everything I’ve been through, it feels like a lifetime ago when I was last here.

But his words resurface the memory of Em’s lips on his, and it pulls me back to that moment. Even though it hurt me, I believe him. I know she kissed him. I know he would never intentionally hurt me.

“What happened after you left here?” he asks.

I take a deep breath, holding the air for a moment before letting it rush out, along with the memories of Kyle and Em together. There’s no room left for that. I forgave him already, and we have more important things to worry about.

“There’s a lot to tell. Can we go inside?”

“Come on.” Kyle takes my hand and leads me into the castle, nodding at the two guards posted at the entranceway as we pass by.

He waits until we’re safely inside his room before pulling me into his arms once more. His lips find mine, and he grabs my ass, lifting me as I wrap my legs around his waist. He carries me toward the bed and settles his back against the headboardwithout breaking the kiss, and I straddle his hips. I rock against him, his desire building and pressing between my legs, sending a wave of pleasure through my body.

Gods above, I missed Kyle. I missed this.

But as much as I don’t want this to stop, there is a lot Kyle needs to know. I pull back, and we’re both breathing hard as we stare hungrily at one another. There’s lust in his hooded gaze that sends an ache right to my core, and I bite my lip.

“You’re so beautiful,” he says, stroking my cheek.

I press my forehead against his and close my eyes, breathing in his delicious scent of cinnamon and freshly cut grass. If this moment has to end, I’m going to etch it into my mind. Every single part of it.

“You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” I whisper.

“You literally gave me my life back. You are everything to me,” he replies, caressing my cheek.

I climb off his lap, despite his protests, and curl up at his side. “Believe me, that was probably harder for me to have to stop than it was for you,” I tell him.

He laughs. “Somehow I doubt that. But I get it. We need to talk, and there’ll be plenty of time for that after.”

He playfully squeezes my thigh.

“Tell me,” he softly encourages.

I recount everything that happened since I last saw him when the messenger angel, Nilo, took me back to Silanthia. I tell him how Harlum removed my guardian markings and had Amaros watch me like a hawk, preventing me from leaving the Kingdom. How Hethenos had Rimel and Yimel lock me in the cells, how she tortured me and Amaros saved me.

He tenses. “They did what?”

I cup his cheek. “It’s okay. I’m okay, now.”

He pinches the bridge of his nose and I continue. I tell him how I went after Hethenos, how she told me Harlum isn’t myfather, nor is he Astelle’s. He clenches his fists as I tell him how she stabbed me with the sword of Silanthia, and I somehow survived. He gasps now and then as I recount everything that went down, and reliving the memories is more difficult than I expected. I tell him that Hethenos was a goddess, and Amaros is a god. They knew one another long ago, and they likely knew my father, too. My real one.

And then I tell him that my memories came back. That I remember watching Hethenos kill my mother, and how Harlum and Amaros knew because they were both there, and then Harlum instructed Amaros to remove my memories of the murder.

“He took your memories?” he asks, his voice strained.

I nod, wondering if he’s put two and two together, realising Amaros must have taken his, too.

“I remember you, Kyle,” I finally tell him, and he spins me around until we’re facing one another.

He scans my face as if trying to find the right words.

“I remember everything. You were everything to me, Kyle. And they took that from me. They took that from us both.” Before I can help it, tears fall down my cheeks, and Kyle wipes them with the pad of his thumb before running it over my lips.

His jaw tenses and his nostrils flare as he squeezes his eyes shut for a moment.

---