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I’m numb all over—and honestly shocked that I’m still alive. Lightning strikes dangerously close, but the thunder is growing fainter.

When Hokzuh lands in the garden, beyond the orchards and the lily ponds, I don’t thank him. I reach for my sister. She’s unconscious, and the light in her heart has gone pale, quavering with each breath. But Hokzuh doesn’t release his grip on her.

There’s a stench of betrayal in the air, and I dare not breathe. “Give her to me.”

The dragon reads my fear with a click of his tongue. “To think I missed those snake eyes of yours.” He glances at Oshli. “Tell me, shaman, did she always have such a poisonous glare?”

“Give her to me,” I repeat.

Hokzuh drops his humor. “You won’t outrun the monsters on foot,” he says quietly. He spreads his wings, lifting into the air. “I’ll take your sister someplace safe. I promise.”

I don’t get a chance to respond.

Behind you, says Ukar, nodding his head at the crumbling temple.

Angma is stalking out of its remains. Her fur is coated in dust, and she shakes it clean with a toss of her massive head. Then she parts her jaws and lets out an earth-splitting roar.

It’s a command. The suiyaks assemble above her, and they slip into the lingering storm clouds, disappearing into the field of gray.

“Go!” I shout to Hokzuh. “Hurry!”

He launches into the sky.

It’s staggering how fast the suiyaks catch up with Hokzuh. If he didn’t have Vanna, he probably would be able to fend them off, but his wings are still healing, and her weight throws off his balance. He’ll hardly be able to outfly the demons.

Damn it, I curse. Fight them, Hokzuh. Fight!

I’m running to keep them in sight, but there’s nothing I can do.

Then, with one last crackle of thunder, the suiyaks vanish. And against the expanse of stark, empty sky is Hokzuh, looking smaller than a bird, his raven-black wings folded over him.

He is plummeting, and with him drops my stomach.

Vanna is nowhere to be seen.

CHAPTER THIRTY

Lightning streaks the sky. Each bone-white flash is like a ghostly finger, clawing after Hokzuh as he falls through the clouds.

I don’t see Vanna in his arms. My heart stops in terror, and my mind’s gone numb, but my feet are moving. I’m running, blood rushing to my ears in a deafening cascade.

Reason screams that there’s no possibility I can reach Hokzuh in time. That in all likelihood, my sister lies broken somewhere in the royal garden.

I move faster.

Look at the sky, Channi, Ukar says as I run. He’s not falling. He’s diving.

The storm has returned. The rain is fierce, and when I look skyward, it pricks my eyes like needles. But Ukar is right. Hokzuh isn’t falling. He’s swerving for the ground while the suiyaks flee.

My fists ball at my sides. What would cause him to abandon Vanna?

The temple has collapsed, and its dust and debris obscure the scene before me in a dark gray cloud. I have to hold my breath as I run, my lungs threatening to explode. I cut through the remains of the courtyard, searching for Hokzuh and Vanna. So single-minded is my focus that I don’t see my father lumber out from behind a prayer pillar.

“You!” he screams, tackling me from the side. “You did this!”

He pins me to the ground. The first slap comes, but I don’t even feel it. My head doesn’t jerk back, as it always did before. He’s yelling, but I can’t hear his words.

I fall on my back against the grass and come face-to-face with the sky.