Three quarters of Dick’s and Cobra’s flames turned black.
All of them still had white. I shivered at the implication. They’d been judged and found to still have goodness in their souls.
“You stay where you are,” Orion sang loudly as he pointed his finger. Cherry blossoms swirled in a mini storm and rose across the air.
Malum pointed his silver dagger in the person’s direction.
Orion sang, “Your soul has been found lacking. You have committed a heinous crime against those you love. Redemption is not possible. You will be exterminated.”
The pink petals stopped spinning. All of them hung suspended in the air around one person.
Jinx.
A pure-black flame flickered above her head.
There was no white.
Her soul had been judged, and the kings had marked her unworthy.
Orion’s voice was poignantly beautiful. “You have committed a heinous crime against those you love.”
I paused in horror because Jinx had sobbed and told us that she’d made us forget “so much.” We were the only people she loved.
The kings were wholly focused on her. Their purpose was clear.
Extermination.
“No!” I shouted with horror.
Flames poured off Malum faster.
Sweat dripped down my face and I screamed at the kings, “Stop it!”
“Judgment is here,” Orion sang like he hadn’t heard a word I’d said.
The three kings took a step forward on their posts until they hovered on the edges.
Jinx stared blankly back at them.
Her body was frozen like she was being immobilized by the force of whatever they were doing.
Malum transferred the knife into his right hand and pulled back his arm.
None of the shifters moved to help her. No one did anything. For some reason, I was the only one who was aware of what was happening.
I backed up on my post.
About thirty feet of air separated me from Jinx.
I didn’t care what she’d done to me.
They didn’t get to take her away, not while I still breathed.
Before Malum could throw the dagger, I sprinted and threw my legs forward. Midjump I kicked backward to propel myself ahead. For long seconds, I hung suspended.
There was nothing but air beneath me.
As I traveled, my momentum took me slightly left of Jinx.
I reached out my fingertips. They tangled around shirt material.
With all my strength, I flexed my arms and ripped Jinx off the post at the same time Malum flung his dagger.
In slow motion, the impossibly sharp point grazed a lock of her long black hair. That was all it hit.
The blade missed her.
I didn’t have time to celebrate.
I was free-falling with a child in my arms, and we had no way to stop.
I wrapped myself around her small body and turned so I would fall onto my back, but I knew in my gut it wasn’t enough.
It didn’t matter what type of creature Jinx was. All adolescents were more vulnerable until they turned eighteen.
Sun god, I wouldn’t have survived this drop a few weeks ago if it weren’t for my queendom and the tattoo on my hip. Only an extremely powerful creature, like an adult shifter, devil, or demon, could survive such a fall.
My talons dug into her skin as I clutched her desperately.
We were rapidly approaching the ground.
Free-falling.
Toward her death.
It didn’t matter what irredeemable atrocity she’d committed against us. She was the little sister I’d never had.
That meant something.
It wasn’t my job to judge her; it was my job to love her. Period.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I did something I’d stopped doing after the first time Mother had lit me on fire. I prayed.
Please, sun god, allow Jinx to live. Take my life instead. She’s too young. Please. I’ll do anything. I don’t care what she’s done.
Wind whipped our hair in a frenzy as we plummeted.
Nothing happened.
Tears streamed from my eyes, and I pulled her limp body against mine as we tangled in the air.
We spun out of control.
I clutched her body with desperation. I didn’t want to live in a world where Jinx wasn’t in it to make fun of me. She was a little storm cloud of darkness. She was the mean younger sister I’d always wanted growing up.
Please. I can’t live without her, I begged the gods.
Jinx was too smart to die like this. She had too much to offer the world. There would never be anyone like her. She was special. Unique.
I sobbed brokenly.
She was a part of my family.
If you save her, if you let her live, I’ll do anything for her. This isn’t right. Take me instead. Please.
The green lawn approached.
Rapidly.
I sacrifice myself. Take me instead. Let her live, I screamed silently into the void. I don’t care what she’s done to me. It doesn’t matter. She does.
I reached desperately for the post to my right. Ripped my fingernails off my hands as I clawed at the wood like I could somehow stop our momentum.
Flesh pulled off bone.
I left a bloody trail behind.
But it didn’t slow us.
Suddenly, a male voice whispered, “Welcome to the Consciousness. We’ve been waiting for you. You are more righteous than we thought. Your service begins. Now.”
Memories flashed through my mind—the angels muttered to themselves and clutched their heads after challenges. Convulsed like they were electrocuted. Like someone was speaking to them.
My eyes shot open.
A stinging sensation like nothing I’d ever experienced exploded down my spine.
My back bowed, and I screamed.
A thousand cracks erupted at once.
The ground was rapidly approaching as I writhed and bucked in the air—a frenzy of convulsing limbs.
We torpedoed.
Blue exploded in my peripheral vision, and there was a loud clattering noise.
The grass was disturbingly close.
My back throbbed with agony, but there was something new protruding from my flesh.
It was skin and bones.
A network of cartilage holding thousands of ice daggers.
No.
Holy fuck.
Midplummet, adrenaline exploded through my senses, and my jaw dropped open.
Time stopped.
I hung suspended in midair, unmoving, as the neurons in my brain took the new information and put the pieces together faster than I could consciously process.
The irregular shape of my ice daggers. Long and flat at the end and narrow at the other. Impossibly light, razor-thin, and sharp.
They had never been weapons.
My daggers were feathers.
Probabilities, statistics, and facts rushed through me as I struggled to make sense of what was happening.
The feather was all it took.
Sodium and potassium pumped signals across my nerves at lightning speed.
My eyes widened as the pieces clicked into place.
I understood. Everything.
Mother had had blue flames that differed from the rest of the fire fae.
Instead of the typical red flames, hers had been blue. Instead of a hot fire that burned, her flames had hurt but never left a single mark. After she’d torment me for hours, I’d lay shivering on the floor with my teeth chattering.
When the angels slammed their ice swords together, flames shot out.
It was the alchemy law of extremes: At its hottest temperature, fire mimics the properties of ice. At its coldest temperature, ice mimics the properties of fire.
When ice was cold enough, it formed flames.