Our family proverb rang out in my mind, anchoring me. Towhateverend.
I reached for the clasp at my neck, trying to unfasten it so I could remove the gown. It was stuck. I fumbled with the clasp finding it enmeshed with my tangled coils and some of my feathers.
“Stupid gown,” I muttered.
I kept messing with the clasp, but I couldn’t undo it. Then large palms covered mine, gently pushing my fingers out of the way. My hearts instantly skipped ten beats, racing wild. My neck grew hot as Quazar gingerly lifted the bottom strands of my hair where it was caught in the clasp.
“Stupid, pretty, curls,” he muttered, so low he probably thought I hadn’t heard him. “And why does it smell so rotting good?”
My stomach twisted in knots. My hands grew clammy.
His fingers brushed my neck as he gently pulled on the strands. After a few tugs, they slipped out of the clasp where they were stuck. I shifted on my feet as I felt him trying to pluck out my loose feathers. Burning wings. They just had to shed. Quazar finally got my clasp free and loose, undoing it in the process. It fell open, leaving my back exposed. Then he pulled away.
The absence of his body from mine felt like a chasm. Strangely, I felt cold. As if I wanted him to draw close again. I shook my head. I was losing it. It had to be the blood loss. He was the Fallen Prince. The Fallen Prince who got my Manmi killed. I wouldn’t be so easily moved. I cleared my throat.
“Thank you…for helping me.”
Quazar just grunted.
I frowned. Burning animal. I quickly removed my gown, letting it fall to the floor. I undid my sandals and removed my slip dress. I straightened myself, covered only in the sparkling fabric that wrapped and curved around my bust and the matching underskirt that hung just below the curve of my bottom.
Burning stars, I felt as if I was standing there nude. I turned, refusing to look at Quazar, keeping my eyes straight on the seven Iris. They stood on the dais, impeccable in their perfection, and unmovable. There wasn’t a trace of emotion in their expressions.
“You will intertwine your wings, clasp hands, and enter the purification waters. Together.”
“Oh you have got to be kid?—”
I choked on my words as Quazar stepped close and took my hand in his. My hearts raced as he laced our fingers together. His palm was warm, and surprisingly gentle. He lifted one of hiswings to mine. Still looking away from him, I raised a wing that hadn’t been shredded by the Spirit Harvesters.
Stars. I was hot, dirty from the trial, covered in bruises, dried blood, and with broken wings. I felt utterly inadequate. Unworthy. To be here. To enter the pool. Even standing by the Fallen Prince, he seemed more redeemed than I.
I bit my lip, wrestling with my foolish thoughts. I looked a mess because I had survived Spirit Harvesters.
And you started a full-on brawl that ended the lives of nine angels,I didn’t say to myself.
“Ready?”
Without thinking, I lifted my head, turning to meet Quazar’s gaze. I had to tilt a bit to meet them properly. I thought his gaze would be taunting. Mocking, even. After all, he’d just gotten annoyed at me for being prude.
But his eyes weren’t that at all.
The eyes of the Fallen Prince were dark. Ravenous.
His eyes trailed the ringlets of my hair, coiling even more from the heat at my temples. They traveled leisurely down my face, the planes of my neck, the length of my curves, until they slowly made their way back up to my eyes. I shuddered as a delicious heat crawled through my body.
Quazar lookedstarved. He looked at me as if I were a meal he’d gladly lay on a platter and devour whole.
Shadows brushed past the veil in my mind, breaking through to my side of our bond, slithering into my thoughts, pressing up against my very will. For a moment, I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think.
“I…” I stuttered. “Yeah…Yes. Yes, I am.”
I rushed to shut the veil between us, struggling to get his shadows out of my head. It was like trying to push back a mountain with my bare hands. Impossible.
Quazar Valoryen curled his lips into a smirk, his jeweled eyes glittering. Then he pulled me with him as we entered the purification pool.
Chapter 26
Ikept my eyes on the shimmering, iridescent water.
