near as bright as Michael’s magic, but it was light. As icy as the moon on a winter’s night, silver and silent, rippling between my fingertips in flashes and fading just as quickly.
It burned out quickly, the light vanishing, turning to vapor between my hands and dissipating completely.
I stared at the empty space between my fingers, my heart in my throat. That’d been my magic, some strange power I’d managed to pull out of myself.
It was a new hope that I wouldn’t completely fail her. If I could pull that light out again, I’d have something to fight with that wouldn’t pull me into that deep, dark place where all rationality and logic went out the window and only bloodlust remained.
“Do you still feel it?” the archangel across from me asked.
My hands might’ve been empty, but now that I’d touched the wellspring inside myself, there was no mistaking what it was. I’d know and remember the sensation of that icy, coiled moonlight forever.
I nodded. My hair fell over my shoulders with the motion, the soft black feather I always wore touching my cheek.
It wasn’t what I thought I’d be, but if the universe wanted this, I’d find a way to shoulder the burdens, through the good times and the bad.
15
Melisande
With a little careful poking and prodding, I maneuvered the last slivered piece of sword into place.
It was a sad-looking sight, but I breathed a sigh of relief. Every single shard was accounted for.
With that being done, I opened the bag wide and carefully poured all the pieces back in with a sound like tinkling metallic rain. If Wayland couldn’t fix the Sword, no one could, but even the lack of the ideal weapon wouldn’t stop me now that I had my sights fixed on the right place.
I looked down at my chest. It took a little searching, but I finally found the faint, glimmering string that hovered in midair, connecting me to Lucifer. As long as that tiny portion of the Chain existed, there was still a chance.
Azazel was nowhere to be seen as I swept through the arena, nor was Belial. Tascius was still with Michael- I felt his chain the strongest, tugging on the mark on my wrist. There was a faint sense of wonder coming through our bond.
As much as I wanted to interfere, staying away was best for him right now. He needed to be confident in himself, and interrupting his training was the worst possible way to encourage that.
“Belial?” I poked my head around the corner of the war room. It was empty, but a page had been left on the table.
I picked it up and quickly scanned the words. The new potential Ministers were vying for election this week- the Princes needed liaisons as quickly as possible, and the Brightside was hosting Lucifuge Rofocale today, a demon running a strident campaign for the job.
Both Belial and Azazel would be prowling the streets of Dis, ensuring the campaigns didn’t get out of hand. I was on my own for this one.
As independent as they allowed me to be, I was under no illusions that they wouldn’t all collectively murder me if I went out without watching my back. My wing was getting stronger, but it still needed to remain in the splinted bandages for another few days.
That meant weapons. Lots of weapons.
I had the ebonite dagger at my thigh, but I found the armory and jammed two more daggers in the tops of my boots, put one on a cord around my neck, and found one of Vyra’s needle-like hairpins, jabbing it through my twisted-up braid. A dark veil went over my head, obscuring the dead-giveaway violet tones of my hair.
Capheira gave me a sideways glance when I met her at the stable. “I know you hate the wastelands, so I brought you something,” I said, holding out a hand.
She turned her head aside, flickering like blue lightning, but deigned to climb out of her lily pond. Water splashed from her mane and soaked into my boots, but she made a grumbling noise of assent when I gave her a palmful of brown sugar.
A feeling of peace filled me as I saddled her and mounted up, heading into the Sixth Circle with the broken Sword at my side.
My wheels had finally stopped spinning, the gears no longer grinding. I finally had tangible, real goals to accomplish, and it was like having a boulder the size of the Dragon lifted off my chest.
We made it out