Then I try to convince myself to stop focusing on the possibility of Interitus taking her from me, in case I make it true.
And yet, Interitus has successfully poisoned the city.It is inevitable that she will do the same to Gellara.
As far as I can make out, she’s using her old tricks, shadows and illusions to shift her appearance, whiten her wings and mould herself into me.
After a week of the city mutating into a feral creature with protests, and placards and posters hung with my face scoured out, I knew we couldn’t keep running.
Tucked under the safety of a forest canopy, the embers of a fire burning in a stone circle, I glance at Gellara.
“Don’t you say it,” she huffs.
I lower my eyes.Her expression is so full of pain it makes my teeth ache.
“We can keep running.Maybe we head to that city… you know the one run by the fae and the dark vampires.Nefari, I think it’s?—”
“Gellara—”
“Or we could head to that magician city, maybe.What’s it called?Imperial?Imperium.Or any of the?—”
“Gellara—”
She flaps her hands at me.“Hell, we could even?—”
“GELLARA.”I shout so loud my wings burst out and ruffle as they knock a load of branches from the tree I’m under.
Her lips press shut, her eyes wide as she glares at me.
“Just stop,” I say, kneading my temple and shrugging my wings away.
“Fuck you.You’re giving up.”
“No.Quite the opposite.We have to stop being prey and be the predator.But I don’t want you anywhere near this.If she were to find out what you mean to me…”
“I’m not some helpless fucking mortal, Architecti.I’m a demon.I have power.I can make deals that will garner enough so we can defeat her.Why won’t you let me help you?”
“Because you have no idea what she’s capable of.”
“She’s just an angel, my love.How can she beat two of us if we combine our power?”
I shake my head and lean against the trunk of the tree.
“Do you know what it takes to jump from the Celestial bridge?”
She opens her mouth and then shakes her head.
“It’s one thing to push someone off.That’s a mere flick of the wrist.But to jump…”
I stare into the forest, trying and failing to come up with sufficient words to describe the sheer force of will Interitus would have needed.
“That bridge… it’s celestial too.Not only did she have to override every single base instinct in her body, but the magic on that bridge is designed so as to prevent an angel from falling.It pushes us away.It’s the most dangerous place in the city.Our kind… we don’t go there.”
Gellara frowns as she listens.
“Our wings know innately.That place is wrong.All the magic twisted and gnarled.It sits heavy in our bellies.It’s not just the glass bridge.The magic makes us want to turn back.You have to fight to take every step.”
“How did… did she jump then?”
“Because she is relentlessly determined.Her strength of will is unparalleled.On that ledge…” I drift off, sinking into my memories.The way the magic coiled in my chest.Made my breathing short, ribs tingling.All warnings.Desperate begged pleas for us to return to safety.
