Infinity Reaper by Adam Silvera (best new books to read txt) 📗

a fire-orb, but I’m okay because of the Dayrose salve. “You’ve given me hope that I can do incredible things with these powers. That I can make sure the gray sun whose blood is in mine didn’t die in vain.”

“You have a bright future ahead of you, love.”

“I’m going to make sure of that. I died with Bautista—I once died as him. I never want to feel that death again, but I do want what he had in his life. Even in the middle of all the chaos, Bautista still found time for a love that was so epic he sacrificed himself for it.” I think about when Ness returned for me back at Nova, how invincible I felt. And how much I wish I had made that clear to him right then and there. “It’s so hard to be open to happiness when people are missing and dying, but I’m never going to get anywhere in life if I’m waiting for everything to be perfect. If all goes according to plan, this might be my last life, and I got to start somewhere—and with someone.”

The fire-orb is making his eyes glow until I crush it between my palms because I don’t want to burn him. I can still make out his lips in the darkness, and he’s paying attention to mine too. The wind whistles as Nox continues to take us over mountains and rivers, though I’m only focused on Wyatt.

My heart is hammering as he reaches for my hair and pulls me to him, our faces so close that I suck in my breath. His dimpled smile is the key that unlocks me, that frees me like riding a phoenix on a beautiful night. I kiss him, our lips pressed together, and I’m running so hot I might explode.

I didn’t expect any of this when I walked into the library tonight—flying on Nox, kissing Wyatt, welcoming happiness. It would be so easy to be miserable and alone during a war even though I want more, but this is the first of hopefully many winning moments while I’m still fighting the bigger battle. And the life Wyatt is offering me as a Halo Knight is one I hope to live.

His hand slides under the jacket, and I tense as he grabs my side, almost breaking the kiss. I’m not used to this. I’m not opposed either. I run my hands down his pecs, fighting away all these ugly thoughts that someone like Wyatt only wants me because I happen to be gay and around. Then I remember how Ness asked me to only be with someone who thinks I’m beautiful because of who I am. I think that was true for Ness, and I think it’s true for Wyatt too.

I lean away from the kiss though our foreheads remain pressed together and we’re still holding on to each other. His smile gets another quick kiss out of me.

“You get better and better, love.”

“So do you, Skybreaker.”

When I manage to look away from his blue eyes, I notice that we’re back at the Sanctuary. I could have stayed out all night like this, but that’s not fair to Nox. Wyatt dismounts first, and he holds my hand as I hop off. Completely unnecessary and fully welcomed. I don’t let go of him as I turn to pet Nox, thanking him for this incredible ride.

We enter the library, and I realize I’m not ready to go back to my room.

“I really liked holding you tonight,” I say with my eyes to the floor because letting those words escape was vulnerable enough. “Can I stay here?”

“My door’s been open since the day we arrived,” Wyatt says.

He leads me to the farthest corner of the library where a sleeping bag is hidden behind a waist-high bookcase with tomes organized by color, like a rainbow of literature. All the colors vanish as he switches off the light. We’re both wet, so we strip down to our underwear, and I change into one of Wyatt’s dry shirts; he got me in his clothes like he wanted. We share the one pillow with our lips a breath apart and hold each other as phoenix song plays outside like nature’s greatest playlist. Except I’m too wired to think about sleeping.

Today, I went back in time so I can save lives, and tonight, I changed mine.

Forty-NineForevermore

MARIBELLE

It’s late when Roxana gets us to Saffron Square in Brooklyn. Tala sends her away since she’ll be vulnerable in the market.

We go down into the abandoned train station where seven years ago construction was halted after wild basilisks kept swallowing workers whole and chewing the steel tracks between their fangs. I remember Mama saying how much she didn’t envy the celestials contracted with killing the basilisks, and how outraged the Save the Serpent activists were.

I had no idea there was a whole underground market operating here. It’s always a strange feeling when visitors know your city better than you do, but Tala has done business here before.

There’s graffiti all over the walls: a celestial telekinetically strangling a basilisk with the train tracks; green blood dripping from a slit palm and forming a girl and her serpentine shadow; a subway entrance shaped like a snake’s mouth with SHED spelled in fangs; and the biggest piece is of a basilisk with windows trailing down three flights of steps like a train that’s delivering us straight to the market.

“Welcome to the Shed,” Tala says as she puts on her mask, its beak still broken from our fight, and she passes shoppers with her shoulders high.

Glowing lanterns hang above the twenty or so booths, though it’s mercifully still dark enough that people don’t seem to be recognizing me. It’s close to one in the morning and there are easily a hundred people down here. How many are here to save the world and how many want to keep ruining it? I’ve smelled worse in my life, but the way someone has gone heavy on