Soon, Lilith spotted Cam crossing the marina, walking along the shore. His wet hair shone in the starlight.
“This is your moment,” Luc said. “Take it.”
Lilith dove into the sea and swam toward Cam, her white gown billowing around her as she kicked.
Behind her, Luc looked on from his boat with a smile.
Near midnight, Cam was climbing a steep slope, lyre in hand, seeking a new kind of distraction. A voice warbled in the distance, accompanied by rich notes from a lyre. He saw a scrubby desert bush marking the entrance to a cave and angled himself toward it.
Inside the cave, in a narrow space between two tall rocks, an old man was playing an intricate song. His beard hung to his navel, and his hair stood out in filthy strands. His eyes were shut, and a flagon of wine sat at his feet. He seemed unaware of Cam’s presence.
“You’re very good,” Cam said when the man’s song ended. “Will you teach me to play?”
The man slowly opened his eyes. “No.”
Cam tilted his head. Ever since he had aligned himself with Lucifer, he had discovered a new layer of persuasion in his voice. He was learning how to use it to his advantage.
“I will take you flying, far above the clouds, if you will teach me. You can bring your wine and drink among the stars.”
The man’s eyes widened; he was clearly affected. “Begin,” he said, and strummed a chord.
Cam quickly brought his lyre into playing position.
The man kicked the instrument to the ground. “Piece of driftwood shit,” he said. “Sing.”
Unprepared to improvise, Cam found that Lilith’s song, the first one he’d ever heard her sing, rose to his lips. She’d stolen his heart, he reasoned. Now he would steal her song.
“Where love spurs me I must turn
my rhymes, my rhymes…”
The man squinted at Cam, impressed. The melody he played on his lyre complemented Lilith’s lyrics perfectly. He handed the flagon to Cam.
“I will teach you, and you will stay with me.” He wrapped his arm around Cam. “Now,” the man said, leading Cam toward the entrance of his cave, “can you really fly?”
Cam stepped back into the night. He was just about to release his wings when a shadow moved behind the desert bush.
Lilith? Was he dreaming?
She was still wearing her wedding gown. It was filthy by now, green with moss and dripping with seawater. It clung tightly to her body. Her hair was wild and wet, trailing halfway down her back, and her skin looked pale and bright in the moonlight. She looked into his eyes, then at his bare chest, then at his hands, as if she could see how much they ached to hold her.
But Cam and Lilith did not embrace. They faced each other like strangers.
“Hello, Cam,” she said.
Cam shrank back. “Why are you here?”
Lilith scowled at the question. She took a breath and tried to form the words she had come so far to say. When she spoke, she looked at the sky so she wouldn’t have to see the way his eyes clouded over at the sight of her.
“The night you left, I dreamt I taught a flock of nightingales a love song, so they could find you and sing you home to me. Now I am the nightingale who has traveled all this way. I still love you, Cam. Come back to me.”
“No.”
She gazed into his eyes. “Did you ever love me, or were you only passing through?”
“You rejected me.”
“What?”
“You refused to marry me!”
“I refused to marry at the river,” Lilith insisted. “I never refused to marry you!”
Since he’d last seen Lilith, Cam had joined Lucifer’s ranks. If he had been afraid to show Lilith his true self before, it was impossible to do it now. No. There was no past. There was no Lilith.
There was only his future alone.
“You destroyed our love,” Cam told her. “Now I’m left to live in its ruins.”
There was a sense of urgency in Lilith’s eyes that Cam didn’t understand. She was nervous, trembling. “Cam, please—”
The backs of Cam’s shoulders were burning, itching to release his wings. For weeks he’d hidden them from Lilith. To protect her, he had told himself.
He could not bring himself to look at her, to see how much she was hurting. He was a demon. He was dangerous to Lilith. Any kindness he showed her would draw her deeper into darkness.
“This is the last you’ll see of me,” he said. “You will never know who I truly am.”
“I know who you are,” she cried. “You are the one I love.”
“You’re wrong.”
“Do you still love me?”
“Goodbye, Lilith.”
“Don’t!” she begged, sobs choking her voice. “I still love you. If you go—”
“I’m already gone,” Cam said, and turned and ran down the mountain, out of her sight. He threw his head back and released his blinding, golden wings. He watched the shimmering light they cast around him. He would fly until his heart no longer ached. He would fly forever if he had to.