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“He’s headed for her! I said cut him do—”
The voice was cut off. A choking, gurgling sound filled the hall of the cavern. I opened my eyes, blinking. A raucous commotion broke out in the darkness beyond, rattling my nerves. What in the hells was going on? Bright light erupted throughout the cavern. I leaned forward, squinting. Then I heard him.
“LIGHTHEART.”
I gasped. There was no rotting way I’d heard right. All the same, hope flickered in my heart. I removed my arms from around my knees and began stretching out, forcing my battered limbs to move.
“Lightheart! My Daliah. Where are you?”
“I’m in here,” I croaked, scooting across the sulfuric stone.
A clash of sound exploded as Zhèmson’s voice was cut off by heavy grunts before I heard bodies slamming.
He’d gotten free. By the skies, he’d gotten free!
Humility wrapped around me like a cloak as the truth dawned on me. The Alpha actually answered my little prayer. Tears burned my eyes. Newfound energy burst through my body. I crawled toward the bars, pushing past the insufferable pain it caused.
“Zhèmson! I’m over here!”
My voice was too hoarse. It was barely above a whisper. Skies. How would he hear me? I tried screaming, but the strength of my voice had been beaten out. I had nothing left. All I could do was whimper in the dark.
“Zhèmson,” I cried.
Then pale and amber eyes were on me on the other side of the bars.
I sobbed, flooded with relief.
“My Zhèmson! Oh my skies. Zhèmson.”
I reached out through the bars, holding his cheeks. His eyes blazed, filled with icy rage and inconceivable love. He took in my condition, a snarl curling his lip. His nostrils flared at the tears of my dress. The bruises along my skin. The vomit caking some strands of my hair. I grew self-conscious. Skies, I was filthy. In front of his glorious beauty, I felt washed up. Used. Unworthy. I needed a healer and a bath, yet here I was, touching him. I pulled my hands back.
Zhèmson latched onto my thin fingers, holding them with a gentleness that only made me cry harder. With his free hand, he pulled the bars open, bending the metal. He made a gaping hole big enough to slip my body through. Pulling me through the bars, before I could say a word, his mouth claimed mine. He didn’t care that I was filthy, broken, bruised. All that mattered was that we were together again. Zhèmson broke the kiss and held my face, caressing my grimy cheeks.
“I love you, my Zhèmson,” I sniveled through my tears.
“I will love you for a lifetime of lifetimes, my beautiful, Lightheart. Clouds of my skies, I will adore you until we enter the Ellelights. Now, come.”
Smiling through my tears, I let him pick me up. He cradled me between his wings, before turning to face the hoard of Sky Watchers glaring at him.
“Go ahead and get comfortable, my Temptress.”
“You’ll try not to be so bumpy, won’t you?”
He chuckled darkly.
“There’s my pushy little fae.”
I smiled despite myself, holding tight to him. His wings shielded me with the ferocity of the angel they were attached to. Folded in the cocoon of Zhèmson’s wings, fatigue found me, making my eyelids heavy. Zhèmson took off, and I fell into a dreamless sleep.
Daliah
I stirred from my slumber, flummoxed. It took me a moment to register the warm rays of the sun beating down on Zhèmson’s wings. I shifted in the membranous cocoon, amazed. Healing properties began flowing from him to me, easing some of my pain. My arm still throbbed and my body was still bruised, but breathing wasn’t so hard anymore.
Zhèmson’s wings unfurled, opening up like a flower. They released me gently into a chariot similar to the one that was used to bring me to the Saelus Prison. I screamed, panic smothering me. I jerked back, only to find I wasn’t anywhere near the Saelus Prison. Peeking over the rims of the chariot, I took in the landscape. The chariot crested a hill that directly overlooked the prison from a far distance. From this vantage point, I could see the elephantine structure in all its horrifying glory.
I squinted and gasped.
The front of the prison had been barred with all kinds of stones and standing pillars.
