Page 46 of Wings of Valor
Cam shakes his head. “No, not a pole. It’s the strangest thing. Like the land that once grew around it had been chipped away.”
Through my pain-addled mind, pieces slowly click together until I almost can’t believe it. They’ve figured it out! “Is there anything else you remember about when you first arrived? Anything strange or different?” Excitement bubbles up my throat, nearly choking me.
They both reply in unison, sounding sad. “No.”
“Well, nothing except the sand. I told Cam it’s going to kill my desire to ever go to the beach again,” Mari says, staring at her husband like she hates that she’s lost that joy—but maybe, just maybe, she won’t always hate it.
I don’t bother trying to stop the victorious grin that spreads across my face. “I know where we are.”
Silence greets me at my admission for only a moment before Cam and Mari press forward.
“How?”
“Where?”
Watching them clamber toward me only makes me smile harder. “The rock tower you saw is what’s left of the Godless Mountain. And because of the sand, we have to be somewhere between the desert and that mountain. I bet we’re in some old underground system from before God was overthrown.”
“That makes sense,” Cam says. “I don’t think it took long to get here when they first grabbed us, but I honestly just assumed I passed out.”
“How do we get this information to Hayliel?” Mari asks, effectively wiping the smile from my face.
“I’ve been trying to reach her and the others every day, but my connections don’t work.”
“We’ve been trying too. Sometimes it feels like we’ve connected to her, but we never get a reply.”
I look between them, stunned. Holy shit. I completely forgot that Hayliel had been working with them on developing telepathy. “They haven’t given you anything to block your mental paths?”
“No,” Cam huffs a derisive laugh. “We’re just lowly Fallen, remember? We wouldn’t know anything about our abilities.”
Mari squeezes his hand affectionately. “I, for one, don’t mind that they’re underestimating us.”
I nod. “Me neither. Let’s try before—” The sound of approaching footsteps has me cutting off my words. Fuck! They can’t be coming to drag me back already, can they?
A demon—different from the two who brought me in earlier—enters, carrying two trays of food. He goes to Cam and Mari’s cell first, pushing the tray through the slot at the bottom of the cell. When he comes to mine, he’s more forceful with his shove, causing the cup of water to spill on the stone floor, with the stale hunk of bread following it.
“Oops,” the demon says with zero fucking remorse.
It should piss me off, but I’m too tired to care. I’m just glad he didn’t give the same treatment to Hayliel’s parents.
The fucker gets angry when I don’t give him any sort of reaction. He slams his fist against the bars of my cell and then exits the room. Asshole.
After the demon leaves, Cam grabs their tray and offers me some of their food.
“No, no. I’ll go get mine in a moment. Thank you, though.”
Cam rolls his eyes. “It wasn’t a question, Ezekiel. Eat it.”
“He’s right,” Mari adds. “You need your strength.”
I smile and take it, thinking of how they sound so much like Hayliel.
Gods, I miss her.
“I’ll eat while you try reaching her again.” I pick at the bread, doing my best to eat despite how tired I feel. The effort of simply chewing the stale bread is almost too much for me, but I do it anyway because Cam and Mari are right. I need to keep my strength up.
Disappointment fills their eyes when they finally meet my gaze.
Mari runs a hand through her disheveled hair. “I don’t understand why we can’t reach her. We were doing so well before.”
