Page 44

And so he and Draven had acted the only way the two males could.

They had split up, each to save the ones they loved.

Now above us, Nightclaw circled slowly with Sunstrike supported over him. The female exmoor was still stubbornly beating one wing. She could never have landed on her own, but with Nightclaw’s help, her deadly descent speed had been reduced.

I watched as Nightclaw guided his mate away from the battlefield and began to bring them both down some distance from us, towards the forest treeline that stretched to the south.

As they disappeared from sight, there was a coughing sound. Belatedly, I realized I was lying on top of Draven.

Scooting off quickly, I watched as he got his bearings and caught his breath.

We were in a small grove. Or what had been one until recently. All of the trees were blackened and charred. I must have destroyed it while flying with Sunstrike because some of the trees were still smoking even now.

We had landed in a good spot, sheltered from the battle and relatively hidden.

Overhead, in the distance, raptors and battlecats dove and struck. Arrows flew and missiles soared. The battle was clearly not over.

My brother, Daegen, was nowhere in sight. I hoped he would assume I had died in the fall.

I looked down at where Draven still lay on his back and grinned. “Now that was a nice surprise.”

“You—” He coughed again, a hacking, wheezing sound. “You didn’t expect me to be... so acrobatic...” He coughed again, pounding on his chest. “Did you?”

“I expected to be dead right now,” I said matter-of-factly. “But I should have known you’d once again be full of surprises.”

“That’s... me,” he said, with another gasping cough. “Can’t have you getting bored with me.”

“Bored?” I leaned over him, brushing his dark hair off his forehead. “Never.”

I pressed my lips against his, kissing him softly.

And as I did, I tasted something metallic and familiar.

Blood.

I sat back, my heart beginning to speed up. “Now why don’t we pull you to your feet?”

“I find I much prefer...” He paused to cough, turning his head away from me. “I much prefer to recline.”

“Get to your feet, you stubborn bastard. I want to take a look at you.” Heart hammering, I stood up and reached my hands down for him to take.

He groaned, then very slowly pushed himself up onto his elbows. “What’s there to see? I’m not very impressive.”

“I’ll be the judge of that, you insufferable man,” I said. “Besides, you’re just hunting for a compliment.”

He tried to grin up at me, and I glimpsed a hint of the pain he was concealing. “Standing is overrated.”

“Up,” I said, clenching my jaw. “Now. Not a request.”

He took my hands, surprising me, and heaved himself to his feet.

The scent of blood mixed with the rich scent of earth was stronger as I stepped behind him. Crimson ran down his back over the metal plates of his cuirass. There was a split in the plates where something had penetrated. A tree branch. Sharp and short, it had slipped between the plates. The force with which he had hit it must have been immense as we landed.

“We rolled. I felt something. Just a scratch,” Draven said breezily.

Of course, his easygoing tone was contradicted by him having to stop and catch his breath twice as he spoke.

“There’s a fucking tree branch sticking out of you, you can hardly breathe, but it’s just a scratch?” I glowered at his back, then gingerly reached out a hand and touched the branch. It was sticky with blood, and I could see the irregular edges of torn flesh all around it. “We need to get this off you.”