The Myths of Ophelia (The Curse of Ophelia #4)

Chapter 64

Chapter Sixty-Four

Damien

The demigod’s power pulsed around her like a beast trying to wake. We were inching ever closer to a dream millennia in the making.

The Angelglass still remained in that foyer, the seven of us gathering in Xenique’s new chamber when the tremor went through us, tugging at all of our magic, but that could only mean one thing. The final pieces were in their hands.

When Xenique’s power beamed as the rest of ours—when the deep amethyst toyed with Ptholenix’s flames and Gaveny’s roaring tides, Thorn’s storm clouds and the galaxies at Valyrie’s fingertips—that would be it.

The last shard of the lock to this caged prison acquired. All we had to do now was wait.

The seven of us gathered closer, forming a circle in the great empty space within this new palace encased in stone.

“Soon,” I said.

“Are you certain this time?” Bant threw at me.

“She is not like the last.” I grimaced at him, a wave of untethered emotion flaring through me and sending my eyes widening.

The others watched me cautiously. Eagerly.

It was exactly as it had been that day in Firebird’s Field, when we were sentenced to this prison to contain his might. Seven Angels, side by side as we should have always been had our internal feuds not torn us apart. As we should always be in the future, power soon thrumming through our veins again.

Only this time, we were on the cusp of freedom.

With barely a thought, I summoned a beam of my light, sending a gold column toward the ceiling. Glittering ether dripped from my feathers in answer.

Gaveny grinned, elation clear in the beating of his wings, ocean blues spilling from them. With a dramatic twirl of his hand, he cast a matching beam soaring toward the top of the chamber, the cresting waves awash with his turquoise signature.

On my other side, the Firebird’s stare flamed. Then, an inferno licked down his tawny arms and stretched toward the ceiling as if pouring from the maw of a long-sleeping creature.

Beside him, Valyrie turned her face toward the heavens, eyes closed and a brutally beautiful smile taking over, as if she could see the stars and Fates she missed so dearly. The friends she mourned. And she opened her palms, stars twining up. Higher and higher until that fourth column of magic met the light and tides and burning embers.

Even Thorn, hovering between Gaveny and Bant, cast a roaring tunnel of storm-kissed magic. The gusting winds blew my hair behind my shoulders and whispered secrets in my ears. It swirled Valyrie’s and Xenique’s long skirts around their ankles and fanned Ptholenix’s flames.

Directly across the circle from me, I met Bant’s stare. Even he appeared wistful, his scarred wings rifling as he gathered his stronger power. A sixth beam of light burst to life, emitting a pure gold glow similar to mine, but laced with inky ropes of magic.

Xenique watched us all, a small, hopeful smile piercing her full lips and dreams spinning to life in her eyes. After so long exiled from her peers while on earth, this was what she wanted. The future she envisioned—seven Angels united.

And a twisted, deceitful piece of me that had awoken with the return of stronger magic wished it would remain only the seven of us.