Page 80 of Wings of Darkness (Daughter of the Seven Circles #2)

We were quiet for a while longer, and then she spoke.

“I visited Aspen today,” she said, holding out the key to the dungeons.

That got my attention .

“Oh?” I replied, taking it from her.

“It went as well as I expected. He’s suffering from self-loathing and did a wonderful job taking it out on me.”

I pressed my mouth into a thin line to keep from saying something I shouldn’t.

His words hurt her. I could feel that. Hell , I still remembered skimming the surface of his memories and coming upon some of the things Lilith made him do.

I didn’t dig too deep, just enough to know she no longer controlled him.

After witnessing two instances of him and Lucille together, I avoided the rest. It took an insurmountable amount of self-restraint not to drop him dead right then and there.

I only didn’t for her . But feeling more of her pain, as if she needed any fucking more, I wanted to fly to his cell and give it back to him tenfold.

At my silence, she continued as if I wasn’t there.

“I thought we had something.”

My shadows swarmed my palms, and my heart ached, but I continued to be a silent body, letting her release her grief.

“But maybe he was right. Maybe I was a distraction from his fucked-up life. Maybe none of it meant anything. Just a passing fancy.”

A distraction? A passing fancy?

The moment I laid eyes on her, I knew she would never be something so temporary. Maybe that was why I’d been such an asshole in the beginning—I knew she had the potential to change my life.

She would never be just a fleeting indulgence.

I wanted to tell her how utterly she had burrowed into my hardened, fearful heart. How she became the very thing I never knew I needed. I wanted to take her chin in my hand, force her to meet my solemn gaze, and make her understand.

It took me longer than I liked, but I finally knew—I wasn’t trying to find a home on the edge of this cliff or in the silver specks of the lake. No, some part of me must’ve always known who would come into my life. Someone with eyes like Portal Lake—resilient, radiant, and untamed.

I’d sought the white and purple specks in her gray eyes.

She crashed into my life, upending everything I thought I wanted and needed.

Found my feather. Showed me that the only time I’d ever felt truly settled was when I was beside her.

Whether she chose what I had to offer or not, she would never be temporary. She was the beginning and end for me.

But how did I tell her that?

“He was mysterious, and I did want adventure with the handsome prince who met me in my woods. But…” She bowed her head. “I thought I could be enough to change him,” she whispered, like the words weren’t meant for me but for the chilling winds of Hell to secret away.

She changed me.

“Do you love him?” I despised the question, but I needed to know. My shadows slithered around my palms like they did when I was agitated. I wasn’t above jealousy, as much as I wished I was.

“I don’t think so,” she admitted on an air of breath.

The tension in my shoulders eased, but something else bothered me, something I didn’t understand from earlier at the castle.

“If you don’t love him, then why were you willing to sacrifice yourself for him? ”

“I couldn’t hurt him.”

“Couldn’t? Or didn’t want to? Even if you just stabbed him with your ice, it might’ve distracted him enough so you could escape. He would’ve healed.” I’d been in his head. I’d felt his power. He was like a Seraphim, but not wholly.

“I couldn’t , Ronen.”

There was that phrasing again.

“You couldn’t physically hurt him?”

“No.”

My wings tightened, as did every muscle. “Why?”

There were only three instances where I knew one being couldn’t hurt another: if they were Hell Runed, which she wasn’t.

If he were her cordistella. But as far as I knew, cordistellas only came in pairs.

The last option made me wish Aspen was a second cordistella to her, that the Weaver wanted her to have two, and she could choose between us.

Because as much as I wanted to be with her, not one ounce of me would share her if I had her.

I was too possessive. But I had a horrible feeling it was the third option.

The one I didn’t think was possible.

“He’s my…” She laughed and shook her head, as if she didn’t believe it. “He’s supposed to be my guardian.”

No.

My shadows burst out of me, swarming our bodies as if Lucille needed protection. This couldn’t be happening. Not again.

“Lucille,” I said, dropping deep into the chilling beast who demanded retribution for anyone who threatened ours . “This is really important. Can you feel his emotions? ”

Seven Hells, I couldn’t have found the other half of my soul only for her to be taken from me.

She gazed at all the shadows brushing her body. “What’s wrong?”

My heart hammered. “Answer me.”

Her brows furrowed. “I do.”

I dropped off the cliff and snapped out my wings.

“Ronen!” she screamed. “Wait!”

As fast as I possibly could, I flew back to the castle and sent Rune a command to retrieve Lucille. I should’ve known. I fucking felt it. Her desperation. Her helplessness. And that urgent energy I wasn’t familiar with.

The energy almost felt foreign, like it wanted to be a part of her but wasn’t. She had the same look in her eyes Gabriel did—like she couldn’t fucking help herself. And she couldn’t. She would not go through what he did. I wouldn’t allow it.

I barreled through the roof door, knocking down Alexei.

“Whoa, what’s the rush?” he asked, standing and brushing himself off, his breath clouding around him.

“Nothing,” I spat, storming past.

He stopped me, gripping my arm. “Right, and I wasn’t about to fly off to the bar to find me a nice female to nurse my wounds.”

I jerked on his hold, but his grip only tightened.

“You look murderous. I’m not letting go until you explain yourself.”

“No.”

Alexei tilted his head, raising a brow. “Does this have something to do with our very special prisoner that your cordistella wanted to rescue? ”

I jerked harder on my arm, tempted to chuck a shadowball at his chest to see if he’d pass out.

“I’m going to take that as a yes. I’m also going to advise against whatever ideas are hiding behind your shadow eyes.”

“Let go, Alexei, before I make you let go.”

He stepped closer and shoved me back, standing in front of the door. “I’m thinking no.”

I barreled into him, forcing him and his bandaged wings against the chilled stone. He winced, then smiled. “Fine. Go make matters worse.”

I only felt a little guilty after he stepped aside.

“Make sure Lucille gets back safely from Portal Lake,” I said, striding into the castle.

The sky darkened as I passed countless windows and descended the stairs toward the dungeons.

With each thundering step, I imagined cutting through his tendons and listening to his screams. I imagined rupturing his blood cells over and over, letting him heal only to do it again until his heart stopped and the threat was gone.

At the dungeon doors, I dug in my pocket for the key, then dug around in the other one.

“Alexei,” I hissed. He stole it.

I had a spare in my bedroom on the other side of the castle, if he hadn’t gone there and stolen that one too.

I luscelered to my room. My new door remained unharmed, and my shadows were still in place around the knob. I opened it, ran to my desk, and rummaged through the drawers, but the key wasn’t there. Then I remembered I’d placed it on the side table next to my bed .

Minutes later, I unlocked the dungeon doors and stalked toward the pet’s cell.

He looked up at my approach, but like Lucille, he seemed too numb to care why I was here. I guaranteed he felt my rage. His attention flicked to my swarming shadows, yet he still stayed put on the ground.

After unlocking his cell, I grabbed him by the neck of his shirt and slammed him into the wall.

He barely reacted. “I wondered when you’d stake your claim. I remember what it felt like when my praesidium acted up.”

My fist paused midair.

He grinned, but it lacked humor, more a baring of teeth than anything. “Didn’t catch those memories, then, I guess. Thought you already knew. I don’t normally share that part of me with anyone. Lucille doesn’t even know.”

At her name, the rage and my protective instinct returned. I drove my fist toward his face, and it crashed into a wind barrier.

“We went through a lot of trouble to rescue the prince’s ass. I’m not about to have you throw it back in our faces because something pissed you off,” Alexei said, walking down the dungeon hall.

I ignored him, gathering my shadows. Alexei blasted me with a shot of wind, throwing me from the pet’s cell. I threw a shadowball at his chest and luscelered simultaneously. He dodged, and I made it into the cell, only to be thrown against the wall.

“I can do this all day. I have backup coming any minute.”

I pulled at my shadows and made to attack again, but someone luscelered between me and the pet .

It wasn’t MJ like I’d expected, although I could see her fiery hair from the corner of my eye. No, that someone was Lucille. MJ must’ve flown her here.

“Ronen! What are you doing?” she demanded, eyeing my shadows like the threats they were. That same foreign energy twisted inside her mind.

The fact that I felt it—and now knew what it was—only made my power whip around more chaotically. One shadow lashed out, sliding past her. MJ’s flames couldn’t burn it. Alexei’s wind couldn’t blow it away. It circled the pet’s neck, cutting off his air.

“Stop!” Lucille cried, stabbing me with an icicle.

It pierced my uniform, but the moment it touched my skin, it melted.

She stared at it, stunned. But her shock only lasted a second, interrupted by Aspen’s gasps. Next, she wreathed her hand in Glory and threw a ball at my face. I let it hit me, smiling when the searing heat turned into a brush of warmth, caressing my cheek before it dissipated.

Desperate, she shoved me back. “Ronen, please! Please stop!” she begged me.

It was her begging. She really didn’t want any harm to come to Aspen. But it was also the energy prompting her, twisting her insides until she listened to its controlling urges.

I couldn’t let the pet live.

Then she did the only thing that could’ve possibly stopped me.

She grabbed one of my Soul Swords, stepped away from me, and held it to her neck. “Stop, or I’ll slit my throat. ”

“Whoa, beautiful. You’ve gone too far. Give Ronen his sword back. He won’t hurt the prince, right, Ro?”

My heartbeat picked up speed. I knew she wasn’t joking. That unstoppable energy would force her to take her life to save him. I’d lived through that horrific scene before.

“Right,” I said, instantly releasing Aspen. “Lower the sword, Lucille.”

She didn’t. “Explain.”

Any other moment, I’d admire the steel in her spine and the fury in her face. Right now, her pain didn’t control her. But I wouldn’t be able to explain anything until she returned my sword, and I killed Aspen.

“Yes, General. Explain,” the pet said, realizing something else was going on here.

Out of all of them, MJ was the only one who knew the full extent of my story. Alexei knew most, but not this piece.

“There’s only been one other guardian bond in existence,” I started. “The first was two hundred and sixty-five years ago when Oliver’s father, Gabriel, was bonded to me.”

Lucille’s arm dropped in shock, and the blade brushed her collarbone.

I lost my train of thought while my Soul Sword threatened to steal half of me.

Her knuckles were white on the hilt, struggling to hold my heavy blade.

I knew she wouldn’t let me take it, but I couldn’t stand here and say nothing.

My shadows slithered across her neck and chest, creating a barrier between the sharp edge and her skin.

It wouldn’t stop the sword if she used enough pressure, but it consoled me enough to keep going .

“The council needed to make sure their asset was safe at all times.” I flicked my gaze to Aspen, and for one split second, I felt empathy for the bastard. “You weren’t the first to be controlled by a Hell Rune.”

“Etan,” Lucille whispered.

Goosebumps spiked down my spine, and I had to tense not to visibly shake. “How do you know that name?”

She took in my reaction and frowned at the wispy darkness seeping across the floor. “I dream-walked to one of your memories.”

“Seven Hells.” I didn’t want to know what she’d seen.

“Etan is the head of Heaven’s corrupted council.

He created me, with the other Seraphim members, to use me as their arm of justice.

But I did a lot more than rid the world of demons and sin.

” Guilt and regret reared their ugly heads, forcing me to crack my knuckles and pause.

“I did so well under their control, Etan decided to create another rune.

One that would bind someone to me. But not just anyone.

Once placed on the skin, the rune would choose the perfect protector.

So the next day, a searing burn expanded down my back, and a tattoo of wings emerged.

But the only one who could see it was Gabriel.

“The guardian bond didn’t seem so bad at first. I didn’t want it, but neither of us had a choice, so we made do.

Initially, I began to sense where Gabriel was, and eventually, he developed the same sense.

We thought that’d be the extent of it. Two homing beacons to each other.

But the guardian bond grew.” I squeezed my fists.

“Gabriel began to feel my emotions. And then came the uncontrollable urges. Anytime we went on missions together, he’d step in front of any threat.

He was my first line of defense, whether he wanted to be or not.

Whether it was an intelligent move or not.

The guardian bond forced him to always choose me over himself, no matter the cost or injury.

And if I went on missions without him and came back wounded, the bond would force him to maim himself for the inability to protect me,” I spat, remembering the times my friend had run himself through with an arrow as penance for my wounds.

Finally, Lucille lowered the blade and looked at Aspen. I snatched my sword from her hands before she dared to threaten herself again, and pointed it at the pet, deciding to spell it out and erase the look of confusion on his face.

“You,” I seethed, wanting to shove my blade through his chest, “are not her fucking guardian. She is yours. She will sacrifice her life to keep you breathing. And I will not lose my cordistella in service to the likes of you.”