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She’s okay, I realized he was repeating, nerves igniting the amber specks in his eyes.

And because I felt so untethered, I threw myself at him, lips crashing together in a frantic release of all the pressure mounting around me.

My arms tangled around his neck, his wrapping around my waist. He melded me to him like he wouldn’t let an Angel rip me away.

Falling back, Tolek pulled me onto his lap and kissed me harder. All the fear tensing his body channeled into each stroke of his tongue against mine. Gripping the back of my neck, he tilted my head back further and devoured me, grounding me there in the silence after the Angels.

When we finally broke apart, the ringing in my ears had dulled, and I could hear his words again, rough and labored. “If that’s what I get every time you do something stupid, I’ll come up with a lot more reckless ideas.”

I laughed into his neck. Gently, he leaned back to search my eyes. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I said, taking a deep breath. “It was a stupid idea. I didn’t learn anything.” Never mind the fact that something inexplicable had happened.

Tolek frowned. “But?—”

“It almost looked like you were glowing,” Jezebel burst. In my lust for Tol, I’d forgotten about everyone else.

“I was—what?” That couldn’t be possible. At the Battle of Damenal and at the induction ceremony, light came from my shard necklace. That had to have been what Jezebel saw.

“And I wouldn’t say we learned nothing.” Vale’s voice floated to us. Keeping my arms around Tol, I turned to see the Starsearcher propped on one elbow on the tile.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Fine.” Her voice was weak, but her stare was determined. Rina handed Vale a glass and Jez helped her sit up. Cyph watched—eyes barely containing a murderous calm.

“I think…” Vale sipped the water at Rina’s insistence. “I think I found something.”

The haze from her session was crowding the room now, making my senses feel lighter, but I focused on her words.

“What did you see?”

My heart quickened as she asked, “How much do any of you know of the gods?”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Ophelia

“The gods?” I repeated, scrambling to face forward in Tolek’s lap.

“Essentially nothing,” Tolek answered. His arms came around my waist, like he wasn’t ready for me to let go after watching me be consumed by Angellight. His entire frame was tense. “We know the legends, but they’re only stories, not religious beliefs. More for entertainment than for honor.”

“Warriors don’t keep gods.” Jezebel shook her head.

“I do, though,” Santorina offered.

“Mystiques don’t keep gods.” Vale’s correction wasn’t harsh. “Starsearchers do maintain a certain level of study, though we don’t worship them. Our Angel’s power works with the Goddess of Fate and Celestial Movement.”

“And the twelve fates, correct?” Rina asked, clarifying warrior lore. “Each Starsearcher is aligned with one fate—that’s how you’re able to read—and they convene with both higher powers?”

Vale avoided our eyes as she nodded.

“Why do the gods matter, though?” Cypherion asked, arms crossed.

“Two reasons,” the Starsearcher began. “First—I think I saw them in my session. The seven Angels were there, six beings behind them.” Vale’s brow creased, and she exhaled roughly. “Everything appeared to be separated from whatever I was seeing by a veil. It was all blurry.”

“But the gods can’t be involved in a matter of Angels.” Jezebel turned hesitant eyes on me. “Right?”

I shrugged.