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“I’ll miss you,” she says, so softly I nearly miss the words. “I have to go pack now. I just wanted to see you before I leave.”
She moves toward the door, and my stomach pitches toward the floor. Before I can stop myself, I grab her by the wrist and pull her into my chest. As complicated and trivial as feelings are, having her close to me feels right in this moment.
I bend to press my mouth to hers, reveling in the tiny gasp that escapes her lips. The kiss is fast and hard, a silent promise that I’ll be here waiting for her to return, and her cheeks are flushed when I pull back.
“Be careful, Devyn,” I say, taking a step back.
She stares at me for a long moment, chewing the corner of her mouth like she wants to say something else, but she finally decides against it.
“You too.”
With that, she silently marches toward the door and slips out of the room. I stare after her, mind whirling, wondering if I should go after her, but I quickly tamp down those thoughts. There’s no sense in prolonging the inevitable, in drawing out our goodbye.
We will win this war swiftly, and then she’ll be home once more. I’ll make sure of it.
ChapterThirteen
ELIO
Istare at the portal I just created with a mixture of sadness and apprehension, hating myself for being a part of Devyn’s departure at all. But as much as I want to challenge Rafe’s decision and keep her here, I know it’s impossible. She’ll be much safer on the other side, and hopefully it won’t be very long before the Malevs are defeated and we can bring her back.
That doesn’t mean I have to fucking like it.
Glancing over, my gaze falls to her nervous expression. Her eyes are wide as she stares at the gaping hole in the side of the dilapidated building, her lips parted slightly. This is her fourth time through it, and while she came through unscathed the other times, I know she’s not particularly a fan of portal travel.
I can’t blame her. It takes some getting used to, and even after years of using portals, I’m still not the biggest fan of them either.
“It’s going to be alright,” I assure her, pulling her close to comfort her. “It gets easier every time. Don’t worry.”
“Yeah, we’ve got you, Darling,” Azarius says, stepping up to her other side. A bulging duffle bag filled with her personal belongings is slung over his shoulder, and he’s already in his human form. He wears his typical business attire, ready for the meetings we’ll have later today. “Are you ready?”
She nods once, swallowing hard before looking up at me for reassurance. I squeeze her against my side and begin my own transformation, my horns disappearing, my skin quickly fading in color. If we don’t hurry, the portal will close and I’ll have to open another one.
“On three then?” I ask once I’m completely transformed. I always feel strange, out of place this way in our realm. Even though I don’t smell like a human, it makes me uneasy.
Devyn nods timidly and trembles against me. She must be as nervous as I am, if not more so.
“One,” I say, counting us up.
The border of the portal begins to waver and the gap begins to shrink, making my stomach pitch toward the ground.
“Three,” Azarius says, grabbing hold of Devyn’s hand and dragging us toward the gaping hole. We follow behind him, plunging into the void, and the portal closes behind us, swallowing us in darkness.
The wait is always my least favorite part. It only takes a few seconds, maybe a minute, for the other end of the portal to open, but waiting is nearly unbearable. Despite the countless times I’ve traveled between realms, I always wonder what would happen if the other end of the portal didn’t open.
Would I be stuck in the void forever? Could I open another portal while inside it?
Luckily, I’ve never had the opportunity to find out, and I hope I never will.
After a few seconds that seem to stretch on impossibly long, another opening appears and spits us out into a familiar alleyway. Devyn stumbles on the landing, but with Azarius and me holding on to her, she doesn’t topple over.
When she regains her balance, she looks around eagerly, staring at the buildings around us with relief.
“I hate that feeling.” She shudders, crinkling her nose.
I chuckle once and squeeze an arm around her reassuringly. “To be fair, I hate it too, and I’ve done it a thousand times.”
Though I don’t say it out loud, I share her feeling of relief. Despite the magic in her blood, and even bringing her back to Earth once before to collect her things from her apartment, I still worry that something will go wrong with her passing through. She could get stuck. She could get hurt.
