“I doubt for a minute that Chloe has the balls to step in that fire,” he whispers, “but I do. I’ve already done it once by giving you to Gage.”
“To protect me.” I say it weak—ashamed of the fact I fell for Gage when I shouldn’t have.
“I don’t fault you for anything.” His dimple inverts. “I’ll use the shield. I’ll go in and get the sword and bring it to you. As long as it’s in your possession, it’s all that matters.”
“It’s treason—not to mention suicide.” I pull him in by the neck and press my forehead to his. It makes me dizzy like this with Logan, our lives on the razors edge of existence.
Logan is convinced he’s going to run with this fatal mission, and I’m one thousand percent sure there’s no way in hell I’ll let him.
Logan pushes in with a kiss. His lips detonate like a choir belting out hallelujah in the presence of God himself. This is love, right here in the valley of the shadow of death. Everything in me stirs for Logan. Every intimate yearning I’ve ever felt for him quickens as we get ready to battle the final enemy, ourselves.
He pulls back with a morbid expression. “I’m not fighting you, Skyla.”
A roar rises from over the hillside. It sounds as if hoards of people are on their way and soon the fire will be alive with bodies trying to procure the prize.
“I’m fighting you,” I say, moving past him. “If anyone dives into that fire today, it’s going to be me.”
He glides past me toward the flames while the scent of damp earth and smoke fills our senses. The falls hiss to our right as I hasten to follow him toward the orange flicker.
“Ellis!” Logan jerks his thumb behind him. “Hold Skyla,” he barks out the order with unmitigated aggression. He doesn’t waste a moment before tackling Chloe to the ground and the shield fumbles just beyond her grasp.
I charge over to retrieve it and Ellis goes in for the block, wrapping his arms around me stable as tree trunks.
“Move!” I struggle to free myself from his grasp.
“Oliver said no. By the way you are effing hot with wings, dude.”
“Would you shut up?” I give a hard bite over his wrist. I can feel the stubble on his forearm rubbing against my tongue because obviously he shaves. It’s like every male on the planet is ashamed to be a mammal.
“Shit!” Ellis extricates his injured limb, still securing me tight with the other.
Chloe and Logan wrestle and grunt. It looks primal, carnal—an all-out war of the sexes with Logan trying to edge her near a bluff on the other side of the flames. Something in my subconscious claws at me to scream, don’t hurt Chloe, and this alarms me on an unnatural level.
“It’s infinite,” Ellis whispers near my temple.
“What’s infinite?”
“The cliff. I checked it out. I can still hear your thoughts. Isn’t that cool?”
Infinite? Perfect. We can dispose of her easily and enjoy her screams of terror as they bleat out for miles.
“You know what’s not cool?” I twist as far as my feathers will allow and knee him in the balls with bionic force. “That. Sorry, Ellis.” I pant as I dart into the heated pit. The lumpy texture of these walls looks familiar, it looks in every way like the jasper cave of the Transport and it makes me wonder if this is connected—if we’re all going to die from the sheer stupidity of being here.
Chloe pins Logan just feet from the drop-off, where blue sky dips to navy just beyond the edge—nothing in the horizon but a dismal abyss.
The shield lies unprotected, just shy of Chloe, and I carefully sidestep my way over, fearful she might slingshot Logan into oblivion if I startle her. I swoop in those last few feet and roll onto the metal sheet. I can feel the heat of the flames as the area swelters like a sauna. Up above the fire, the blackened sky lies over us like a bruise. A thick nest of lightning rotates over the area, crackling with familiar lavender tendrils.
The shield warms to my body. It strums an indescribable rhythm as if music itself had imploded into the most exquisite song.
Logan does a quick revolution and lands on top of Chloe. He gives an exhausted smile as he sits on her stomach. His chest expands and retracts from the effort.
“Ellis,” he calls.
Ellis goes over and scoops up Chloe’s wrists until he holds her secure, allowing Logan to pop up and come after me.
I shake my head. “I have to do this.”
“Then I’m doing it with you.” Logan picks up his pace with a mischievous smile. He tugs at the shield and draws me in.
“Come to me, Skyla.” His dimple presses in. His five o’clock shadow graces his features, he’s bloodied and dirty and gorgeous in this roughed up state of being.
“We did it.” I whisper as he inches toward my face.
His warm breath cascades over my cheek. His eyes light up like honey as they reflect the flames.
“I love you so much it hurts.” I say it low and hushed like a secret.
“Don’t let it hurt,” he rasps, fanning my cheek with his thumb. “I want you to enjoy my love. You have it all for eternity.”
“Happily ever after,” I whisper.
“Happily ever after.” He seals the words over my lips.
Logan crashes over me with a fit of passion as we explode into something far more holy and right than the fire that swirls before us. We consummate something beautiful with our heated kisses, something special, written in code with our hearts. This is the intertwining of our souls right here in Ahava. We had done it. We conquered the region—beat the Counts at their own game. This was it—the moment of our making. Right here. Right now.
“Move!” Chloe barks.
Chloe stands with her knees bent, extending her sword as Ellis struggles to rise from the ground.
“What the?” Before I can finish the thought Chloe lunges past Logan and dives the knife into my left shoulder.
She plucks it out and lunges at me again, and Logan intercepts her deadly intent. A seam of blood rises over his palms as he catches the blade in his hands.
I dart past the two of them with the cumbersome shield and step close to the fire.
“Ellis.” Logan calls as he tries to subdue Chloe but Ellis lies bloodied on the ground, drifting in and out of consciousness.
The flames call me with their white glittering teeth, the seductive half-smile of its crimson lips. Its long blue tongue lashes over me as the heat in this small space magnifies with intensity. The blaze sears over me like a fever and bids me to move no farther.
“I can’t.” I’m so ashamed of my admission—although the idea of letting down a legion of people, the poor souls held captive in the tunnels, paralyzes me from stepping away.
Logan covers me like a sheath from Chloe and her wild bayonet. The fire snaps and bites at my skin, searing and painful as it pinches me with its haunting rhythm.
“Give me the shield and no one gets hurt.” Chloe demands while wielding the blade in our direction.
“Not happening.” Logan snipes.
I spin around, open my mouth to tell him I’m unable, that I’m too big of a coward to melt in the inferno, but I catch the look of glee on Chloe’s face and reconsider.
“Skyla, go in if you’re ready,” Logan coaxes. “I’ve got your back. You’re safe with the shield. Nothing can hurt you.”
The flames spew their wrath. They snap and roar to life as though they begged to differ.
I push the shield into the fire and the metal heats up like a conduit, scalding to the touch.
“I can’t do it.” I’m grieved by my own confession.
“Let me, Skyla,” Chloe places the sword by her side and takes a step forward. “Let me do this for you. This has all been a lie and I’ve been fighting for Celestra the entire time. It was nothing but a ruse to trick the Counts. Logan…” She shifts her attention to him. “I pledged to the Counts for the same reason you did, to gain footing for our people. I may not like Skyla, but we’re in this together. Let me get the sword. T
he first thing I’m going to do is free those innocent souls in the tunnels. It’s been my plan all along. I have an aunt down there, on my father’s side. I miss her. I’m her only hope.”
“Don’t believe her.” Logan is quick to discredit Chloe’s bid for camaraderie. “She’s got a deal worked out if she wins.” He turns back to look at me. His face illuminates a holy righteousness that beckons me to follow him into death if need be.
“Believe me, Skyla,” she howls from behind. “It’s all true.”
Chloe leans in and grabs a hold of the shield and we struggle for ownership of the behemoth sheath. Logan gives her one clean shove and knocks her face first into the wall. She staggers to her feet as a seam of blood curves over her cheek.
“Let’s go.” Logan presses in a kiss as he hedges us toward the fire. I love you, Skyla Messenger, more than the heavens love the sun and the moon.
“You bastard.” Chloe charges and swings her dagger in an exaggerated half circle.
Logan freezes long after the knife makes its way back to Chloe’s side—her face locked up with wonder.
His arms fall limp. A rim of blood explodes at his neck before he collapses to the ground.
Then I see it. Logan’s head lying to my left, his body slumped on its side, spilling a river of blood warm over my feet.
“Fuck!” Ellis shouts, clamping his hands to his ears.
Chloe pants, still holding the illuminated blade, her face seized in horror at the sight of her own misgiving.
I freeze. Everything in me goes numb. The fire, the sword, the shield—it could all go to hell. I fall to my knees and touch my fingers to Logan’s precious face.
I can’t breathe. None of this is real. It can’t be.
My chest heaves with tears as I run my fingers through his silken hair.
Ellis comes over and tries to pull me up by the shoulder, but I flinch him away while piecing Logan together like a puzzle. I lay his head neatly over his severed neck and start in on an aching cry that sirens through me, alive and biting, stronger than any pain I’ve ever felt. This was every dose of poison Marshall had ever administered, my father’s death, and the prospect of Gage as the enemy all rolled into one. The unthinkable happened. Logan had his second chance at life and now all hope was lost.
His eyes are half open as if he could see me through his lashes. His beautiful lips still parted, ready to offer me his special brand of love.
“Give me the sword.” My voice trembles as the words stream out of me.
“No.” She pulls it in as it loses its ethereal glow.
“I won’t hurt you,” I whisper the lie, never taking my eyes from the first boy I ever loved.
“Thinking of joining him in Paradise?” She punctuates it with a spark of laughter. “Fat chance.” She pitches the metal spear over the ledge like a javelin. “There’s no way in hell I’m giving you the easy way out.” She yanks the shield from underneath me, twisting Logan’s legs in the process. “I wouldn’t want to deny you the pleasure of watching me win the grand prize.”
“You’re so sick.” I glance back down and brush my fingers over Logan’s face. He loved me. He was ready to walk through a fire—sacrifice one man for all. There was no one greater than Logan. “The sword means nothing if you get it.”
A dark shadow stains the entry. “If she gives it to me, it means everything.” Demetri strolls in with a somber expression. “It’s time someone goes in, Skyla—time to get the reward in full.”
I revert my gaze back to Logan, reach over and gently close his beautiful eyes for all eternity—touch his lips with my fingers one last time. This was pain in acres—a nuclear detonation of agony searing over my soul.
The ground trembles, and for a moment, I’m hopeful it’s Logan stirring back to life. Instead, a shadow falls over me and I look up, startled by what I see.
Gage—looming and beautiful—with giant feathered wings.
Chapter 113
Destiny Calling
“Gage.” I fall into a hard embrace. Tears heave out of me and cascade over Logan like a mournful shower.
Demetri shouts as Chloe hedges toward the flames with the shield extended a good foot from her body, but I could care less. Things have fallen to pieces and all I want is Logan back.
“I know,” Gage whispers. “It’s OK.”
“It’s not OK. Logan is…” I can’t bring myself to formulate words that might even suggest he were gone for good. I pull him down until we’re kneeling beside Logan’s lifeless body. “Do something Gage—we have to do something right fucking now!”
“You know I would do anything for him.” The words echo from his lips, hollow and distal as if he were just a dream, some manifestation of my broken mind.
Chloe takes a breath as she skirts the flames and I proceed to ignore her. Instead, my eyes widen at the feathered appendages towering over Gage.
“What’s going on? Why are you here?” I run my hand over the soft plumes rising over his shoulders. “Why—why do you have wings?” A new fear grips me, and this time, it’s all for Gage.
“I talked to your Mom,” he says it plain. “Told her I wanted to help.”
“You’re neither Count nor Celestra and she let you in?” It makes me wonder if my mother was breaking the rules or if this implies something else altogether.
“Welcome to the party.” Chloe demands his attention as she sways by the fire. She gazes out at him with anticipation, her desperation as transparent as it is pitiful. Chloe wants to cover him with her love the way the sky lies over Paragon, thick and smothering. But Gage doesn’t bother glancing in her direction.
“I’m here now, Skyla. That’s all that matters.” He touches his hand to Logan’s forehead as if he were checking for a fever.
“In all of the other regions when a person died they would evaporate.” I pause to look up at Gage. “But Logan’s still here—he’s still with us.” I hold my breath, hoping he’ll run with the idea and tell me everything will work out, that Logan didn’t evaporate for a reason.
“I’ve come to take him, Skyla.” His wings expand in a clap of thunder, holding a bolder shade of blue than my own. He gives a peaceful smile and his skin ignites a molten gold from the inside. “I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure Logan can see the sun again, breathe air in his lungs—that he can love you.” The smile melts from his face. “You made him whole, happy. You’re all he ever wanted.”
I run my fingers over Gage’s beautiful face, and a current passes through me, soft and soothing like the strum of a guitar.
“What’s happening?” I can hardly get the words out as my mind riffles through the short list of possibilities.
“I love you, Skyla.” It thunders from him, deep and unrecognizable. His eyes ignite like a tempest. They rage like the tumultuous sea just before a storm. “Get the sword and come home to me.” He leans in and blesses me with a sublime kiss as we hover over Logan.
“Home?”
Gage presses out a smile as he transforms into a molten being, glowing like bronze set in a furnace. He lays his hands over Logan and they begin to disintegrate.
“Wait!” I snatch at the empty void in their wake. They’ve both disappeared to nothing—evaporated, simple as a vapor.
I glance up at the nest of lightning, above the inferno, as if it might tell me emphatically if what I fear is true.
“Dude…” Ellis whispers, his face bleached white as stone.
Chloe steps forward. The evil gleam in her eye is sharp as the tip of a knife.
“Lost them both in a single night?” Her teeth glitter as she revels in my misery. “Pity.”
It takes everything in me to rise to my feet, my plumes ruffling out like sheets.
This is heartbreak, a knife in my existence that can never be extracted. I feel the aftereffects of Chloe’s sword with each breath I take, knowing Logan is no longer with me—that Chloe’s blade may have taken out Gage as well. Truly only eternity waits for me now.
/> Demetri stands at attention with his hands behind his back.
“I’m deeply sorry for your loss.” His voice resonates low and even. I look right at him, and innately, I know he’s telling the truth.
“Were you sorry when you burned my father?” I don’t wait for a response. I walk over to Chloe, mechanical and stiff. She holds the shield high over the fire with her eyes pinched shut, but she doesn’t have the guts to enter. Chloe is a coward of the highest order. She exhales into her defeat and lowers the metal sheet to inspect the wicked flames.
“I bet it’ll hurt like hell,” I say, standing shoulder to shoulder with her, taunting her to do it. A part of me wants to witness Chloe Bishop writhing in the blaze.
“Not with the shield,” she whispers.
“Especially with the shield,” I counter.
A riot of voices clamber from the mouth of the entry.
“They’re here.” Chloe glances over in a panic.
The voices escalate with aggression as a wall of animated flesh surges just shy of the opening. They’re going to take it. Someone will lay victory for the Counts—God knows it won’t be for Celestra. Logan wouldn’t have wanted it this way. He would want me to fight, but I’m numb from the trauma of it all and Chloe is right. The only thing I want to do now is join Logan in Paradise—God forbid I find Gage there, too. I can’t bring myself to believe it, any of it.
Demetri waves his hand over the entrance to the cave and the mob blurs to nothing.
“Two minutes—I’ll hold them no more,” he says, donning his signature wicked scowl. “Go on, Skyla.” He gives a depreciative nod. “Retrieve what’s rightfully yours.”
“Skyla?” Chloe harps with disbelief.
I don’t wait for either of them to realize his error—instead I yank the shield from Chloe’s grasp.
“You wish,” she hisses, knocking me down toward the flames and my right arm falls through the fire. A gut-wrenching cry expels from my lips as I cradle it in pain. I glance down at the seared pink flesh, my blackened hair at the tips. This is how my father died. The horrific surprise of the fire, the inextinguishable blaze.