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Erix read my obvious hesitation, arms crossing over his chest, which made the muscles beneath bunch. “Are you worried about me, little bird?”

“Should I not be?” I asked. It made sense, after all, I was worried about everything else.

Erix’s smile was fleeting. He looked down to the sleet-coated ground, his breath coming out of his mouth in a cloud of mist. “I am far more resilient in this… form. A positive side effect of becoming a monster.”

“You’re no monster, Erix.”

Was that where he believed my hesitation came from? After everything – even knowing what I left behind, strapped to a bed, in the ruins of my castle.

“Trust me,” I added. “I’m well versed with such things nowadays.”

To prove a point, I stepped in, unfolded his arms with my hands until I could melt in his chest. His body bowed around me, and he released a tempered breath. A spark of guilt twitched in my gut but faded when I quickly reminded myself of the promise I made to Duncan. He’d used Duwar to arrange our closeness, that was what I told myself. Although to anyone watching, they’d think the king was embracing his royal guard.

Erix began to tie leather straps around me, attaching buckles to clasps at his chest. I marvelled at the design, and he noticed. “This way I don’t need to hold you the entire time,” Erix explained when he caught me looking nervously at the straps. “My focus and energy can just be used getting us to Lockinge as fast as possible if I’m not worrying about dropping you.”

“Is this your design?” I asked, wiggling in the secure bindings.

“Just something I had an idea about,” Erix said, gaze wondering to something over my shoulder. “Although it’s the first time I have had the chance to trial them.”

“It brings me peace to know I am the one you’re testing it on,” I mocked, nerves bubbling out of me in a sharp laugh. “Not.”

His light chuckle vibrated through my chest.

“There isn’t anyone else I’ve gotten close enough to try it with,” Erix replied, but before I could blush at his statement, he continued, “Now you’re safe.”

Erix released a long exhalation, which sung of untouched words. Then he stretched his wings behind him, blanketing us in a cool shadow. One hesitant arm at a time, he scooped me from the floor. “If, at any time, you get worried, just wrap your legs around my hips and your arms behind my neck.”

“I’ll be fine,” I said, my skin shivering at the command. But to pretend this closeness wasn’t undoing me, I would do as he asked. Onlyifthe moment required it.

I pressed my face into his chest, inhaling the familiar scent of cinnamon which always clung to him.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Just don’t let me go,” I replied.

Then, with a gargantuan flap of his wings, the ground fell away. Above the roaring winds, I caught his soft reply. “Never, little bird. Never.”

We flew for hours, and not once did Erix relax his hold on me, even with the leather harness holding me steady. His grip was ironclad. Every now and then he’d stop for a brief rest, but I believed this was for me more than him. We ate cured meats, cheese and bread, dark fresh spring water, relieved ourselves and were airborne before a conversation could truly start.

And there was no talking as we speared through the sky. Only the symphony of roaring winds and his thundering heartbeat kept me company. Up here, surrounded by the endless blue, it was easy to pretend – pretend that life could be something I would one day enjoy.

Although I knew this would never be a possibility for me, I would do anything in my power to secure a world in which Erix, Duncan and everyone else I cared about could live in peace. They deserved it, each and every one of them. But for that, I needed Rafaela and the answers she hopefully held.

I was close to sleeping when Erix’s wings caught the wind like sails of a ship, stopping mid-air. I drew my face away from his chest, conscious I’d likely been snoring, mouth pressed awkwardly into his leathers. Blinking away my tiredness, I looked down to see what had stopped Erix.

At least he’d refrained from commenting on my snoring again – something he teased me about incessantly.

I looked down at the smudge of land beneath us. A patchwork of fields and hillsides split by rivers and roads. The sky was darkening to late afternoon, which made it hard to make out minor details. I narrowed my eyes on a line of moving… fire? No, not fire. Wagons drawn by horses left what looked like an old castle. Lanterns were held by those guiding the wagons on horseback. There were so many of them – far more than I could begin to count as Erix diverted our flight.

We landed half a mile away from the road. The moment we touched down, I could tell from Erix’s pacing that something had unnerved him.

“Something is bothering you.” I could read Erix well, but even a stranger could see that he was contemplating something that unnerved him.

Erix studied the dark as if a true monster would slip from it. He pointed at a dark stone structure in the distance. “Do you remember what that place was used for?”

I shook my head, squinting to make out the shapes. “Should I?”

“Yes.” His wide eyes flashed with fury. “Because we are just outside of Finstock.”