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Branches crack and splinter as I burst through the foliage. The ground rushes up to meet me and I slam into it with a cry, tumbling through mud and snow to crash against a rock and finally stop.

Keep moving.

Run!

He's coming!

I shake my head, trying to disperse the voices that rage and scream in my ears. As I do, I catch a glimpse of those mighty wings advancing from the tree-line.

Raffy is intent on killing me. He's yet to tell me why.

Struggling to my hands and knees, I take stock of my surroundings, searching for a weapon, anything. Instead I see I've tumbled back onto the battlefield, the fighting having ceased. The wounded are being tended to and whoever is left of the Order is being shackled or they're fleeing. But all that grinds to a halt when Raffy reveals himself.

A god. A fucking god. I'd laugh if my ribs didn't hurt so much.

I spit blood. I stagger to my feet. I flex the fingers of my right hand, golden marks bared to the world. And I face that fucking god.

"You could at least tell me what you want."

"There are many creatures that exist within our worlds," he says, stepping over a body as he continues his steady approach. "Here I found a creature with the blood of a witch, a shape-shifter, and a god. She is... magnificent." A light seems to spark in his blue eyes, like awe.

I know he must be speaking of Rosabel, but she doesn't have the blood of a god within her. Does she? I shake my head, hardly able to believe such a thing can even be real.

"We already know of your kind. Demi-gods. Half-human things. Abominations," he spits the last word and I wince. "What I want is for you to die."

"Good to know," I mutter then lunge. Pain shoots down my shoulder as it collides with Raffy's chest, driving him back a single step before he shifts those might wings and the ground is no longer beneath my feet. A gasp leaves me as Raffy wraps his arms around my ribs, gives another flap of those wings, then lets go of me.

I land face-first and blood bursts into my mouth. I barely get a moment to taste it before Raffy flips me over with a boot, straddles me, and wraps his hands around my throat. I claw at his skin, aim for his face, his eyes, but I may as well be scratching at stone. My nails don't pierce his skin and he doesn't even flinch.

He squeezes harder, crushing my throat. Darkness creeps upon my vision and no amount of gasping like a dying fish will force air into my lungs.

A fitting death, realising that the answers I sought weren't lies. That I was too blind to notice a god was standing right in front of me. This is how I should die, paying for my mistakes.

You can't die here.

A thunderous boom rocks the earth, causing stone to tremble and snow to crumble from the trees. Something looms over Raffy and then he cries out and is yanked away.

I suck in air, coughing as I choke on ice, my throat on fire. Managing to look up, the air is stolen from me again as a dragon stands before me, teeth as long as my arms bared at Raffy who scrambles away. Whatever the dragon did to him has caused black liquid to stain his wings like tar, pain etched into his features.

A roar shatters the quiet around us and I flinch, but I'm unable to tear my gaze from the creature before me as it turns. Red scales roll with its movements, each thump of those taloned claws making the ground tremble. Vibrant, violet eyes find me.

"Rosabel," I breathe, a grin twisting my lips.

She spreads those glorious, leathery wings, shaming Raffy and his sorry attempt at magnificence.

No god could possibly compare to her.

Raffy looks between me and her, Rosabel a barrier between us. He flexes is wings, his features morphing into agony as they move.

Rosabel hurt him. She can harm gods. No wonder he was here watching her.

"We're not done," Raffy sneers. "I will bring the wrath of the Heaven's upon you." With a mighty gust of wind, Raffy shoots into the sky to disappear amongst the clouds.

I snort and shake my head. Whatever the fuck the wrath of Heaven is, I'm sure I can manage. After all, I have a dragon by my side.

Struggling to my feet, I sway a little. With a thud, Rosabel takes a step towards me, her shadow swallowing me completely.

"Azura!" someone shouts and I recognise Galiana. "Get away from her! She's not in control."

I glance up at Rosabel who swings her violet eyes towards Galiana, a deep growl rumbling in her broad chest. "Rosa," I say, limping closer to her.

Twice now she's saved my life while in her other form. She seems pretty in control to me.

"Hey." I reach out a hand as I get closer, those reddish scales drawing me in. They're beautiful, like fiery stone gilded around her huge body. An armour of Blaze rock.

She doesn't move as I touch the rough scales, the surface as hard as stone, but warm. My golden markings cause the red tones to glow like fire.

A breath leaves her and then she's shifting, her body shrinking, shifting, changing. Her colours dull and her skin softens until within the snow lays a girl, her hair strewn amongst the white like a river of lava.

I kneel beside her, my hand still on her ribs, and she reaches for me. Her eyes are squeezed shut as she wraps her arms around my neck and a small whimper leaves her.

Whatever she goes through in her other form, whatever thoughts she wars with as a creature like that, it can't be easy.

I enfold her in my embrace, my bare hand skating along the smooth skin of her back. I hold her as she tries to steady her breathing, covering as much of her nakedness as possible with my own body.

"How long was I gone?" she asks, her voice rough and parched.

"A few days."

Letting out a breath that fans against my neck, Rosabel presses herself harder against me. "I'm sorry."

"For what? For surviving? For saving my life? There's nothing to be sorry for."

Her arms squeeze me and I can't stop the hiss that escapes my lips as pain arcs through my entire body. She pulls back, her gaze wide and clear as she inspects me. "You're hurt."

"And you're naked," I mutter, keeping my gaze firmly locked on hers.

"Seems we keep meeting like this."

A smile curves my lips, making the cut on my face sting and the blood to crack. I glance over her head at the field before us. Blood soaks the land all the way to the village wall. Bodies lay slumped under the sun. The smile is quick to vanish.

I don't know how many we lost. Too many. But we won. It's hardly a victory.

"Come on," I say, moving on from my thoughts.

Galiana approaches us and we stand as she offers Rosabel a cloak. She takes it, muttering her thanks as she covers herself. We stand in silence for a moment and my tongue begins to burn with the words I need to speak. Stubbornness holds them back.

My gaze lifts, going to the pink clouds above us where Raffy disappeared. "Heaven's wrath," I murmur.

Not Lucifer's wrath. Not the wrath of Hell. But Heaven.

Palmira believes it's just one god we need to fear, but what if it's all of them?

I nearly snort at my own thoughts. Mere moments ago gods weren't real, and now I'm questioning which gods we'll be going to war with.

But certainty hums in my blood. Certainty that the gods are real, certainty that the only reason they've left us alone for this long were rumours that mortals have a weapon that can kill them. Yet Raffy will tell them. He'll tell them all that he knows where that weapon is and that it can be destroyed.

Heaven's wrath. And all of their gazes are directed at me.

I can kill them. I can stop them from destroying mankind. But alone? I can't possibly win that fight. Alone I'm but a candle that can be snuffed out. We'll need an inferno.