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I come up behind him, placing my hand on his shoulder.

“This is where my mother died,” he says quietly.

My stomach drops at his confession.

There are no words.

Des’s eyes move to mine. It’s rare for him to wear his thoughts on his face, but right now he doesn’t bother keeping me out, and I get an acute glimpse of all that pain bottled inside him. “I watched her die.”

My throat closes.

I can’t begin to imagine. It’s one thing to witness your monster of a stepfather bleed out on your kitchen floor, another to watch someone you love die.

I circle around to Des’s front, and his arms come around my waist. He lifts the hem of my shirt to press a kiss against the soft skin of my stomach, his thumbs rubbing back and forth over my skin.

I run my hands through his hair, loosening the locks from the leather band holding them back.

This tragedy might’ve happened years and years ago, but right now it looks like it’s all playing out in my mate’s memory as though the events are fresh.

“What happened?” I ask softly. I almost didn’t ask at all. God knows there are so many memories I hate sharing.

He looks up at me, his white hair loose. “My father happened.”

Chapter 13

My father happened.

If that’s not foreboding, I don’t know what is.

Des stands, his wings expanding behind him. He clears his throat. “Enough of this.” He takes my hand. “There’s one more place I want to take you to before we return to Somnia.”

I’m still burning to ask Des about his parents, but it’s clear from his body language that he’s done sharing secrets for the night. Perhaps for many nights.

Reluctantly, I take to the sky alongside him. I have no idea where he’s leading me, but when Arestys falls away beneath us, I realize that’ll be the extent of our visit. There will be no tour of the island’s remaining highlights, no further exploration of its topography, no more discussion about Des’s life here.

It’s that last one I want to know about most. I keep gleaning pieces of Des’s past from various sources, but I’ve gained more questions than answers.

What I know: Des was born into the Night Kingdom’s royal harem but raised on Arestys. He moved to Barbos and joined a “brotherhood,” and at some point, he became a medaled soldier and a king. He watched his mother die, and he blames his father.

Oh, and during all this time, he was building a career for himself on earth as the Bargainer, for whatever reason.

What I don’t know: pretty much everything else.

The wind ruffles his hair and clothes as we fly. Out here in the middle of the night sky, he looks completely at ease. I can’t tell if it’s a carefully crafted mask or if he really did leave his agony back on Arestys. I can, however, finally see that the enigmatic Bargainer has demons of his own.

This flight is quite a bit longer than the others, and by the time we descend, my body is exhausted.

The floating island we come upon seems made up of glowing pools and moonlit meadows. Scattered here and there are elaborate villas and a few temples, some length away from one another.

Off in the distance is a shimmering city, its white walls lit up with lights. Des heads straight for it.

As we close in on it, the scattered homes begin to cluster closer and closer together, gradually changing from rural to urban. The city itself sits on the edge of the island, the white buildings built along its cliffside.

Winding through the island is a glowing river, its waters a luminescent aquamarine. It spills over the side of the island, the waterfall turning to mist hundreds of feet below.

We circle past the city center and follow the river upstream before doubling back toward the interior of the island. We soar over hills, the river a glowing ribbon far below us. Soon the hills become mountains, their sides covered in dense flowering foliage.

We only begin to descend when we come to a particularly large mountain peak. Here sits a palatial white stone home, adorned with all the Moroccan accoutrements Des’s palace has.