Page 31

Chapter 31

Wren

S aying that we were going to find the source of what made an Enmity and doing it were two completely different things.

The book was extremely clear. There wasn’t a place to find them. There were symbols to call them, ways to get their attention… and if they wanted you to see them, then they would bring you to them . Aiden didn’t have to show us the correct book, but he’d pretty much handed us the keys to exactly what we’d requested.

And I had to remember the warning it came with.

The last night we’d ever have…

My eyes dropped to the thread between us. After last night, it was brighter than ever. Every time we touched, I could feel the twists and turns of it sliding deeper inside me, wrapping me up and letting me know that wherever I went in this life, my soul was tied to Theo in ways that would never untangle.

Which meant we had to do this, because I could see the seal that Sephtis left starting to fray at the edges. I didn’t know how much longer it would hold.

It wasn’t about keeping him contained anymore. I didn’t care if the darkness leaped into my chest. But I didn’t know what it would do to Theo—I didn’t want to look into his eyes and see nothing but fury, nothing but hatred.

I didn’t want him to turn into someone I didn’t recognize, because I knew now that it didn’t matter what he was.

I wouldn’t be able to kill him.

I couldn’t hurt him.

We had to fix this.

Theo came out of the shower in a billow of steam and slicked back hair, and his expression was a perfect mirror of how I was feeling.

A little worried, but determined.

“Where do you want to do this?” His tone didn’t betray what I knew he was feeling—we both would have run from this if we could have.

“It’s probably better if we’re out somewhere, right?” I glanced around the crowded room where we’d piled the small amount of things we’d accumulated while we were together. Bloody clothes and a backpack.

It shouldn’t have felt like a lifetime’s worth of memories when it had barely been anything at all.

It shouldn’t have felt like I wanted a lifetime more and that still wouldn’t be enough.

“There’s some woods close by. If you fly us there, we probably won’t be interrupted. That will make things easier, right?”

The book was vague about what was going to happen, and it didn’t promise that they’d even answer us. There was every chance whoever the creator was would see Theo down the line of the connection that we forged and kill him without saying a word.

All of this was a risk.

“We can do that.” I spoke softly. In truth, it wasn’t really about getting away from everyone else. The entire world could burn for all I cared. I would have found every human I’d ever forged a connection for and ripped the threads out myself if I thought it could save Theo.

But… flying with him again? Feeling his hands on my wings and the warmth it spread through my body?

If it was the last time I’d get to do it, I wanted it. I wanted every experience we could have.

“Okay. Then…” Theo stepped toward me, slipping his fingers into mine. “Are you ready?”

I was and I wasn’t. I was ready to help him, ready to save him. I was ready to know that we could be together, walk into the world hand in hand without worrying about him going feral and transforming into a creature that didn’t recognize me.

I wasn’t ready for the possibility that we’d die trying.

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

I never wanted to lie to him—if I was being honest, it was a weak attempt to lie to myself. I had to be ready, because in the end, there wasn’t another option.

The woods were closer than I thought, though I’d never been to them. Theo murmured a soft story in my ear while we flew and his hands played through my feathers, about how he used to come here when he was young, before he could really remember much.

How his mother would bring him, and it would smell like the wild berries that grew in the summer. He nuzzled into my neck when he said it, and inhaled softly, and I didn’t have to ask what he was doing.

When we landed and stared at the tree line, the smallest part of me still wanted to pull him back into the air. If I flew far enough, high enough, could I change what was happening? If I took him straight to the stars, could we live there forever, wrapped in one another’s arms?

“It’ll be okay,” he murmured beside me, then tugged on my hand to pull me onto the path stretched out in front of us.

We walked for a while until we came to an empty clearing. Theo pulled the book from his bag and opened it to the page we’d found.

It was so simple.

Draw the symbols and wait. Either someone would come or they wouldn’t.

When Theo kneeled down and slid the book forward to make space, I dropped to my knees beside him. It was easy to smooth my fingers across his jawline so I could turn him to face me.

Kissing him was like breathing—automatic, necessary. It burned through my lungs and demanded I inhale him…

Pulling away was so much harder.

I yanked the knife I kept in my boot out and handed it to him so he could cut the symbols from the book into the earth, moving to mirror him on the other side of the circle he made so I could help.

The sound of metal cutting through dirt, clicking against the occasional stone, filled the clearing as we worked. When we were finished, we stepped back and looked at what we’d done.

Three rings that fed into each other, written in a language we didn’t understand.

“It looks right.” Theo’s voice was hushed when he spoke, but he stood and dusted the dirt from his hands, walking around the circle to stand beside me.

There was just one thing left to do.

You didn’t call them with just the symbol in the dirt. Theo linked his fingers with mine and raised our joined hands.

“Ready?” He murmured.

I swallowed hard and took a shaking breath. I was as ready as I could be. I needed to be strong for him, to tell him it was fine. Everything would be fine. The words came out different when they spilled from my lips. “I love you, Theo. No matter what happens, no matter what… I don’t regret anything.”

The corner of his mouth quirked into the softest smile, and he brought our hands up to brush his lips along the back of my knuckles.

“The only thing I regret is that I didn’t meet you before all of this. I’ve always been waiting for you, Wren. Your eyes are every dream I’ve ever had.”

He didn’t give me a chance to respond. Theo lifted his free hand and quickly yanked his sharp nail along the length of our joined arms, slicing through our skin so black and golden blood could intermingle and fall onto the circle.

At first, nothing happened—it was silent.

And then I felt a hand slide over my shoulder. Aiden’s voice came from behind me in a soft whisper. “I was hoping you wouldn’t go through with this, Wren. But I figured I’d be here for the show.”

I turned to ask him how the fuck he’d gotten here, how he knew where we were going, but the words were cut off by a flash of light and a roaring so loud my ears were ringing.

My fingers in Theo’s tightened, and I yanked him against me, wrapping my arms around him as my wings spilled from my back.

The whipping torrent around us tore at my feathers, a wind that didn’t move the trees or the grass but nearly ripped me apart.

When it died down, there were two men standing on the other side of the circle we’d drawn.

They were… beautiful. Pale white hair and eyes that shifted like liquid metal, reflective enough that I could see the color of the grass, the blue of the sky, the black of my wings, and the blond of Aiden’s hair as he stepped around me.

“Bold,” one of them said, his head cocking to the side. The picture in the book at Gethin’s had done a piss-poor job of depicting them, but they were perfect mirrors of one another. Twins, down to the mirrored birthmark that splashed across their jawlines. “Very bold of you to call us when you’ve made a mockery of everything we created.”

Fuck .

My eyes flicked to Aiden, who had one brow arched in an expression that was probably as close to I told you so as he could get.

My teeth clenched, but it was too late now. This was what we’d come to do.

“We’re here to—” I barely started to speak before one raised his hand, and the flicker in his eyes turned dark.

Black.

The liquid in Theo’s chest.

“We know why you’re here, don’t we, Celio?” He turned to his twin and smiled.

“Helix and I always know.” It was fucking eerie how alike they sounded.

“Now… the real question is, did you think we’d actually grant you your desire after what you’ve done?”

The two stepped toward us, and I tightened my grip on Theo. I could feel the nerves rolling through him and trying to steal his breath, but he straightened up, standing tall beside me.

“We didn’t do anything.” I wasn’t shocked that he sounded bold, a little sarcastic. After all, he’d learned that things like cupids and monsters existed and took it all in stride. “Wren did what he was made to do, and I’m what you made me to be.” He shrugged one shoulder, but I could feel the way his fingers tightened in mine. “So fix it.”

Fix it . Apparently, if we’d had a plan to ask sweetly, Theo had thrown it out the window the instant the two showed up.

But I could understand.

I could see it in their eyes, everything Aiden warned us about.

There wasn’t pity there, or mercy.

There was time, as endless as the stars themselves, and just as vast and dark .

“Fix it.” Helix parroted, and the smirk on his face wasn’t kind. But it was amused. Maybe that was what we could play on, that amusement. Maybe… maybe we didn’t have to beg. “You are a bold little thing, aren’t you? All made of fire and black liquid.” He moved, but it was so fast I could barely track it—one second, he was in front of us, and the next he was behind Theo with an arm wrapped around his chest and my knife we’d used to cut into the earth at his throat.

“Fuck.” I wasn’t sure what I meant to do when I dove toward them, but I didn’t expect a sudden streak of pain. The other twin hadn’t even moved—just stretched his hand out toward me and twisted.

It was like I couldn’t breathe.

I couldn’t think.

I stumbled, trying to catch my breath, and watched helplessly as Helix pulled Theo out of my reach.

Hands on my shoulders steadied me. I didn’t have to look to know who it was—Aiden’s hold made it easier to breathe, easier to think.

But his arms were like steel on mine when I tried to move forward again.

“Don’t make it worse,” he whispered in my ear.

“Yes, little feathered thing,” Celio murmured. “Don’t make it worse. When we first created you, you weren’t meant to feel. You’re just supposed to be a soldier, a pawn to fight the Enmity. But here you are, corrupt with love and lust . Look at you.” He shook his head, and blond curls fell into his eyes. Liquid shine.

Gold.

Like my blood.

“What do you want?” I growled, but I could still feel that pain writhing in my chest. “What can I give for you to help him?” My eyes flashed to Theo, standing silently with a knife at his throat.

Fuck, we weren’t in our world anymore—the book had said as much, that they’d bring us to them. We were somewhere else, where the sun wasn’t warm on my skin, and the two twins who smiled with their ethereal expressions were in control. We were in a complete unknown… and Theo still stood tall.

Beautiful and brave.

Everything I’d ever wanted, and nothing I’d ever done to deserve.

“Help him how?” Helix pressed the knife closer to Theo’s throat and tilted his head. “You may have sealed away my gift, but it’s still eating him from the inside out. He’ll be powerful when he changes… maybe he’ll tip the scale. Who knows?”

Tip the scale.

There really was a war going on, but it didn’t mean anything . It was just these two playing a game with the world, wasn’t it?

“I just want him to be okay.” I hated the way my voice broke, the way my fingers clenched so hard my nails sliced into my palms. “I want him to be Theo when this is all said and done.”

“Hmmm. It would be a shame, brother, to lose such a strong soldier. Look at how hard they’ve both fought. This thing between them…” Celio stepped forward and ran his finger along the thread connecting us. I groaned—it wasn’t like when I touched it, or when Theo did. The touch burned. It made me want to scream. “It’s pure corruption. Pure connection. Some twisted… Fate .” His eyes flicked up to Aiden when he said it, and the arms holding me tightened. “Someone has to be punished.”

The hope building slowly in my chest died on that word, and I felt the sting of the blade cutting into Theo’s throat when he tried to surge forward. It wasn’t enough to stop Celio from twisting the thread in his hands.

The touch made me scream.

And it made Theo’s eyes slowly swirl to black.

“Stop. Stop it .” I didn’t know how I drew breath to scream it, to plead, but I did. I was shivering, and I didn’t care. All I could see was Theo.

Theo in a thousand different ways… Theo, soft and sweet. Theo, breaking while he told me his past. Theo, opening up so slowly and letting me really see him … and Theo in all the ways I hadn’t got to see yet.

In the sun.

On the beach.

Whole and human and happy.

“Punish me.” I gasped it out, finally yanking out of Aiden’s hold and dropping my hands to my sides. My wings flared behind me, wanting to stretch out.

To reach Theo.

To wrap around him and take him from this place.

“Wren, don’t —”

“Shh, child.” Helix pressed the knife closer, cocking his head in curiosity. “Do you know what you’re saying? One of you has to die. As long as you’re a cupid, as long as he’s an Enmity… as long as you’re tied together as such an abomination, you can’t exist.”

As long as I was a cupid.

“What if it was different?” I whispered.

“Wren, don’t.” Aiden’s voice was just as soft, but it was Theo’s face I was seeing—not the vicious smile of the man holding him, or the way his teeth were all sharp points.

Not his twin, whose eyes were glowing with curiosity.

“Different?”

“I don’t have to be this way. I can…” My hands moved behind me, grabbing my wings and yanking. It tore a scream from my throat, tore an echoing cry from Theo… but…

Maybe.

Maybe it would be enough.

“Wren, don’t .” Theo hissed it again, struggling against Helix’s hold.

It didn’t matter.

I didn’t even know if it would be enough, but I would give anything… I would do anything to try.

To keep him.

To save Theo.

“Please. You can have them. My wings. Everything. Just…” I jerked, screaming again when I came away with a handful of blood-soaked feathers. “Save him.”

There was silence.

And then a smile, cruel but curious from both of them. Helix dropped his hand to Theo’s chest. His fingers traced around the edges of the seal and I could see it. That darkness coming to the surface.

The way he could control it.

He could take it away.

“If you really think you can do it, cupid. Go ahead. Maybe the pain will be punishment enough for you both. Who knows?”

It wasn’t a promise.

It wasn’t even a hint at mercy.

But I was willing to risk it if it meant he’d take the knife from Theo’s throat.

I jerked another handful of feathers from my wings, and swallowed down the bile rising in my throat.

It hurt.

Fuck, it hurt more than anything I’d ever felt.

And it didn’t matter.

“Wren, stop .” Theo’s desperation was almost as painful as the agony ripping along my back. My eyes lifted, my vision swimming with tears. But I could do this for him. I would do this for him.

“It’s fine, Theo. I can…” I clenched my teeth as I pulled out another handful of feathers. “I can do this for you.”

“Please… just stop. It’s okay.”

It’s okay?

“I love you. I’ll be fine… I…” I jerked another handful of feathers and watched the pain of it play over Theo’s features—he’d have to feel it all. Every bit of it. My eyes drifted back up to Helix, who lifted a brow.

That was part of it, wasn’t it? Punishment enough for you both , he’d said. He wanted us both to drown in the agony pooling all along my skin.

Aiden’s fingers on my shoulder as he stepped around steadied me. I wanted to look at him, to ask for help.

But I had to do this, didn’t I?

For us. To both of us.

“Wren…” Theo’s voice caught me again, drew my gaze back to him. The pain that was roaring through my nerves had already faded from his features. Replaced by something else.

Something dangerous.

“Theo… wait.”

“It was worth it, you know?” There was something about his expression that made my breath catch, made my fingers tear more desperately at the feathers on my back. Somehow, the pain wrenching along my spine was overshadowed by the agony in my chest.

“Theo, don’t—”

“It was worth all the pain. My whole life, every bit of it… I understand now. It was worth it to have one day with you.”

My fingers moved faster, desperate. I couldn’t catch my breath around the agony, but it didn’t matter, because the more I hurt, the more Theo’s eyes steeled—determined and focused on me, and so full of love I felt like I was drowning.

“I can do this for you, Theo. Let me do this, please. I can—”

“One day… one hour.” He shifted his hand, wrapping his fingers around the blade at his throat. Above him, Helix smiled.

“Theo, please .”

“One minute,” he whispered as he looked up at me, and the tears clinging to his lashes slid down his cheeks. “One second, Wren. Fuck, I just wish we could have one more. It’s never enough, is it?”

“Theo!” Aiden’s arms caught me as Theo jerked the blade down and threw himself forward at the same time, piercing his chest.

Straight through the sigil Sephtis had left behind.

His heart.

My heart.

His eyes were on mine when he fell forward, and his lips lifted into a soft smile as his lashes fluttered shut. I felt it—I felt the blade go in. I felt the life spilling out of him.

“Theo! Theo, no!” My throat felt raw, my words tasted like copper, and I wasn’t sure if it was from the way I screamed or the phantom taste of blood on his tongue. I just had to get to him. Aiden’s arms were so tight on me, though, and as much as I reached, as much as I struggled, as much as I shouted his name, he wasn’t moving.

He wasn’t moving .

I’d never considered a world where I finally had a heart, so I never realized exactly how it would feel for it to break, to shatter. To stop beating the second his did.

“Theo, please .” He wasn’t answering me.

“Wren…” Aiden’s voice was soft in my ear. Full of sympathy. Pity.

“Aiden… Aiden, let me go. I have to get to him. I have… I h-have…” I swayed in his arms. He didn’t have to tell me.

“Wren, it won’t help.”

“Fuck, please , Aiden. I can’t—” I choked on my words as my vision swam with tears. “I can’t breathe . Let me go. Let me go with him.”

Let me die too.

I was dying already. Dying with every hitched breath that came from my chest and didn’t rise in his. Dying as I watched the red thread between us start to fade. I would die every day for the rest of my life without him.

“Wren…” He didn’t have to say it. I could see it from how still he was. I could see it in the way Theo’s blood ran black onto the ground, but he wasn’t moving.

It didn’t matter if I couldn’t do this.

I didn’t get sweet last words.

I didn’t get to promise him I’d wait for him.

Theo looked up at me with eyes gone blank, empty.

Theo was… dead.