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8
LILIN
Something hot and sharp hit my face, and I looked up to find the sky alight with bits of flaming debris, twisting gently as they drifted toward the earth. Wait—not debris—leaves. The mighty oak tree that had loomed over one corner of the village square was nothing but a charred husk, its blackened branches sending motes of fiery leaves drifting over the square.
With a gasp, I ducked low and spread my wings, hunching over the villagers closest to the wreckage to protect them from the remains of the ruined tree. Bright points of pain lit my wings as the fiery embers connected, burning away the delicate feathers. I gasped, tears springing to my eyes, but I gritted my teeth and forced myself to hold my wings steady.
A curse met my ears, and I looked up to find Abigor, towering over me with his own wings spread, catching the embers on his glittering feathers instead. I didn’t waste the opportunity—I lifted as many of the villagers as my power would allow and moved them quickly to safety on the far side of the square. I looked for Julian as I passed, but he had vanished. Again.
It didn’t take long to clear the area, but when I glanced back I saw Abigor, standing with wings still outstretched as the last of the burning leaves from the ruined tree drifted from the sky to catch in his hair. My heart twisted at the sight, and with Julian gone, Abigor’s emotions rose to overwhelm me.
How had I missed it?
I’d been too caught up in my own anger and outrage to Sense what had been right in front of my face. Because it wasn’t some kind of misplaced righteous superiority that was drifting off of him in waves—it was shame. Shame and guilt.
“Abigor,” I said softly.
He folded his wings in and lifted his head. His expression was tortured, his scarlet eyes bright and burning.
Remorse flooded through me. “No,” I said, catching hold of his arm as he turned to leave. “Wait, please. I was wrong.”
He didn’t face me, but he didn’t pull away either, and I forced myself to continue. “This isn’t your fault, and no matter what I was taught, no matter what my people may think of yours, you should never, ever, fault yourself for believing the best of others.”
“It doesn’t matter,” he said quietly, gently tugging his arm out of my grip.
“It does,” I insisted. “I should never have said those things.”
His expression was sad. “I think maybe we’ve both said things we shouldn’t have. But it doesn’t matter. Don’t you see? Whatever we think we’ve been doing here…it’s over.”
“What?” My throat grew tight.
“It’s too dangerous,” he said quietly. He looked past me, and I followed his gaze toward the charred husk of the towering oak. It wasn’t only the tree we’d destroyed. The gate beyond it was ruined, nothing left but a twisted scrap of metal, and the houses on both sides had been reduced to splintered carcasses of wood. Beyond the gate the sloping green fields were gone; barren earth was all that remained.
Tears filled my eyes. “What do we do?” I whispered.
“Nothing,” he said with a defeated shrug. “I return to Hell, as I should have from the start. And you…” The ghost of a smile pulled at his lips. “Well, if all we accomplished here was a reminder of why our paths are not meant to cross, then…I’m glad I got to learn that lesson with you.”
The tears spilled over, carving burning tracks down my cheeks. A look came over Abigor’s face that I couldn’t quite identify. He took a halting step toward me, then leaned in close. His hands rose to gently cup my jaw, and a second later he pressed a light kiss against my lips. There was a spark at his touch, some surge deep within me, but I’d barely registered the sensation before he was pulling back.
He gave me one last sad look, then turned away.
I swallowed hard, and tried one more time. “But…what about the villagers? We can’t leave them like this. They’re dying.”
His voice drifted back to me on the breeze. “What can we possibly do together, except make things worse?”
And then he was gone.
I pressed my fingers to my lips, not entirely sure I hadn’t imagined the kiss. But no, I could still feel him there, the brief brush of warmth.
Alone now, feeling strangely hollow without Abigor by my side, I walked slowly toward the center of the town square, to the scattered bodies amid the rubble. It seemed as though, in just that short span of time, the lines on their faces had deepened. Despair twined around my heart. I stretched out my wings and tried to feel something—anything—some small hint that there was life behind those silent, aging faces.
Nothing.
But then—
It was faint, the sense of him, but I could recognize him as easily as though he were standing before me. Julian.
I heard Abigor’s voice in my mind: Where does anyone go when they’ve lost their way?
