Page 111 of With Wing And Claw

That was funny. She could have sworn she no longer had any feet.

The world tilted without warning. Arms hoisted her from her chair, and crystals swam above her, dazzling, mesmerising colours her eyes could no longer comprehend. Far too close, far too loud, Nicanor’s voice shouted, ‘Clear the way!’

Wings swept out. Not her own wings. These were blue, and there were no scars on them.

Did she still have her own wings?

She didn’t feel them anymore … oh, gods, had she lost her wings? Suddenly tears were running down her cheeks, because shelovedflying, and now she’d never fly again, and she was so very tired it ached …

‘Thys,’ Nicanor’s voice was repeating, strangely urgent. ‘Thys, stay awake. Just a few more minutes, alright? You can sleep in a few minutes. Stay with me now …’

They were no longer in the hall, suddenly. Open sky above them. Dark blue, streaks of purple. Stars, so many stars.

They were flying

She didn’t know how. She’d lost her wings, and either way, her body was so heavy she should be plummeting like a stone. So heavy … so tired …

‘Thys,’ Nicanor snapped.

So angry.

She was crying again.

They smacked down onto something. Then there was no longer sky above them but a ceiling, pale wood with burn marks in strangely green colours, and there were no longer arms around her but something … what was the word again …

A floor.

Yes, there was a floor beneath her. Good. She could sleep on a floor. She could …

‘Thys, stay awake.’

Why wouldn’t he just shut up?

Glass tinkled. Drawers slammed. Then he was kneeling before her again, his face pale like his hair, something in his hand. A vial. Pink fluid. She liked pink. It made her think of Naxi.

‘Open your mouth, Thys.’

She wasn’t sure where her mouth was supposed to be again. He cursed and hauled her up from the floor – so strong, if he could move something as heavy as her … Then the vial was against her lips. It didn’t taste good. It didn’t taste like Naxi.

‘Don’t you dare spit this out,’ Nicanor told her as bitter horribleness slid onto her tongue, and she was so shocked she swallowed.

Ughcame from her mouth.

‘Yes, yes,’ he said, soft, almostcomforting, as he chucked the vial aside. ‘It’s very ugh. Well done, Thys. You can sleep now.’

Thank the fuckinggods.

She barely felt her head hitting the floor again.

Chapter 24

‘… going to killthemall,’ the prettiest, loveliest, angriest voice in the world was saying.

‘You know I’m the last to get in the way of lofty ambitions,’ another voice – lilting, silvery – said, and only then did she hear footsteps pacing back and forth around wherever they were. ‘I’m just saying we should possibly wait until she wakes up before we decide to massacre the entirety of her court, you know?’

She

Wakes up.