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  “This sucks,” she said grumpily as Gabriel returned her to her feet. “I’m going to be the only Estilorian who can’t fly.”

  Ini-herit returned her glower. “For all holy sake, Ambryl! Have you no sense of self-preservation at all?”

  Olivia’s eyes widened in realization. “No, she doesn’t.” When everyone turned to look at her, she explained, “Amber’s protective instincts are engaged toward others, not herself.”

  There were a few nods, and Ini-herit raised an eyebrow as he stared consideringly at Olivia. Then without a word, he turned and flew away.

  Amber huffed. “Well, I was never a very good student. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that I ran the teacher off.”

  Gabriel swung an arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. His dark, wavy hair blew in the strong wind as he turned and pointed. “See? He’s coming back.”

  This time, Ini-herit carried a couple of items in his hands. Olivia figured he must have gone back to the cloth sack he had brought with them that morning. She had been dying of curiosity when she’d seen it, wondering what mysteries it contained. Now, all she saw was black fabric.

  “It would seem, Gabriel, that you will have to assist your avowed in this lesson, after all.”

  His eyebrows rising, Gabriel said, “Yeah?”

  Inclining his head to urge Amber and Gabriel to follow him, Ini-herit again stopped at the cliff’s edge. He handed Gabriel the black fabric he held. “Put this shirt on.”

  Giving Ini-herit a suspicious look, Gabriel did so. Amber reached out to finger it. “This is made of that special armor I wore to the Becoming ceremony,” she said.

  “A very similar material, though not it exactly,” Ini-herit replied, moving behind Gabriel. “It will prevent your avowed from extending his wings.” Then he pulled Gabriel’s hands behind his back and bound them faster than Olivia had ever seen such an action. “And this will prevent him from pulling the shirt off.”

  Before Amber could say another word, Ini-herit turned and shoved Gabriel off the cliff. He glanced at Amber as he did and said, “There is no safety net this time.”

  Olivia froze in shock. Thank goodness her sister did not. Amber followed Gabriel over the edge without a thought. In the span of a minute, during which time Olivia’s heart throttled into her throat, Amber suddenly reappeared, holding Gabriel awkwardly under his arms with his legs wrapped around her waist. But all Olivia could focus on was the glorious expanse of Amber’s golden wings. As she studied the blue-gray flames flickering within the shimmering gold, she easily saw how humans had developed stories about avenging and guardian angels from their memories of Estilorians.

  “I should beat you senseless for that,” Gabriel snapped at Ini-herit when Amber set him down.

  Ini-herit looked unfazed by the threat. He glanced at Amber.

  “Congratulations, Ambryl. You passed.”

  Chapter Five

  The sisters spent the next week learning everything they could about flying. James knew Olivia found it absolutely amazing. She told him if she had a choice, she would fly everywhere instead of walking. Ini-herit had quickly nipped that idea in the bud, explaining that she wouldn’t be exercising her body that way, and growing fat and weak wasn’t a good trade-off for being airborne. But James saw her seriously weighing the option.

  Over the course of their training, they all learned that each of the girls had something unique about their wings. Olivia’s exceptionality was, of course, the ability to fly backwards. This skill was quite marvelous. She could literally fly circles around the rest of them.

  Skye, on the other hand, had the ability to “fade” her wings. This discovery occurred during one of her many unexpected surges of flight. They were practicing in Ini-herit’s backyard. At one point during their exercises, Skye suddenly veered toward a wooden arbor leading into the gardens. Rather than her wing crashing into the arbor, however, it had simply passed through it. The image of Skye sitting in the garden where she had landed with her hands over her head as if to protect herself had made her sisters laugh for an hour. The appearance of Skye’s spirit guardian, who stood over her shaking his nearly-translucent head, merely added to their humor.

  But this was a tremendous ability, they learned. She could fade her wings at will and still maintain flight for short periods of time, almost like a large-winged bird coasts on currents. She could also get close to opponents without worrying that her wings would be injured, something all other Estilorians always had to think about. Whenever one of them tried to grasp her wings, the wings faded from their touch. Weapons passed right through them.

  Amber’s wings, on the other hand, turned into weapons. They also worked as shields. This, as with Skye’s ability, was discovered quite by accident. She had been taking a short test flight above the forest in front of Ini-herit’s house when a strong gust caught her unprepared. Before Gabriel could get to her, she was yanked violently toward a cluster of trees. As she realized her wings were about to hit the treetops, her eyes suddenly glowed gold. Rather than colliding with the trees, her wings sheared right through them.

  Gabriel commented after the fact that he was damn glad she had learned about that particular ability on the trees.

  It obviously took a lot more focus than the girls had thought to fly efficiently. Even Olivia admitted to James that it was wearying to try and remember things like air currents and weather patterns and…birds. She had nearly killed herself trying to avoid a flock of birds that took flight right in front of her. As it was, James snatched her out of the air a foot before she hit the ground. He was certain she had taken a decade off his existence with that fall. And some of the birds had unfortunately not fared so well.

  There was much more to flying than simply calling one’s wings forth. The girls had to become familiar with the size and shape of their wings and how they related to the environment around them. They had to understand how the fluctuations of their wings affected their balance and movement. And they had to determine how much energy they expended in keeping their wings extended, for although James knew Olivia hadn’t initially thought flying was tiring, it most certainly was. Not physically, but spiritually. It was almost intangible, how the exhaustion struck, but it did. Amber invariably tired first with Olivia not faring much better. Skye, on the other hand, seemed capable of unceasing flight, something that Caleb found particularly challenging to monitor.

  By the end of the week, Jabari declared an end to their flying lessons.

  “You will continue to work on this skill as time permits,” he explained as they all sat in the living room that evening. “But it is time to move on to other studies. We will all meet tomorrow morning to discuss what is to come.”

  “Awesome,” Amber said. “I could use the break.”

  James looked to his right where Amber sat on the other side of the sofa with Gabriel between them. She was resting her head against Gabriel’s shoulder and her eyes were already half-closed. As Gabriel ran his fingers through her now unbound hair, her eyes closed a bit more. Flying had clearly worn her out. When he heard Olivia fight a sympathetic yawn, he realized she was in much the same condition. He glanced at her across the coffee table, where she sat on the love seat with Jabari. He realized her gaze was transfixed on Gabriel’s hand where it touched Amber’s hair.

  “Aww,” Skye complained from a large, cushioned chair next to the fireplace. “But flying’s so much fun!”

  Jabari smiled at the youngest of the sisters. “You will have fun in your other lessons, too. It is your nature.”

  Skye thought about this for a moment and then beamed back at him in evident agreement. Across from her in the other seat by the fireplace sat Caleb, who merely raised an eyebrow.

  James watched their exchange and then gave Olivia a knowing look. They had discussed at some length the trials faced by Caleb in his role as Skye’s Gloresti. Since Olivia had teased her youngest sister mercilessly about it, she said she didn’t feel disloyal discussing Skye�
��s behavior with James when they were alone. The look of camaraderie he gave her now brought a humored smile to her face.

  “We will be moving from this location,” Ini-herit announced from his position by one of the room’s many windows. “We have already remained here longer than is wise.”

  This made Olivia frown. James knew she truly loved Ini-herit’s home and the surrounding environment. If anything, her brush with the kragen had only increased her avid curiosity and interest in the area.

  “That will also be discussed tomorrow,” Jabari agreed, and reached over to give Olivia an understanding pat on her shoulder. “You young ladies have faced enough adjustments over the past couple of months that we hoped to avoid frequent changes in your location. But Ini-herit is correct.”

  James watched the contemplative look flash over Olivia’s features and he knew she was trying to think of where they would go. He had grown fascinated with how her mind worked and wondered what thoughts were even now racing through it.

  Eventually, her gaze returned to Gabriel and Amber. James also looked back beside him to try and figure out what held her so entranced. Gabriel was simply lifting strands of Amber’s hair and letting them fall again and again. Maybe it was rather rhythmic, but he couldn’t figure out why it would cause Olivia to stare.

  When Amber’s head fell forward and Gabriel had to shift suddenly to catch her from toppling into his lap, James realized the hair play had lulled her to sleep. Gabriel moved to collect his wife in his arms.

  “Guess that’s our cue,” he said quietly to the room when he rose with her, firelight glinting off the gold star and blue-gray flame mark on his right bicep that identified him as Amber’s avowed. “See y’all in the morning.”

  James was still getting used to his leader’s human southern accent. It had been a more startling change to him than the change in his eye and wing color from the Gloresti dark blue to his human form’s blue-gray. He issued a quiet farewell along with the rest of the room’s occupants and noted that Olivia’s eyes followed Gabriel as he left the room. That realization bothered him, though he couldn’t fathom why.

  “Would you like to go outside for a while before you retire for the night, Olivia?” he asked.

  She blinked to make herself a bit more alert and nodded. “Sure. It’s a nice night.”

  He got to his feet and stepped around the coffee table to offer her a hand up. This was an action he had seen Gabriel perform for all of the sisters at one time or another. When James had asked Olivia about it, she had explained about human manners and that during his eighteen years on the human plane, Gabriel had been raised in a region of the United States that still practiced gentlemanly behavior. Not seeing any harm to it, James had started trying to model some of his behavior after his leader’s. When she gave him a surprised smile now as she took his hand, he decided Gabriel certainly had the right of it.

  They made their way through the kitchen to the back door. He opened it and conducted his usual search using all of his senses. After he concluded all was well, he waved her out first. She smiled again and walked past him, brushing against him as she stepped outside.

  She had changed into one of the sundresses she favored as soon as they were done with their lessons. The soft yellow dress reflected the moonlight. With her dark hair curling loosely down her back, she looked almost ethereal in this light. Since her back was to him, his gaze went to her right shoulder, where part of the symbol tattooed there peeked out from beneath her hair. He knew that symbol like his own face now. It was a curving green branch with thin leaves. An olive branch. He remembered very clearly pressing his lips to that shoulder to reveal the mark identifying her as a daughter of Saraqael at the Becoming ceremony. Actually, he found himself remembering that moment a lot.

  “Are you going to be cold?” he asked when he felt the slight chill in the air.

  “Oh, no. I’ll be fine, thanks. I love this weather.” She glanced at him over her shoulder. “Would you mind walking with me in the woods? I’ve got my sandals on.”

  “Of course,” he agreed. He followed her off the porch and matched her pace, staying just a few inches from her. “Are you all right with having to move from this location?”

  She didn’t respond immediately. Her gaze roved over their surroundings as if memorizing them. “I understand it,” she said at last. “I do love it here, but for largely selfish reasons. The woods comfort me, as you know.”

  “Perhaps there will be woods wherever we move to.”

  Shifting her gaze to him, she smiled and replied, “Maybe.”

  They entered the woods and walked a while in silence. Due to her glowing eyes, he figured she was communing with the night creatures. As she did, he scanned their surroundings, alert for any danger. He was also looking for Aurora, though the cat had informed Olivia earlier that she would be off hunting. He had grown almost as attached to the animal as he had to Olivia.

  And there was the crux of it, he thought to himself. He had grown quite attached to Olivia. Her brush with the kragen had really impressed this realization upon him, though the knowledge had been resting in the back of his mind for a couple of weeks now. His reaction to seeing her yanked so violently from his sight had been anything but typical for a Gloresti.

  He had frozen.

  Even though it had only been for a second, it had still happened. His reaction had been in direct opposition to a Gloresti’s natural instincts. He should have been in motion the moment she started speaking to him, but shock and—this was the big one—fear for her had kept him rooted to the spot rather than simply letting his instincts guide him. And he had understood in that single slice of time just why it was that only older Gloresti with stronger emotional control were typically chosen for pairings.

  No…he knew himself enough to understand that it wasn’t just the Gloresti protectiveness binding him to her now. There was definitely more to it than that. But he was so ignorant when it came to human emotions that he couldn’t figure out what it all meant.

  “It’s just beautiful out here,” she whispered finally as they entered a small clearing flooded with moonlight.

  What was beautiful was her. And he had never, ever had thoughts like that before. What was wrong with him?

  “Why is it that you stare at archigos Gabriel when he isn’t looking?”

  He hadn’t meant to blurt the question like that, but there it was.

  She looked at him in bewilderment. “What?” She sounded utterly baffled.

  He relaxed at her evident confusion. He hadn’t even realized he had tensed. “I see you looking at him frequently. I was curious why.”

  “Like when?” she asked. She still sounded more puzzled than upset by the question.

  “Such as this evening. You watched him touching Amber.”

  “Oh.” It was a long, drawn out response, indicating realization. Now he saw her flush as she reached up to twist a lock of her hair around her finger. “I didn’t realize…”

  He felt himself tensing again. But he forced himself to remain quiet and listen.

  She caught his gaze and said, “I wasn’t staring at Gabriel, exactly. I was just watching him interact with Amber.”

  “I see.” He didn’t. Not really. But he wanted to, and that had to count for something. In an effort to try and understand more clearly, he said, “He does touch her a lot.”

  She said softly, “Yes.”

  “She does not like to be touched by anyone else. I have wondered why it is he shows his feelings for her that way when she is generally opposed to it.”

  She sighed and moved over to sit down on a fallen log. He followed her and sat beside her. The skirt of her dress touched the side of his right leg. She gently folded her hands in her lap as she collected her thoughts.

  “Humans convey many things through touch,” she explained, looking into his eyes. “It is very often a sign of comfort, affection or love. But the ease of accepting these gestures is instilled in humans in our young and formati
ve years. Amber’s childhood on the human plane was full of turmoil, leaving her leery of gestures of affection. Once she was placed in the same foster home as Gabriel, he taught her how to accept love.”

  “By touching her?”

  Now, she smiled. “No. In fact, I believe he initially showed his love by not touching her. Not until she was ready.”

  He frowned. “I do not understand.”

  As usual, she didn’t grow impatient or irritated with him. She appeared to be trying to think of how to explain better. “Humans have what is called ‘personal space,’” she said after a moment. “Some people require more of it than others. The ability to interpret another person’s willingness to accept physical contact by another person is something we learn as we mature. Well, some of us do.”

  “Ah, yes. Archigos Gabriel explained this concept to us after the Becoming ceremony. Along with the information about the human need for privacy and human female menstrual cycles, something our females do not have.”

  Olivia blinked. She started to say something, then stopped. Her mouth opened a second time, then closed. He watched this with rapt fascination, wondering what he had said to cause the reaction. She ultimately cleared her throat and said, “I imagine that wasn’t one of Gabriel’s favorite conversations of all time.” She sounded distinctly humored.

  One corner of his mouth rose. “Now that you mention it, he did seem rather uncomfortable.”

  She nodded. “Yet he discussed it with you, anyway. Because he knew it would make the three of us uncomfortable when it came up and he wanted to help ease our discomfort. Thoughtfulness such as that sets him apart from many others.”

  She looked back into the center of the clearing and then got to her feet and moved again into the moonlight. He stood and followed her. When she spoke, he had to stand close to her to hear her. “In answer to your initial question, I watch Gabriel interact with Amber because it represents to me the best things about humanity. He touches her to offer her comfort and to show affection and love. He has taught her to do the same with him. They share a very special connection. It makes me unbelievably happy for them both, and a little wistful. Their relationship is something most people on the human plane seek and hope to have.”