will hear me. The seconds pass into minutes, and before long I feel the minutes have changed into a good quarter of an hour. Just as Myles walks to my side, I sense Ayda near and breathe out a sigh of relief. My beautiful flying white horse smashes through the clouds, her long white wings spread out as she glides down to us. Myles steps back as she gets closer, almost looking like she is going to crash into us, but I know she won’t. She is just dramatic, and I love her.
I always said Ayda’s personality was very much like Vesnia. The two of them should have been bonded, and I should have gotten Vesnia’s horse, which is far calmer. I almost smile until I remember where Vesnia is and I have no idea if she is okay. I suck in a deep breath as Ayda stops right before me, huffing and neighing at me until I stroke her forehead.
“I’m sorry I disappeared,” I softly tell her and rest my head against hers for a moment, which seems to calm her down. Myles comes to my side and slowly moves his hands to Ayda’s mane and strokes her.
“She is divine. What is her name?”
“How did you know she is a girl?” I mischievously question.
Myles looks at me. “She reminds me of you. There is no way this horse isn’t a girl.”
I laugh. “Her name is Ayda, and we can ride her back to the academy. I can’t use my wings yet without crashing or getting lost, so Ayda is our safe bet,” I tell him, and to my surprise, he doesn’t wait as he jumps and climbs onto Ayda’s back effortlessly, holding a hand out for me. I take his hand, and with impressive strength, he picks me up one-handed and pulls me in front of him on Ayda. I get comfy as Myles wraps his arms around my waist, his body pressed tightly to mine and my wings pushed down. Somehow, it works.
“Are you ready?” Myles asks me, and I want to say no because that’s how I feel. I will never be ready to face Ren, but my friends need me, and I’m no coward. I won’t ever be. “You’re stronger than you think, Katy. Believe in yourself and know I have your back.”
“Thank you,” I tell him, turning my head back as I say it, and his eyes lock on mine. “Let’s go back to my home.”
Chapter 33
Ayda cuts through the clouds, climbing higher and higher until my ears pop and I struggle to suck in air with each one of my breaths. The tension of where we are going is almost as bad as the tension coating the air around us. I have no idea if Ren is even going to talk to me; he might lock me up and throw away the key. I believe we have a connection, and somewhere deep down, I sense he wants me near him, but who actually knows? All I know is that Vesnia and Thallon need me, and I want to see Henry again. I even want to make sure Riley is still alive. But hurting Ren? I might be so angry at him and hate him for the choice he took from me, but killing and taking anyone’s life is a big thing I’m not sure I am ready for.
Thankfully, we crash through the portal, and everything goes still as I look up at The Angel Academy above us. A shimmering shield flickers from the orb, surrounding the academy and stretching to the portal below us and the one above that leads to the angel city. The orb must keep the academy locked away from the rest of the angels, and for some reason, Ren has clearly just let me back into the academy when I doubt anyone else could come in. It looks so normal, the glistening towers shining from the light above, the floating rocks underneath where I was forced to become a light angel by Riley. My heart burns, cracking into splinters every time I think of what Riley did to me. My best friend since I was a child forced me to become a light angel so we could be in a relationship.
But I never once saw Riley like that. Never. Riley was the one person I thought I could trust the most in the world, and we had a connection because we died together.
It did cross my mind that when I