A Stareater shoved his sword through my shield. It felt like he’d pierced straight into my spine. I arched, contorting in pain in Quazar’s arms, screaming loud.
“Safah!” Quazar roared.
He laid me down gently on the marble, then he was out of my vision. All I could hear was his grunting as I wrestled with a fresh wave of pain burning down my spine. I began choking on acid as tears welled in my eyes. My bones suddenly felt brittle. The sword. It had to be poisoned if it could affect my power like that.
Quazar was already wounded to the point of needing a Raephim. Pain or not, if he was going to fight back, then so was I. Wasn’t that the point of all this? For Disciples and Legionnaires to work together? For them tofighttogether?
With tears wetting my cheeks, I rolled over and pushed up to the balls of my feet. I looked out and saw Quazar had already impaled two Stareaters and was working on two more. Good heavens. He was a machine of war.
I watched him move. He was undoubtedly a highly skilled warrior. There was an elegance to his movement. He was ferocious, deadly, and graceful. There was a beauty, an art, to how he killed. How he unarmed his foe and defeated them. Heused his shadows like whips, slinging them around, lassoing the Stareaters, before turning the shadows to swords, and impaling them on it.
It was in this moment I realized, every time Quazar and I had gotten into a fight, he’d gone extremely easy on me. I was almost embarrassed at the thought. I was so lost in watching him, I almost missed the Stareater sneaking up behind him.
“Quazar!” I yelled, racing forward.
The Stareater lifted his sword and swung.
But I was faster.
With a blast of starfire, I shoved Quazar out of the way, while simultaneously stabbing the Stareater directly in the chest with my sword. He instantly began to burn, his bone white skin charring away while his horrid, starry face turned to ash.
Reaching Quazar, we launched into the fray against the remaining Stareaters. I lashed out with my starfire, while Quazar used his shadows. I kicked out at a Stareater, snapping the bone in his leg while bending to shove the talon of my wing straight into his chest. I jerked upward and wrenched my talon through his flesh.
Quazar clapped all of his wings together with such force my body vibrated with it. The Stareater I fought against fell face down, falling lifeless. When I turned, Quazar had ended the lives of the other two. All the Stareaters were dead.
I floated before him, a silhouette of lavender galactic fire. Like a burning star. He lifted his head to me, already creating a perimeter of shadow around us, over my starlight. Then he reached up, gripped my waist, and pulled me to himself. We were wounded and hurting, but in this moment, in his embrace, I feltalive.
“Come here,” he whispered.
I pressed in, placing my hands on his chest. He leaned down, ready to claim my mouth. Then a star gate appeared, dragged us through, and spat us back into the great room of the wingtower.
Chapter 43
Sprawled over the cold floor, I looked for Quazar. I found him several wingspans away, laid out on his side, his body contorted at an awkward angle.
“Quazar,” I cried.
I pushed to my feet, grunting through the pain of my fresh wounds. I rushed to his side and fell beside him, rolling him to his back. In the light of the wingtower, he looked significantly worse than he did in the glass chambers of the trial. Dakairi and Ivyana rushed to his other side, bending to be by him. Dakairi reached forward, ready to scoop up his best friend.
“I’ve got him,” I told Dakairi, already reaching beneath Quazar’s shoulders with my wings to prop him up against me. I brought a hand to his cheek, brushing my thumb over his velvet skin. He groaned, leaning into the touch.
Dakairi and Ivyana watched me in silence. I caressed Quazar’s cheek before leaning in to place a kiss on his forehead.
“Come on,” I breathed into his hair. “Let’s get you cleaned up and to bed. Okay?”
He gingerly opened his eyes. I would always be struck by the beauty of them. Quazar pressed into my bosom, angling his head so I could cling to him better.
“Are you okay if I bring you? Or do you want Dakairi?—”
“You,” he breathed heavily. “Always you.”
I kissed his forehead once more, letting my lips linger at his temple. When I pulled back, I brushed the wayward strands of his raven hair back.
“Come on then. Lean on me. I’ve got you.”
I propped him up, bearing the brunt of his weight with my shoulder. Dakairi and Ivyana continued watching, their eyes shining like jade and sapphire gemstones. I met their gazes, offering a brief smile.
“I’ll take care of him. Promise.”
