“You will watch your tone,” she hissed, slipping forward.
“And you will set fire to the lies dropping off your tongue like poison.”
“As I said, no sharper tongue in this entire empyrean outside of yours.”
“Piss off,”I said, unsure of how he slipped past the veil I’d erected.
“I rest my case.”
“Honestly, Quazar. Now isnotthe time, yeah?”
“Life is short, my Safah. It isalwaystime.”
Tendrils of shadow tap danced into my mind, warming me through my chest and down to my toes. He was such a distraction. Even now, my hearts warmed up to the sound of his voice. I kept my smile off my face, refusing the urge to turn to him.
“I’m giving you one last chance to step aside, Granfifi.”
“No.”
Granmanmi Asarah scowled.
“You’re as stubborn as that mule of a Papi who raised you. I always told Amaryss, Cassandrel was unfit to be her wingmate. To raise the next generation who carry our torch in the temple. Look at you. What you are becoming.” She sneered at me. “But you’re still young. Iwillmold you yet.”
Granmanmifyused.
With lightning speed she raised her arms, morphed her hands into swords, then launched herself at me, swinging to cut my chest open, all in the same fluid movement.
Chapter 51
Igrit my teeth, throwing my arms into a cross—one atop the other—blocking Granmanmi’s blow. I checked my shield, careful to make sure the Talons were still protected.
The Farasee Order made a big mistake when they put me in a trial against Hèlborns and Stareaters. It only proved I could hold my shields and stay alive even with the worst odds.
Satisfied the shield was secure, I danced backwards, summoned starbolts, and began blasting them at Granmanmi.
I threw ten. Four landed true. Two jutted out of one of her wings. The third was stuck out of her chest. The fourth had caught her in the thigh.
Unfazed, Granmanmi spiraled. Turned the length of her arms into whips. Then she snapped them my way.
I dodged, flipping into the air.
I flew in zig zags around the dais, avoiding getting whipped, while throwing bolt after bolt. The angels in the arena watched Granmanmi and I go at it with rapt silence. I noticed even the Talons followed our bloody flight patterns, watching to see who’d be the last one flying.
Twisting my body, I lunged at Granmanmi, launching into a forward assault. Her eyes flashed as she charged, speeding tocollide with me head on. At the last moment, I jerked, twisting beneath. I grabbed on to a pair of her wings with my own, twisting us together in a whirlwind spiral.
Granmanmi shrieked as I spun us both uncontrollably. Then I wrenched her wings, yanking them from their sockets, before thrusting us both into the glass. I slapped her body into the dais with full force while bracing my fall with my wings as a cushion.
Blood trickled onto the glass. I couldn’t tell if it was hers or mine. It didn’t matter right now. I flew up from the dais. And she didn’t. I floated back to the Talons, pouring more starfire into their shield while waiting for Granmanmi to counter.
While I kept my eyes on her, I didn’t see her inching her ethèr—starlit cords lined with galactic fire—beneath me.
“Safah, look out!” Ivyana screamed.
I looked down.
It was too late.
Granmanmi’s cords snagged around my ankles and yanked. Before I could fight back, I was jerked across the dais like a sack of bones, as she slammed me into the glass, face first. Then she slammed me again. And again.
