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“I’ll have Cedomir bring some food to the suite. You can practice magic on the roof,” Ruslan suggested. A hint of guilt trickled down our bond, and I knew, because there were no barriers between us anymore, that he blamed himself for what had happened to me. Hence, his eagerness to take care of me in any way possible.
Batting my lashes at him to take advantage of that fact, I asked, “Will you fly me up there?”
Liliana snorted beside me, covering her mouth and whispering, “Case in point.”
Ruslan unfurled his black wings, the leathery membrane nearly translucent in the summer sun. His wingspan was enormous, nearly knocking Drazen and Zuriel back as he showed them off. The former rolled his eyes as Ruslan snatched my waist and tucked me into his body. “I won’t marry you until you fly yourself up and down.”
This had become our joke over the past week, new conditions to schedule our vows that had been so rudely interrupted by Kazimir trying to fucking kill me. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be married to Ruslan – no, my hesitation came from the lack of space in my head for responsibilities as empress. The only thoughts I could entertain for any length of time were of revenge.
Of blood dripping down my blades.
Before I could tease out a retort, he leaped into the air, stealing my breath and a scream from my lips. The laugh thatfollowed the sound was maniacal, and I banged weakly against his chest in mock defiance. Moments later, we hovered over the palace built into the side of the mountain, and my mate set me ever so gently on my feet. The wind from our friends’ wings buffeted us as they landed in various positions around the smoothed rock roof. Liliana, Drazen, and Ruslan disappeared through the hatch a moment later.
Stepping to the balustrade, I took a moment to admire the breathtaking view.
The Iron Realm spread before me, the high peaks spearing into the sky like they had every right to be as angry as I was at the way my life had been unfolding. Even in the summer, the peaks still wore caps of snow, the whiteness of them nearly blinding as the midday sun reflected off of them. They were sentries to the valley below, nestling the capital of the Iron Realm in a protective embrace and preventing any unwanted intruders from penetrating the peace within. The sun was even stronger higher into the range, bringing with it a joy I had only felt since leaving the cave where I had been chained for most of my life. As the light kissed my skin, I tipped my head back, breathing deeply in the fresh mountain air, and the white flame that lived inside my chest flared to life, filling me with power and banishing the lingering frustration with my inability to do more than walk around.
At least my magic felt more powerful than ever, despite the darkened crystal.
The ethereal beauty had not weakened or dried up during my time wandering in the void. If anything, the well of magic was deeper, fueled by the rage of having more of my life stolen from me. It felt as if that white flame would consume everything inside me, then burst forth and engulf the world around me in a blaze so furious someone mightfinallysee this pain that felt all-consuming.
Some day, and soon, they would face my wrath.
Zuriel stepped beside me, joining me in gazing across the realm that would soon be as much mine as Ruslan’s. The white locks of his hair lifted in a pine-scented breeze as it dusted across the mountain at our backs.
“It is beautiful,” he commented after a moment of silence.
“What is Keleti like?” I asked my cousin, thinking of his homeland across the ocean where he and my father, Ithuriel, had been captured along with some Demons.
“There are mountains like these that divide the continent in two. On one side, everything is lush and green, while on the other, it is a desert that stretches endlessly until it reaches the sea,” he murmured, his icy blue eyes taking on a wistful absence from the world around us.
“Do you ever miss it?” I asked quietly. Curiosity and something that felt a lot like sorrow filled me at the thought of the continent where my mother and father had tried to flee for safety so the mated pair could be together, without the blades of the kings of Északi hanging over their heads.
Was it possible to long for something one had never known?
The Angel blinked rapidly, clearing his eyes and mind of wherever he’d wandered. “I do, sometimes. But my place is here, with you.”
He offered no more commentary, and I sensed that he wanted to speak of it no further. My cousin had his secrets, and he would share them in due time, as always. Checking over my shoulder, I realized we were alone on the rooftop. I stepped away from the railing, squaring my shoulders over my shaky legs.
Pinning Zuriel in my fierce gaze, I loosed a long breath and pronounced, “I want to practice immobilizing my opponents.”
The air inflating Zuriel’s lungs stilled, along with the whispering wind, as if the world was watching, waiting, for what would happen next. For me to embrace the darkness.
For Zuriel to help me do it.
Ruslan had vowed to stand hand in hand in the dark with me so I wouldn’t have to face it alone. He’d already spent enough time there that it was as familiar as his own name. Darkness, after all, had been my only friend in the cave. This was merely a different aspect of what inky blackness had to offer. A dark twist on my Goddess-gifted magic.
Was there really such a thing as light and dark? Or was everything merely a shade of gray, as Liliana had once said? Certainly, I could use my magic for good. For healing. For removing the pain, the burdens others carried like sacks of stones.
I could also use it to sow pain, discord, and strife.
It all came down to how Ichoseto use it. How I wanted to bend the magic to my will.
And in that moment, I waschoosingto use it in an insidious way I’d sworn off before. Days ago, I’d decided I would never place limits on myself again, thatnothingwould hinder the full strength of my Goddess-gifted power.
Not me, not stupid principles, and certainly no male.
If I wanted the world to burn at my feet for what it did to me, I had to embrace every part of myself, utilize every scrap of magic and ingenuity I had, and plummet into an endless well of power. But that well would only deepen with repetition, with utilizing the magic in the sinister ways I wanted, over and over and over.
