Acknowledgments
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book has been such a tremendous labor of love from the very start, and because of that, I have far too many people to thank than can possibly fit within these few pages, but I shall do my best! My endless gratitude and love to: Noa Wheeler, editor extraordinaire. Noa, how can I […]
Epilogue
EPILOGUE The white cat with eyes like blue opals sat on a bench in the Oracle’s Park and licked his front paw. “You know you’re not a true cat, don’t you?” Jesiba Roga clicked her tongue. “You don’t need to lick yourself.” Aidas, Prince of the Chasm, lifted his head. “Who says I don’t enjoy […]
Chapter no 97
97 Hunt stayed at the Comitium barracks that night. Bryce had lost track of the hours they’d worked, first through the night, then into the cloudless day, and finally at sunset she’d been dragging so much that he’d ordered Naomi to fly her home. And presumably ordered her to stand watch, since a dark- winged […]
Chapter no 96
96 Rigelus, the Bright Hand of the Asteri, had called her house. Bryce’s hands shook so badly she could barely keep the phone to her ear. “We beheld your actions today and wished to extend our gratitude,” the lilting voice said. She swallowed, wondering if the mightiest of the Asteri somehow knew she was standing […]
Chapter no 95
95 Syrinx was sitting in her apartment’s open front doorway, whining with worry, as Bryce and Hunt stepped off the elevator. Bryce scanned the empty hall, the chimera. “I left that door shut …” she began, earning a knowing chuckle from Hunt, but Syrinx was already sprinting for her. “I’ll explain his gifts later,” Hunt […]
Chapter no 94
94 She was sea and sky and stone and blood and wings and earth and stars and darkness and light and bone and flame. Danika was gone. She had given over what remained of her soul, her power, to get Bryce off the runway, and for that initial rocketing Ascent. Danika had whispered, “I love […]
Chapter no 93
93 This was the cradle of all life, this place. There was a physical ground beneath her, and she had the sense of an entire world above her, full of distant, twinkling lights. But this was the bottom of the sea. The dark trench that cut through the skin of the earth. It didn’t matter. […]
Chapter no 92
92 Bryce’s face crumpled as she lurched to her feet, sprinting to the Gate. She didn’t care how it was possible as Danika said again, “Light it up.” Then Bryce was laughing and sobbing as she screamed, “LIGHT IT UP, DANIKA! LIGHT IT UP, LIGHT IT UP, LIGHT IT UP!” Bryce slammed her palm onto […]
Chapter no 91
91 She should be dead. But those were her fingers, curling on the rubble. That was her breath, sawing in and out. The brimstone had decimated the square, the city was now in smoldering ruins, yet the Gate still stood. Her light had gone out, though, the quartz again an icy white. Fires sputtered around […]
Chapter no 90
90 Bryce’s entire body trembled as she leaned against the glowing quartz of the Gate, exhaustion rooting her to the spot. It had worked. Somehow, it had worked. She didn’t let herself marvel over it—or dread its implications, when her father and the Asteri found out. Not when she had no idea how long her […]