One second I was so close to breaking Zayne’s hold—so close to using the Sword of Michael—and the next I was swept off my feet and into the air. My grace sputtered out as I hit the grass. The impact was brutal, but it could’ve been worse. I could’ve been Dez.

He slammed into one of the fountain basins, cracking the stone. He dropped into the pool of water.

Zayne had flung both of us like we were paper planes, but somehow I ended up in a much softer, kinder to the body area. Dez was in his Warden form. He’d be fine, but if I had hit the basin at that kind of speed, I would be out like a light.

I started to pull on my grace. It flared weakly in my chest, just below my heart. I shouldn’t be as tapped out as I was now. It had to be the fact my body was still healing itself from Gabriel’s beatdown, because I shouldn’t be this exhausted.

Wings stirred my hair, serving as a warning that Zayne was near. I flipped onto my side, tipping my head back. He stood above me, grace rippling through his widespread wings. Our gazes met and then held. He watched me, nostrils flared, as I struggled to my feet, not breaking eye contact. The opportunity to take me out was endless. At any point, he could end my life before I even realized what was happening. But he made no move against me. Maybe it was foolish naivety or desperation, but hope surged through me. If he was truly lost and saw me as nothing more than a threat and a challenge—and apparently a very poor one at the moment—he would take me out.

But he didn’t.

He cocked his head as I stepped toward him, but he didn’t move. Heart fluttering like a trapped bird, I took another step and then another, not stopping until there was only an inch or two separating us.

I had no idea what overtook me. Maybe I knocked a few important brain cells loose. Would make sense considering how many times I’d been thrown around in the last week. Or maybe I was too stupid to live. “Are you going to kill me now?”

A muscle ticked along his jaw.

Each breath I took was too shallow, too quick. “You could do it, right? Not even break a sweat. Why haven’t you?”

His eyes widened slightly. “Do you want to die?”

I shook my head. “I want you. That’s what I want. I want you back.”