A scream pierced the air.
Then another.
The cries of the citizens without magic, the ones who couldn't see Lyana's power. If they could, they wouldn't be afraid. If they could, they would know, as Rafe did, that Lyana would protect them. Saving lives was what she did best. After all, she'd saved his too many times and in too many ways to count.
The dock dropped as the water beneath the city receded, pulled into the swell. Rafe flared his wings to catch his balance. Beside him, the king stumbled. Golden sparks sputtered at his fingertips, as though the motion had finally spurred him awake. His power flowed out, meeting Lyana's across the sea, but she didn't need it. Rafe couldn't say how he knew—he just did.
The ocean barreled forward, closer and closer.
Lyana jerked her arms, biceps flexed as though to push it back.
The water kept coming.
A hundred feet.
Then seventy.
Now fifty.
No, twenty-five.
Fifteen.
Ten.
Her golden magic flashed with the force of the sun, and suddenly the ocean simply stopped. Liquid bubbled and churned behind an invisible barricade. The water was so close Rafe's cheek became moistened by the spray, and steam erupted from his back as droplets fell on his wings. A wall of solid sea hovered, mere inches from crashing upon the city, but her power held it trapped. Inch by inch, Lyana lowered her arms, and inch by inch, the water receded, until finally it returned to normal, lapping up against the docks in gentle undulations. The power filling the air blinked out and she fell.
Rafe didn’t hesitate.
Forgetting for a moment that he was a monster whose wings rippled with fire, he took to the air and scooped Lyana from the sky. It was strange not to feel the wind ruffling his feathers—strange, and yet not. This body, new as it was, belonged to him. He didn’t need to learn it, the way he once had his raven wings, zipping across the palace courtyard with feathers little more than fluff. Something innate took over, something that perhaps had once belonged to the dragon now sharing his soul.
He landed on a knee with Lyana's body draped across his thigh and placed his arm behind her shoulders to cradle her head. With his free hand, he brushed her braids away from her cheek, tucking one behind her ear as he ran his fingers over her skin.
"Ana," he whispered. "Wake up."
Her eyes fluttered open. "Rafe?"
"Are you all right?"
"What…" She trailed off, her eyes going wide. "The water!"
"Shh," he murmured, trying to calm her. "You stopped it."
"I stopped it?"
A smile flitted over his lips. "You didn’t even need to hide behind an overly large cloak this time."
Her brow wrinkled and he thought himself a fool for bringing up the nights they'd spent sneaking around Pylaeon, nights that might have meant far more to him than to her. But then the edges of her mouth curled upward and a sparkle lit her eyes. A grin pulled at her cheeks, widening and widening until her whole face seemed to glow. Watching her then, he almost thought it was worth it—all the pain, all the heartache, all the despair—since it brought him to this place and this perfect moment with her.
It ended far too soon.
As though a cloud had passed over the sun, her features darkened and a single word fell from her lips. "Xander."
Rafe snatched his palm from her cheek as though burned, the name more effective than a cold shower to douse his affection. If he closed his eyes, he knew what he would see—that look on his brother's face as Xander picked up Lyana's ring from his bedroom floor, the anger and hurt more scorching than a flame. So Rafe didn’t close his eyes. He jerked his head to the side and stared into the fog, cursing himself for making the same mistakes all over again.
"No, Rafe," Lyana said with a wince. She reached for his hand, but he slid it away and eased her to a seated position, putting some distance between them. "I didn't mean— I wasn't—" She sighed heavily. "It's not just Xander, but the whole House of Whispers."
He glanced back to her, drawn by the grave tone.
"It's—it’s gone."
"Gone?" The air left his lungs. "What do you mean gone?"
"I don't know what that blast of magic was, but I know something happened to the god stone. It stopped working, and the isle…well, it fell."
"Fell?" he asked, still not comprehending. Fell?
Then it clicked.
The water, the wave—it had been caused by something extremely large and heavy falling into the ocean, displacing it. And that large, heavy something was his home.
"Xander!"
Rafe was on his feet in an instant. His wings pumped and his body rose, his mind already a thousand miles away. Lyana grabbed him by the ankle, trying to pull him back down.
"Stop!" she shouted. "You can't!"
He ignored her.
"Rafe, they'll kill you!"
"No—"
He turned his face toward the sky and broke off at the heat simmering across his leathery wings. They stopped moving and he dropped back to the ground, landing hard on his feet as the truth pulled at him like a weight. He'd forgotten what he was, what he'd become. And she was right. They'd kill him.
Did it matter?
"He's my brother," Rafe said, just as Lyana took his hands, forcing him to meet her imploring eyes. "I have to go."
"He has wings," she argued. "He can fly. He's fine."
"What if he's not?" he asked, finishing the thought silently. What if he's not, and I wasn't there to save him?
Doubt flickered over her face, prompting him to recall the king's final words to Cassi as he'd been pulled into the dark depths of the warehouse. Kill the boy, he'd said. Kill the boy, or I'll have someone else kill him for you.
Rafe couldn't say how he knew, but he did.
They'd been speaking about Xander.
"Cassi's there. Cassi's with him."
"She won't hurt him."
"You don't understand—"
"I do," Lyana said, squeezing his fingers to pull him from his panic. "Cassi came to me in a dream tonight, and she confessed, Rafe, to everything. She tried to kill Xander, but he caught her. She won’t hurt him, because she can't. She's imprisoned—"
A gasp stole her voice as a wave of conflicting emotions crashed over her face—hurt, betrayal, confusion, anger, but most of all, worry. Imprisoned. Her friend was imprisoned on an island that was at this very moment sinking into the sea.
It mattered little to Rafe.
Cassi could rot for all he cared.
"I have to go," he said, dropping Lyana's hands.
That broke her from the trance. "Wait—"
"Why?" he snapped. "Every moment I wait is another moment he might be in danger. If they want to kill me, let them try. Let them stick me with arrows until I stain the ocean red with blood, I don't care. It won't stop me. It never has before."
"And what will that do to your brother?"
It would break him. At least, it would have once. But Rafe preferred he be broken than dead.
"I'll go," Lyana stated. "I'll go in your stead."