Page 94 of Love's Ace

I wasn’t ready for the possibility that we’d die trying.

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

I never wanted to lie to him—if I was being honest, it was a weak attempt to lie to myself. I had to be ready, because in the end, there wasn’t another option.

The woods were closer than I thought, though I’d never been to them. Theo murmured a soft story in my ear while we flew and his hands played through my feathers, about how he used to come here when he was young, before he could really remember much.

How his mother would bring him, and it would smell like the wild berries that grew in the summer. He nuzzled into my neck when he said it, and inhaled softly, and I didn’t have to ask what he was doing.

When we landed and stared at the tree line, the smallest part of me still wanted to pull him back into the air. If I flew far enough, high enough, could I change what was happening? If I took him straight to the stars, could we live there forever, wrapped in one another’s arms?

“It’ll be okay,” he murmured beside me, then tugged on my hand to pull me onto the path stretched out in front of us.

We walked for a while until we came to an empty clearing. Theo pulled the book from his bag and opened it to the page we’d found.

It was so simple.

Draw the symbols and wait. Either someone would come or they wouldn’t.

When Theo kneeled down and slid the book forward to make space, I dropped to my knees beside him. It was easy to smooth my fingers across his jawline so I could turn him to face me.

Kissing him was like breathing—automatic, necessary. It burned through my lungs and demanded I inhale him…

Pulling away was so much harder.

I yanked the knife I kept in my boot out and handed it to him so he could cut the symbols from the book into the earth, moving to mirror him on the other side of the circle he made so I could help.

The sound of metal cutting through dirt, clicking against the occasional stone, filled the clearing as we worked. When we were finished, we stepped back and looked at what we’d done.

Three rings that fed into each other, written in a language we didn’t understand.

“It looks right.” Theo’s voice was hushed when he spoke, but he stood and dusted the dirt from his hands, walking around the circle to stand beside me.

There was just one thing left to do.

You didn’t call them with just the symbol in the dirt. Theo linked his fingers with mine and raised our joined hands.

“Ready?” He murmured.

I swallowed hard and took a shaking breath. I was as ready as I could be. I needed to be strong for him, to tell him it was fine. Everything would befine.The words came out different when they spilled from my lips. “I love you, Theo. No matter what happens, no matter what… I don’t regret anything.”

The corner of his mouth quirked into the softest smile, and he brought our hands up to brush his lips along the back of my knuckles.

“The only thing I regret is that I didn’t meet you before all of this. I’ve always been waiting for you, Wren. Your eyes are every dream I’ve ever had.”

He didn’t give me a chance to respond. Theo lifted his free hand and quickly yanked his sharp nail along the length of our joined arms, slicing through our skin so black and golden blood could intermingle and fall onto the circle.

At first, nothing happened—it was silent.

And then I felt a hand slide over my shoulder. Aiden’s voice came from behind me in a soft whisper. “I was hoping you wouldn’t go through with this, Wren. But I figured I’d be here for the show.”

I turned to ask him how the fuck he’d gotten here, how heknewwhere we were going, but the words were cut off by a flash of light and a roaring so loud my ears were ringing.

My fingers in Theo’s tightened, and I yanked him against me, wrapping my arms around him as my wings spilled from my back.

The whipping torrent around us tore at my feathers, a wind that didn’t move the trees or the grass but nearly ripped me apart.

When it died down, there were two men standing on the other side of the circle we’d drawn.

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