Page 153 of Kissed By the Gods
The window shatters. The sound is a sharp, violent crack. I move without thought, throwing myself between Leina and the explosion of glass, sword already in my hand before the shards hit the floor. I brace for an attack—Kher’zenn, a draegoth, some new enemy slipping through the Veil into our world.
But it’s none of those.
It’s Vaeloria.
She kicks and thrashes in the air beyond the broken window, her powerful wings beating a frenzied rhythm that sends a fresh gust of wind howling through the broken frame. Her silvery mane is wild, her dark eyes wide and frantic. She lets out a sharp, furious neigh, the sound of it high and ragged, a call filled with fear and desperate need.
The force of her wings fractured the glass.
Vaeloria’s not waiting for Leina to come to her. She wants Leina now. Behind Vaeloria are Einarr and Sigurd, though bothare further back. Einarr’s agitation radiates off him, so raw that I can feel it scraping across my skin. The only reason I hadn’t noticed it sooner is because I was too locked in my own fear for Leina.
Fuck.
Einarr’s been hovering ever since our close call at Solmire, never straying too far, never letting me out of his sight for long. I reach for him with my mind, stretching that invisible tether between us. “It’s fine,”I project sharply. “Everyone’s fine.”
Einarr snorts—a blast of sound that echoes even at this distance, as clear and derisive as if he were standing next to me. The message he sends back is blunt. “Nothing is fine, Lastwall.”
Before I can snap a reply, the Elder steps forward, dislodging shards of glass from his robes. He caught it all. The sound they make—little pieces of broken light falling to the floor—rings out in a high, sing-song chime.
“Come,” the Elder says, his voice calm, almost cheerful. “We ride for Aish.”
I can only stand there, staring at him, the words failing to fit into any sense of reason.We? The Elder is leaving the Synod? Leina throws the blankets off herself without hesitation, revealing the shirt—myshirt—I dressed her in at the Crimson Feather. I needed her to be in something that wasmine.
She swings her legs off the bed, her movements quick and determined.
No. No fucking way.
I step between her and the Elder without thinking. I gesture sharply at Leina—at the way my shirt swallows her body, making her appear even smaller, at how she sways when she stands, pale and hollow-eyed. The fury rising in my chest is almost enough to drown out the fear.
“Leina only now woke up from a day and a half trapped in the Veil," I bite out. "She’s not fit to ride. She needs rest. She’s not even fucking dressed.”
The Elder raises an eyebrow at me. “And whose fault is that Skywarden Ryot?”
I flush but maintain my eye contact with the Elder. He can’t know. He may suspect, but he doesn’t know. “She’s not fit to ride,” I bite out.
Leina grabs my arm and tugs me around to face her. “One night together doesn’t give you the right to dictate to me!” she whispers furiously. “I say when I’m fit to ride.”
My eyes flick to the Elder. Well.Nowhe knows. Leina pulls my face back to hers. Her glare is a fierce, blazing thing, her chin jutting out in stubborn defiance.
She is flushed with anger—and with life—and for a moment, the sheer relief of seeing her burning so brightly after so many hours of stillness nearly blinds me. I have to fight the urge to snake my arms around her and haul her against me.
I don’t think she notices. Her message delivered, she stomps around, grabbing her boots from the foot of the bed. She stomps around a little more, no doubt looking for her weapons, but all she finds are her daggers, which was all she was wearing when she disappeared into the Veil.
She hesitates for a fraction of a second, clearly weighing her options, before squaring her shoulders again. And it’s obvious she would rather march down the corridor half-dressed than ask me for help.
“As soon as I find my scythe and my clothes, I’ll be fit to ride,” she announces sharply, before storming out the door, barefoot, with her boots and daggers clutched in her arms.
“Great. Fucking great.” I take off after her, heading for my own chamber to get a pack together.
“The teachings say love clouds the mind,” the Elder calls after me. I stop. “But what the priests and the teachings don’t understand is the irony of forbidden love. It is like watching a flower bloom in the desert. The more it's denied water, the more determined it becomes to show its colors. In our halls where love is but a whispered taboo, the furtive glances and hidden smiles become the most captivating of spectacles. Who needs tales of old when the most thrilling stories unfold right under our ascetic noses?”
I turn slowly, making eye contact with the Elder’s cloudy, unseeing eyes that miss absolutely nothing. I quirk an eyebrow. “Are you saying that our angst amuses you, Elder?”
He smiles broadly.
“What is romance if not the universe’s finest performance?”
I glare at him, before I turn to stalk down the hallway. He’ll have to punish me for falling in lovelaterbecause I will be going with Leina to godsforsaken Aish.
