Page 191 of Flame and Sparrow

We made it nearly to the Tower of Ascension before the next bolt struck uncomfortably close to our path. The air remained charged long after it hit, buzzing so intensely that it hurt just to stand within it. Moth dropped to the ground, flexing and shaking his wings as if trying to rid them of numbness.

I ran to scoop him up.

As I did, a dark shadow overtook us. Moth panicked and squirmed free of my hold, shooting off toward the tower, leaving me alone as another bolt of white-hot magic raced through that shadow above.

Before the bolt could strike toward the ground, a blur of white and silver charged out of seemingly nowhere, hurtling straight at me. I felt arms close around my torso, an intense cold biting through my entire body, and then suddenly I was swept off my feet and flying through the air.

Lightning hit where I’d just been standing an instant later.

The close call hardly registered in my mind at first; I was too numbed by the cold sinking into my bones—so numbed that it took a moment to even question how I was currentlyflying.

Finally, I gave my head a little shake and looked up to the sight of a pale, handsome face framed by even paler hair. Wings of jagged silver and white feathers stretched out behind him, sending ice crystals shimmering into the air with every powerful beat they made.

Valas.

He deposited me unceremoniously on the stone pavilion surrounding the Tower of Ascension, behind one of the thickest of its columns. Then he turned away from me, his eyes narrowing on the sky and his body braced for attack. He looked brilliant and terrifying in this warrior-like stance, his normally carefree expression hard and focused, his powerful chest rising and falling with deep, focused inhales, his wings folded in like crossed blades against his back.

I held my breath as he continued to scan the sky.

Moments passed, thick with tension.

Nothing happened.

Still breathing hard, Valas turned a wild gaze on me. “Sparrow, my love, ever-favorite object of my heart,” he said, forcing a smile that came across a bit feral, “what the ever-lovingfuckare you doing back here?”

“I can explain why I’m here, I promise—”

Another lightning strike hit the column I was huddled under. Valas grabbed my arm and flung me aside as bits of stone showered us along with balls of electricity.

I stayed on the ground, crouching and trying to make myself as small as possible, watching in awe as Valas stretched out his hand and summoned a swirling, icy mist around his fingers.

The mist built and stretched into a sword-like shape, its blade glistening in the light of the unsettled sky as he used it to knock away chips of stone and orbs of lightning alike. Every time electricity struck it, melting away part of its edge, he would simply repair it with more hastily summoned freezing mist.

The column remained standing even after the damage was done and the chips of stone stopped falling. The electric strikes became less frequent and farther away, as though something in the distance had drawn their attention.

Valas remained vigilant, sword still in hand, for several minutes after the last spark faded. Then he finally turned and continued his questioning. “Never mind thewhy,” he said. “Howdid you get here?”

“I…I followed the Gatterlen lights down a path near the veil between our realms.”

“Near thewhat?”

“A place where the barrier between our worlds is thin—the spot my kind have been trying to tear down in order to attack this realm. I tracked it down. I saw the damage being done, and I got desperate, and somehow I…I managed to cross over so I could warn you all.”

He was quiet for nearly a full minute, his forehead creased in thought as he continued to watch the sky. Then something like understanding flashed in his violet eyes, followed by fear, and his gaze flew back to mine. “Wait…you passed directly through from the mortal realm into this one? Just like that?”

“Directly…” My thoughts reeled. I hadn’t considered much beyond the fact that I’d gotten here—that was all that mattered—but now that he said it out loud, it raised several questions.

“There were no waterways?” he pressed. “No paths? Just this veil you said they were trying to weaken…you walked directly through it into here?”

“Yes. Well, Ifelldirectly.” I swallowed hard. “None of you have managed to travel in such a way before, I’m guessing?”

“Not any of the times we’ve tried in the past. That’s why we haven’t been able to pinpoint the source of the damage that’s being done ourselves. The realms don’t run directly beside one another, normally.”

I remembered Dravyn telling me they hadn’t been able to find the source of the attack; I’d never understood whyuntil now.

Valas shook his head in disbelief. “Besides that, you should have stepped into Eligas, not here. Its paths should have guided your mortal soul away from this realm.”

“If I made it here so easily, then that means…”

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