Page 181 of Feather

Losing him would kill her. Unless she was already dead. I hoped she hadn’t taken her life, because her pristine soul merited another round but wouldn’t be granted one if she’d ended herdays.

How I loathed deathtonight.

Andour system. It, too, deserved myrage.

I stalked toward the recliner and stared down at the lovers, balling my fingers into fists. Growling, I pummeled the wall next to me, splintering both wood andskin.

Door hinges groaned a floor below me, followed by a feminine voice that echoed against the marble walls of this lavish tomb. “Amir?”

Muriel. At least, she was still alive. But for howlong?

I returned my gaze to the bodies, itching to throw them over my shoulders and carry them into the night to spare the woman the cruelsight.

But theblood.

There was so muchblood.

I could burn it away, but it would taketime.

Time I didn’thave.

I shut my eyes, my wings flaring as I battled a dangerous consideration, one that would cost me my title, my feathers, and quite possibly, mylife.

Muttering an oath, I splayed one palm against Jarod’s rib cage, the other against Leigh’s chest, and coaxed both their souls to thesurface.

As the gold threads of Leigh’s being lapped against my fingers and bound to my skin, pliant and warm, palpitating with calm energy, its virtue and beauty struck me anew, blinding me as formidably as her silver feathers had the afternoon we’d collided in the guildhallway.

Back then, I’d sensed the potential for prodigious change contained within hersoul.

Tonight, I finally understood just how deeply it was about to alter the celestialworld.

Or, at the very least,myworld.