“Oh, I understand. You’re not trustworthy at all.”
I held her gaze steadily as the sea air whipped over us. “Listen, Aenor. What I’m about to say is very important. No one can ever know we’re mates. Guard this secret like you would guard your life.”
“Why?”
I opened my mouth again, ready to explain, but the curse stole the words out of my tongue. Still, there were plenty of other reasons to keep this secret. I’d just tell her one of those.
“When we arrive in Mag Mell,” I began, “I have a claim to the throne. The current king—my usurper—is mad. In a kingdom with uncertain rule, the safest position is the furthest from the throne. So, as my mate, everyone there would want you dead.”
“Heir to the throne of Mag Mell… I suppose you would have lots of prospective wives lining up for you.” She took a long sip from her thermos, closing her eyes as she chugged it down. “My thirst is out of control. It’s the one thing the tea isn’t quite healing.”
“Soon, you’ll be back to your former self. Capable of drowning all of Europe if someone got you in the wrong mood.”
Was I promising things I couldn’t deliver?
This was, perhaps, one of my last chances to actually touch Aenor. A sliver of pain was cracking my chest open at the thought of it, like the blood-red fissure in the bottom of the sea.
Maybe I could seduce her one last time before I left. If it was still possible after everything I had told her.
I breathed in the smell of her hair, desperate now to make our time count. Before I went, I wanted one more night with her. I would heal Aenor, and then seduce her one last time. Safely away from the prying eyes of the will-o’-the-wisps, I would find a way to hear her gasp in pleasure one last time.
And I would make sure she never forgot it.
13
Aenor
A chill had settled in the air, damp and heavy. Darkness had fallen now, and a full moon watched over us.
Apparently, Salem had let out his deep, dark secret—the one about how we were fated mates, and it was the worst thing in the world, and no one could know about it.
Except… I didn’t feel like that was all he had to say.
I understood him well enough to know that he hated secrets, but he was still holding back. By the tension he kept in his chest, the tightness of his fingers, I knew he was still keeping a secret.
Still, it didn’t seem like I’d be prying it out of him anytime soon.
The October chill in the air had cooled to something sharper as night had fallen. When I breathed out again, mist clouded around my head. Even with my leather jacket on, I felt freezing. When I glanced down at the ocean, I saw chunks of ice floating over the waves. They glittered in the slanting sunlight. What the hells…?
“Aenor,” Salem whispered, “I’m not sure we’re alone.”
“I was just thinking the same thing.” As the snow began to fall, sparkling with silver in the moonlight, I tightened my arms around Salem’s neck. I stuck out my tongue, and a snowflake fell onto it. “Remember when you lit those witches on fire in the forest? The ones with the ice magic?”
“I do, yes.”
The snowflake melted. “I don’t suppose you left some of them alive? Because this cold doesn’t seem entirely natural.”
His biceps tensed. “I might have left some of them alive. It was chaotic, and they seemed to be everywhere.”
“And if we killed all their sisters, I imagine they’d be out for revenge. And we’re not far from Mag Mell.”
My last syllable was cut off by a shriek that rent the air.
Salem’s wings began beating faster, a deep pounding noise in the air. “Hang on.”
As the cold wind whipped over me, I peered down at the ocean, where tendrils of shimmering fog curled over the cold, frothing sea. Without my magic, the chill in the air went right down to my bones, and my teeth started chattering. Salem was the only warm thing around.
A low hum of magic was filling, trembling over my skin. I could feel the power of the ice witches vibrating around me, and my breath quickened.
When I glanced over Salem’s shoulder again, I saw the first of them, her silver-blue hair emerging from the water. She shot into the air, shrieking, and flung out her arms.
“Salem!” As I shouted his name, ropes of frost shot from the witch’s hand. They struck Salem’s wings, and his muscles seized up, arms jerking out of place as his body iced over.
I slid from his arms, plunging into the frigid sea. The shock of the cold stole my breath.
Before I could even rise to the surface, frozen fingers tightened around my neck, claws digging into my throat. Fear crawled up my spine.
My elbow shot out behind me, freeing me from the grasp of the witch just for a moment—long enough that I could swim from her. I ripped my leather jacket off so I could move faster.
Then I plunged under the surface, moving quickly through the water. If nothing else, I could swim fast.
When I’d cleared a little bit of distance, I breached the waves. My heart was a wild beast as I looked up at Salem. He remained frozen in the air, body encased in ice, shining in the moonlight. Four witches swooped around him, ragged white clothes flying behind them.
Around me, the ocean was freezing, chunks of ice floating on the surface. My teeth chattered hard.
I needed to get to Salem. Something about him frozen in the air like that, surrounded by enemies, felt so piercingly lonely. Pale starlight glinted off his frosted wings.
I kept moving along the waves, treading water to look up at him. From above, the sound of whispers filled the air. The witches circling Salem were speaking to him. And despite their quiet tone, I could hear fragments.
“Kill your mate,” they whispered, “or you’ll never ascend to the heavens.”
The witches swooped closer to him, silvery hair streaming behind them. “Kill her, or we will split your body into a thousand pieces.”
“You want to leave this world…” they whispered. “There’s only one way.”
“End her life…”
“Or fragments of your body will stay here forever… trapped in the earth.”
“Kill her for your one true love.”
“Or we will bury the pieces of your cursed body in exile, outside the city walls…”
“Banished from the heavens. Wormwood will grow from your remains.”
“Your one true love awaits you. She will take you back when you finish off Aenor.”
My muscles were ice. His one true love?
I winced at the words as the meaning sliced through me. They were talking about someone else.
“Give in to us…” They hissed like wind whistling through a cracked window. “We will feel it when you bend to our will. We will feel your assent.”
Claws raked at the back of my neck, and I whirled to find a witch behind me, rage electrifying her ice-cold eyes. “You are a thief. He does not belong to you. His heart belongs to another.”
What in the frozen tits was she talking about? Or, rather, who was she talking about? A wild fury filled me, and I reached for the dagger in my little bag.
But before I could pull it out, the witch had grabbed me by the hair and forced me under the water. Her claws were digging into the side of my skull, and I felt the sea freezing around me.
The witches’ words rang in my mind.
His heart belongs to another.
One true love…
My body was turning to ice, but I pulled the dagger from my bag. I stabbed the witch hard in one of her wrists, and she released her grip on my head. I bobbed to the surface, desperate for warmth.
The witch reached for me again, but I brought the dagger into the side of her neck, puncturing her jugular, then pulled it out again. Her eyes were open wide as she slid under the surface of the water.
My breath came out in short, sharp gasps. I sounded panicked, and puffs of fog clouded around my head.
I looked up at Salem, lungs constr
icting at the sight of him. They were freezing him down to his bones—and I felt like they’d shatter him if he didn’t give in. I didn’t want to give up my only weapon, but I needed to distract them long enough that the spell would break.
Catching my breath, I reached for a chunk of ice instead and hurled it at the witches.
It struck one of them, and she whirled around, enough to pull her attention off Salem. All at once, his body glowed with red magic. And in the next moment, the encasing of ice shattered off him. Flames exploded from his body, igniting the witches around him.
I covered my head as some of the heat from the blast reached me. It was melting the ice around me.
When I looked up again, I saw the burning witches oddly suspended in the air, blazing like flaming moths in the night sky. One by one, their charred bodies fell into the sea.
Salem swooped down toward me, his expression fierce. I reached up for him, and he grabbed me hard around the ribs. As he lifted me into the air, I pressed myself against his warm body.
Heat beamed from him, and I melted into his embrace. But when I peered over his shoulder, through his beating wings, my heart stuttered. The witches weren’t done with us—not yet.
The flames had snuffed out in the water, and they were still alive. Steam rose off their burned bodies as they flailed in the sea.
Then one of them soared from the waves, foam rising around her as she lifted into the air. She was flying for us, and shards of ice sharpened at the ends of her fingertips. “We avenge your one true love!”
14
Aenor
The witch slammed into us hard, claws piercing Salem’s wings. Immediately, he dropped me, and I plummeted from his arms.
I fell into the water, flat on my back. I grimaced, flailing in the water for a moment until I righted myself again. I blocked out the shock of the fall.
From the water, I looked up at Salem. He circled the witch in the air, unsheathing his sword.
“Give in now,” she hissed. “Or we will find you. We know your secret.”
Salem’s body burned with fiery magic, and flames rose from his wings. He swung for the witch, sword arcing through the air, and his blade went through her throat. Her head dropped into the sea first, while her body stayed suspended in the sky for a disturbingly long moment.
Then the torso plummeted, crashing into the sea.
Gods, get me out of here.
When I looked up again, Salem gleamed with the light of a star, wings blazing.
His eyes were licks of flame. Slowly, the fire from his body died out, and he dusted the ash off himself. He cracked his neck, then slid Lightbringer back in his sheath.
He dove for me and scooped me up from the water again, wrapping his strong arms around me. Moonlight sparked off the droplets of water on his sharp jaw line. As he pulled me in close, I shivered against him. He was lifting me into the air like a frozen bride from the sea.
As we swept over the water, the waves crashed beneath us, sea spray dampening our bodies.
I clenched my jaw. “So, Salem. What is this ‘one true love’ situation?”
Silence fell, and he stared straight ahead. Something had changed in his expression, his composure slipping a little. In that moment, he looked… lost.
At last, he said, “I can’t talk about it,” so quietly that I could hardly hear him.
My gut tightened. So, this was the secret he was keeping, the one that was tearing him up inside. “Why? You typically just lay it all out there.”
He opened his mouth, and his hands tightened where they held me. Uncharacteristic for him to be unable to get his words out.
“So, you have a mate and a true love?” I pressed. “It would appear you have an embarrassment of women.”
“True love.” His hand was tight on my thigh. “That’s not at all how I would describe it.”
“So, how would you describe it?” I found myself unable to keep the irritation out of my voice.
“I really can’t.”
My arms were wrapped tight around his neck, body close to his, and I was sure he felt me tense with irritation. But what business was it of mine? We had no promises to each other. Our mate situation was a strange trick of fate, one we both regretted, and that was all there was to it.
He let out a long sigh. “I would explain it if I could, Aenor, but I can’t. It’s part of…” He trailed off, looking up at the night sky. Then he met my gaze again, his expression fierce. “Listen, Aenor. Once, a great star burning like a torch fell from heaven. It landed on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star was Wormwood.”
What in the world? “Why are we dealing with riddles?”
“Because it’s the best I can do.”
“For emotional reasons?”
“No.” He cleared his throat. “For magical ones.”
I nodded slowly. “Okay. So, you can’t tell me directly for some reason, and I’m supposed to figure it out with this riddle about Wormwood.”
He nodded.
I frowned, mulling over what he’d said. “Okay. The star falling from the heavens, that’s you, right? You were the evening star. You tend to burn, and you fell to Earth. But the rest of it… Wormwood…”
Salem angled his wings a little, taking us higher. The left half of my body felt glacial, my wet clothes freezing in the autumn wind. My right half warmed against the steely furnace of his body. I nestled into his embrace, trying to work out the riddle.
There was a Wormwood Street not far from where I’d lived in London, and it had turned into a street called London Wall—so named because it had once been part of the wall around the city. Wormwood must’ve been, too.
So what did Wormwood mean? I thought it was mentioned in Hamlet as something negative. A plant or herb—bitter or poisonous, something to be avoided. Hard to swallow. And apparently it grew on or near the London Wall, hence the name of the street.
“Wormwood is a star named after a bitter plant,” I said, “and it grew outside the city walls.”
He kept his eyes on the heavens, and he seemed to be considering his words. “It’s a word sometimes used in English translations of ancient texts, but it was changed. It used to be something else.”
In the ancient world, being outside the city gates sucked hard. Salem had been banished to the wild land outside Jerusalem; in London, they threw the bodies of executed criminals and dead dogs outside the walls. On the wrong side of the city gates, you’d find the lepers and the damned. The ones who couldn’t get to heaven. It was where the cursed lay to rot, fallen from grace—where Salem burned his victims, and where the bodies of the traitorous were thrown to be eaten by hounds.
That was where wormwood grew. The cursed lands.
“A curse,” I said at last. “The name of the star is cursed. You’re cursed.”
At those words, a faint mark shone on his forehead, the pale glow of an eight-pointed star.
And there it was—his curse. My heart sped up.
When I followed his eyes to the sky, I thought I saw a distant star falling, a bright blue light trailing to the earth. Its path and distance struck me with a sense of infinite loneliness—just pure solitude, like I was in a void, robbed of all meaning. Isolation split my chest open for a second of pure, acute pain.
“And part of your curse is that you can’t speak of it,” I said, “which is why you’re using riddles instead of just telling me.”
His face beamed with pale light.
I’d gotten it right.
A gust of briny wind rushed over us. Even if I’d gotten down to the truth, that a curse plagued him, I still didn’t know the nature of it. And this one true love hung in the air like a curse of its own. Bitter as wormwood, stark as banishment.
After a moment, Salem said, “You’re still freezing, Aenor.” His face was close to mine, and heat pulsed from his body.
Slowly, the ice in my blood started to thaw, and I glanced at the sky again. We were flying over the ocean—ju
st us, and the moonlight, and the waves.
“What was it like in the heavens before you fell?” I asked finally. “If you can tell me?”
“I was a warrior. Leader of the heavenly host, slayer of demons. I lived in pure virtue. And yet, despite the battles, it was the last time I was at peace, my mind at rest. I sleep here, sometimes, but I never truly rest. As a god, I had infinite vision when I wanted. I saw the glory of the universe around me, the birth of distant stars. I felt the soul of my mother, my sister. Light surrounded me, and a sense of purpose.”
He looked up to the skies, and he seemed to be taking us higher, where the air thinned a little.
“Every evening at dusk, I was near the earth, in the clouds. I brought the day to a close. I was the vibrant light of the sunset, spreading out over the earth. And I could hear the music of the spheres, the divine song of the celestial bodies. So, when I fell, it was nothing but emptiness, a gnawing silence, the cold and the dark. It was terror, and a pit I could never fill. I became broken. Incomplete and corrupted. Devoid of meaning. It was like I died but my body kept living.”
I felt it, a fraction of what he must have felt: warmth and love, and then a sharp, terrifying drop into a void. Just a whisper of his terror—falling, plummeting from the heavens as the known world was ripped away from me.
I realized I was holding my breath. “Why did it happen?”
“An angel gave the gift of language to the humans, and a civil war broke out between us. I was on the losing side.”
“And ever since, you’ve wanted to get back to that state of perfection.”
“Yes. When I first landed, I was completely alone. Everything felt empty. I was sure I’d arrived in hell. I’d cratered the earth with my fall and landed in a dark cave. I stayed in that cave, my bones broken. I was confused by the wild cravings of my new body, and the pain that tormented me. Everything baffled me. I wasn’t used to hunger or pain. I understood the concept of hunting, but I’d never done it before.
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