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“You know I can’t. No matter how close our bond, it doesn’t cross.”

I flexed my jaw as I vaulted the parapet, letting my dragon form stretch out as the wind rushed by my ears. Eyes closed, my body took its true form, filling out to the far reaches of myself. Wings, claws, scales all manifested mid fall, and I transformed into a dragon. My power ignited in my veins, connecting me with the element my magic was gifted from. Fire in my lungs, and the wind against my wings, I took flight.

Freedom.

My wings stretched out to catch the air before I came close to the ground. I turned toward the north, beating my wings to gain altitude. I inhaled, the magic in the air recharging my stores. Staying in our fae form too long prevented us from maintaining our full power; I’d let myself get far too depleted.

“Keep me updated.”

“I’ll do my best to put them off, but if they confirm Dragon’s Bane, there is little I can do.”

We could cover ground much faster than horses or even other winged beasts, but we still had limitations. Flying headlong and even using every last bit of my stamina, it would still be more than a day. I’d have to fly overnight, and it would take me well into the morning, but thankfully, they couldn't get word to the capital any faster.

“Where are you?” my brother asked as dawn crested, bringing the Goddess’ blessing to first light.

“Nearly there. What is it?”

“They think they found something. I’m going into the settlement with Elvar now.” His tone had changed. He’d taken his fae form.

“If you get caught disobeying orders…” I didn’t need to finish the warning. He knew the risk.

“Relax, brother. Orders have changed. Elvar and I are approaching the gates posing as followers of the Sisters of the Sands seeking lodgings. We will have eyes in the village in a few moments.”

“Good. Look for her.”

“I won’t be able to feel her?—”

“Dammit, I don’t care if you can feel her. Look for a girl in her early twenties with blonde hair and green eyes,” I hissed.

I sent him an image of her. The only one I had. A girl with blonde curls and a baby face. She wasn’t more than three. An unusual age for a flyer to find their ryder, but it happened when the realm had need. When the Goddess granted the gift as young as she had for us, it was so we could begin training our magic early. It always foretold great power and future conflict for the Twelve Kingdoms. The conflict already pushed in on our boarders and threatened to explode into a full-blown war. We’d needed that time together, but it had been stolen from us before we could begin.

I’d spent two decades searching for her.

“Don’t take this out on me. I’m trying to help you.” Kol was taking a great risk wandering into a village suspected to have Dragon’s Bane. It could be hanging in every building for all we knew, and it would prevent him from taking his dragon form for hours. Days, even, if he came into contact with enough of it.

“I know. I’m sorry.” I redoubled my effort, climbing even higher, seeking the good air.I had to get there.

THREE

ZARIA

Alarge beast slammed into the ground before me, rattling my bones. I peered up and saw wings and scales on a creature so frightening, he had to be real. No imagination could produce such a thing.

Fear paralyzed me, turning my body into living stone as he snatched me up in his razor-sharp talons.

I expected to be torn apart, my death delivered quickly by the Goddess, saving me from the long, agonizing death the herbs had promised. I lifted my face, accepting my fate at the hands of the Goddess Kalilah in all her mercy. I would walk on her Shores of Avalon as a willing servant.

But death didn’t come. Instead, we shot into the air. My stomach turned as it tried to stay on the ground, and I groaned at the sensation, my lungs too choked and my mind too lost in the hallucination to muster a scream.

I realized my eyes were closed, but when I pried them open, my body found the capacity for a scream after all. Terror bled in the sound that left my lips. My stomach lurched, and I fought to keep my last meal. The crops rushed by beneath us, the village a speck beyond them. Smoke and flames engulfed everything, and we soared up and above it all.

Air finally rushed into my lungs. Clean air, free from the suffocating smoke and the herbs which altered my mind and made me sick.

I heaved in the life-giving freshness, and my body came back. I was still choking from the smoke that had seared my lungs, but free from the danger of the herbs in the air at least. Maybe the Goddess had spared me?

No. If She had spared me, I would not be in the grips of a demon, being carried off to the Goddess knew where. To be torn apart and eaten? What else could such a monster want with a girl like me? To be its captive? I went cold at the thought of what sinister deeds such a creature could—no. I scratched the thoughts from my mind.

A deep sound emanated from my captor. It almost sounded like a chuckle, if such a thing were possible.