I felt a firm grip on my left wrist as calloused fingers pressed against my skin, probing around my markings, but I was far too exhausted to say anything as I continued leaning forward, pinching my nose.
Was it possible to lose too much blood from nosebleeds?
“How often does this happen?” The voice rumbled from behind me, his muscles rippling against my back.
“It’s really none of your concern,” Finn answered for me, letting me continue to breathe as another bout of nausea ensued.
“Just answer the question.” Callum’s tone turned dark, and I swore if I was able to look up, I’d probably find him glaring daggers at my best friend.
Finn huffed a scoffing laugh, and I felt Callum tense behind me.
For the love of the stars . . . I really didn’t need them in a stand-off right now.
Struggling to stand up fully without support, a pathetic whimper fell from my lips as I pulled away from Callum, my head spinning and vision blurring.Well, this is less than ideal.
“For the love of the gods,” I muttered, my voice muffled from behind the material I still held against my nose. “Just let it go, both of you.”
Finn stepped forward, his hand stretching out to steady me as I swayed once again, and I knew I had to be a sight as I stood between two towering males, my emerald dress splattered with crimson liquid.
“Come on, Rae. Let’s get you home.” Finn’s words softened as I turned to look at him. Nodding weakly, I took a step in his direction, only to be stopped. Callum’s hand tightened against my wrist as he held me in place, leaning forward until I could feel the warmth from his form radiating over me.
“When you’re ready for answers . . .” he whispered low into my ear, and I couldn’t help the shiver that tingled through my body at the proximity. “You know where to start looking.” He tapped against the markings on my arm, a reminder of his words on the dance floor, crossed my mind. “But these episodes—they’re only going to come more frequently, and you won’t be able to withstand them for much longer.”
I could only stare after him in shock as he pulled up his dunewrap until only piercing amber eyes could be seen and spun on his heel, stalking away from me in a measured gait that radiated power.
I didn’t know what he knew, but I knew he had answers of some sort. And I intended to unearth his secrets by any means possible.
17
RAELYNA
It wasn’tlong before we were making our way across town, back to the Nox District, and more specifically, my apartment. I fanned my wings wide as I glided through the air on a gust of wind. It had been far too long since I’d flown, and I nearly spun in the air out of delight. Glancing to my right, I spotted Finn soaring higher into the air, his body tense with anger. Beside me, Emberly glided along the same current I found myself on.
In theory, I guessed that I couldn’t necessarily blame Finn for the anger that had built throughout the conversation we’d had with the two Royal Solis Guards . . . I knew my actions had been slightly reckless . . . but that was my responsibility, and mine alone.
Pushing away all thoughts of what I’d discovered tonight—if only just for a moment—I found my gaze drifting downward, watching the buildings as we flew through the night. We flew in and out of towers as we climbed higher in the sky. From our vantage point, you could see the towers stacked on towers of skyscrapers disappearing into misted clouds.
I dipped my wings, ducking my head as I flew right below a skybridge connecting two of the largest structures in the Quarter.From here, I could spot the limestone cement blocks forming the barricade of The Wall.
A slight chill brushed against my skin as we moved through the air. I loved it up here, watching the streetlights twinkle below, the hustle and bustle of Solis Quarter seeming calmer from this vantage point. Up in the skies, there was no bargain, no promise to Lucanus, no one forcing me to be something I wasn’t. It was just me and the open air.
I was free.
Dipping to the left, my wing caught a new current, and I felt myself glide higher in the air, embracing the feeling of the wind against my face as I gracefully flapped my charcoal-colored wings and pushed higher still. A giddy sense of overwhelming happiness flooded through me, and I tilted my left wing down, spiraling in a slight freefall toward Emberly below me. I felt the wind whipping by me as I momentarily plummeted through the sky, feeling weightless, before I threw my wing out again at the last minute, right before I collided with Emberly and straightened.
“You’re insane!” Her voice carried through the sky, a chord of laughter floating around the words as I grinned over toward her.
Soon, we could spot the outer edges of The Wall with more clarity, and on it, I knew my apartment would quickly come into sight. It was always a noticeable shift as we headed toward the Nox District. The skyscrapers became less tall, only reaching ten to fifteen stories into the sky, and the street lights had a duller glow than the neon gleam in the center of the Quarter.
My gaze drifted along the looming cement barrier that kept others out of Solis Quarter. Better yet—or worse, depending on who you asked—it kept usin. Those with the least powerful affinities often resided on the outskirts, cast in the shadows of the ever-looming wall. The homes on this side of the Quarterwere cramped together, cowering under the ever-present eye of the RSG keeping guard along The Wall.
I was ten years old when my father first sat me down and told me about The Wall. How it had been warded with ancient affinities gifted to the kings by the gods—meant to keep us safe, protecting us from the corruption of the rest of Aurelia. When I asked my father why we couldn’t just fly over The Wall with our wings, he explained that it was impossible to fly over, and from what I’d seen, it was. But I wasn’t so sure that was solely because of the wards.
The number of deaths that occurred in the poorer districts because a citizen attempted to fly past The Wall was too high to count. It was a known fact in the Nox District that attempting to fly over The Wall was a suicide mission—you wouldn’t survive the guards stationed along the outer edges of The Wall . . . evenifyou somehow managed to survive. If you miraculously made it across the barricade that was The Wall, you would find yourself stranded in the forlorn deserts surrounding us on two sides, or The Rift. Neither option offered a high chance of survival.
And the older I’d gotten . . . the more I’d begun to realize that we were trapped. Trapped inside a barricade built toprotect us. Trapped by the very people who’d promised the citizens of Solis protection. It was when I’d realized that, that I began to understand why my father had begun sneaking around prior to his death.
I slowed my flight as we drew nearer to the outer edges of Solis Quarter, careful to indicate through my actions that we were slowing, as I felt the weight of eyes trained on our movements. The RSG, who carefully monitored our actions, tracked every movement on radars to ensure we weren’t attempting to flee the Quarter.
