Page 38

Alina

EVERYONE ON THE GROUND—MY grandfather, Sir Larsen, Tristan, all the assembled knights in their polished armor—shrinks as Raelan’s heavy wingbeats lift us higher and higher into the chill air. Even the tops of the tallest trees become but pinpricks below us, and the forest becomes a swath of dark across the land.

I should be afraid. I should be very afraid. I’m on the back of a dragon, for goodness’ sake.

And yet I can’t bring myself to fear anything except the dizzying drop to the earth below.

This is just like that dream I had, the one I wished would come true. But I never thought it would. Even now, I almost wonder if I’m imagining this, imagining the kiss of cold air on my face, the roll of thunder in the distance.

I cease looking down, trying to quell the nausea twirling through my stomach from the sheer height. And as soon as I’m able to peel my eyes away from the ground and cast my gaze upon the sky, everything changes.

Up here, flying just beneath the clouds, I can see for miles. The distant Emberstone Mountains look smaller from so high up, rather than the towering giants they are when I look at them with my feet planted on the earth. It’s like I could reach out and drag my fingertips across their peaks, scoop a handful of their glittering snow into my palm and watch it melt across my skin.

Raelan’s wings beat the air again, sending the wind curling and cutting around us. I lean forward, gripping the edges of his glossy scales to hold myself tight to his back. Up he arcs, climbing higher, and I take a breath just before we cut through the cloud cover.

It feels like moving through a dense wet fog. Droplets of moisture cling to my hair, and I risk removing one hand from Raelan’s scales to adjust my cloak and pull it tight, warding off the cold in the air. For a moment, all I see is gray.

But as soon as we break through the clouds and into the air just above, I lose my breath.

With no fluffy gray clouds to impede my view, I’m bathed in silver light. It washes over me, twinkling and cold, and a shiver of awe goes through me.

I’ve never seen so many stars. They are a blanket above me, and they feel so close that I’m sure if I were to reach for one, I could pluck its glittering brilliance straight from the night sky and cradle it in my hand like a precious jewel.

This is . . . breathtaking.

Yet at the same time, I’m filled with deep sadness .

Because this is where Raelan belongs. His wings, glossy black with a subtle shimmer in the starlight, hold us aloft as we glide through the air, shifting ever so slightly as air currents wrap around and over us.

Now that he’s not pumping his wings anymore, the ride has become significantly smoother, and though my heart thrums and my hands shake, I challenge myself to sit up fully rather than leaning forward with a death grip on him.

Thin air caresses my cheeks and sends my hair flying out behind me. I shiver, though I imagine it’s more from adrenaline and awe than it is from the chill.

Slowly, slowly , with hands and fingers trembling, I dare to spread my arms out wide. And for a moment, I can almost pretend I’m the one with the wings, flying high over the earth, going where humans can only dream of.

Raelan shifts slightly, his long neck twisting so he can level one slitted black-gold eye at me. And somehow, I believe he’s smiling.

A few tears trickle from my eyes, but the wind whisks them away, leaving but a trail of cold down my cheeks. Then I laugh. The sound is stolen away, but I keep laughing. Then I let out a long scream, yelling into the sky for all the air beings to hear.

This freedom is... intoxicating. I don’t know how Raelan resists it, how he lives with that chain around his neck, weighing him down in more ways than one.

And I know I must not allow this part of him to continue to remain stifled and caged.

Raelan looks forward, then begins a gentle, steady dive back toward the clouds. The shift, though subtle, makes me gasp and grip his glossy scales once more.

And yet I know he’d never let me fall. I know this deep in my bones, a knowing that is both instinctual and magical.

I keep my eyes open as we dive back through the clouds, feeling the droplets of water gather upon my cheeks and along my eyelashes. Then we’re in the darkness again, flying through the sky with the moonlight veiled by the clouds above.

And in the distance, thunder rolls.

The air smells of an incoming storm, and I can feel an electric current starting to build upon my skin. Raelan must feel it too, for he dives even closer to the ground. We’re flying over the wildlands now, the places outside of Wysteria that have yet to be fully settled. Much of this land still firmly belongs to nature—the way it should be—but as such, I’ve not explored it, have not become at all familiar with the movement of the land or the whispers of the trees.

I believe Raelan must know this place, for he flies surely, no hesitation in his movements.

Our speed decreases gradually, and then Raelan banks to one side, though not enough to send me tumbling toward the ground below. I tighten my legs and hold firm to his scales, then catch my breath as he tilts his wings to slow our speed. The air created by his powerful thrusts sends my hair and cloak whipping wildly about me, obscuring my vision and forcing me to lean forward and press myself against his neck. Then there’s a rumble, a rustling of trees, and the wind goes still .

Tentatively, I sit up and open my eyes.

We’ve landed.

And we’re in a small clearing surrounded by trees. Though it’s difficult to see with clarity through the dark, I notice there’s a ramshackle cottage standing in the center of the clearing, as if it’s been here waiting for us all along. Plants crawl up the weathered exterior, slowly reclaiming the structure as their own. It appears to have been forgotten long ago, like many things in the wildlands.

Another roll of thunder sends me looking up at the clouds we were just flying through. Far off, a bolt of lightning cuts through the sky, making me blink against its sudden brightness.

Raelan holds out his wing, and I ease myself onto it, my legs shaking so fiercely I have to kneel and use my hands for balance. He lowers his wing slowly to the ground, and I’m able to get my feet under me and stumble into the cold autumn grass.

Then I turn to face the beautiful beast towering over me.

And I try to save this moment, this image, in my mind for safekeeping.

For Raelan is truly magnificent. He gleams even in the inky dark, his scales glistening like midnight oil. His eyes have a gentle otherworldly luminescence, the flakes of gold putting off a subtle glow.

I wonder if all the dragons were this beautiful.

My heart squeezes.

Learning about the Dragon Wars, I felt compassion and empathy for the creatures, the shifters who were hunted or taken captive, both prized and feared for their power. But now, looking up at a real dragon, at my dragon, I’m overcome with grief.

How can humans be so cruel? Why do we allow our fears to drive us to such terrible lengths?

The skies should be filled with dragons. Instead, those few rare shifters who still live, their ancestors having escaped the violence, have to hide themselves, have to fear being found or taken or killed.

Because of me, Tristan discovered Raelan’s secret, and the Veiled Hand came for him, tried to take him from me. All because of me.

Grief crashes over my shoulders, so wild and overwhelming that, when paired with my still-trembling legs, it knocks me to my knees.

There’s a rustling of wings, a rumble of earth as Raelan takes a step. And then he’s lowering his head to my height, his nostrils sending hot air billowing over my cold body.

Tears streak down my cheeks, but this time, there’s no sharp wind to whisk them away.

“I’m sorry, Raelan,” I whisper as I gaze up at him. “I’m so, so sorry.”

Another burst of warm air dances across me, making my skin prickle. Then Raelan steps back, and I turn my eyes away as he begins the transformation—I’m still not quite accustomed to the way his body moves, the stretching of skin and rearranging of bones.

A moment later, bare arms are wrapping around me, pulling me into a naked chest .

Raelan’s chest.

“Alina,” he whispers, and his voice just makes me cry harder. He pulls back and tips my head up so I’m forced to meet his glittering black-gold eyes. “Are you hurt?”

I shake my head, trying to stop my bottom lip from trembling.

“Then what’s the matter?”

“It’s... It’s...” Another sob shakes my chest. “I’m just so sorry about everything. About what my people did to yours. About what I did. Because of me, they almost... almost...” My throat closes up, my tears threatening to choke me.

I don’t know what I would’ve done had they succeeded in taking Raelan from me. The very thought makes me cry even harder, nausea twisting my stomach into sickening knots.

Raelan’s eyes soften, his lips pulling into a frown.

Overhead, lightning cuts through the clouds again, accompanied by another roll of thunder, closer now than it was before. Raelan looks up, searches the starless sky above us. His jaw goes hard.

“Come on. The storm is near.”

I’m still trembling. I try to push to my feet, but my knees shake, struggling to hold my weight.

But Raelan’s arms are there, one under my knees and one cradling my back, and I twist into his chest, relishing his warmth and the firmness of his body. And it makes me feel safe, secure. Like there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.

He carries me across the dark clearing, the dried autumn grasses whispering around his legs. The cottage is encircled by a low garden fence, but the gate is standing open, and he walks right through, like he knows this place.

At the door, he shifts my weight so he can use one hand to grasp the door handle. The door swings open with a small squeak of complaint. Raelan steps through, then pushes the door closed with one foot.

And as soon as we’re inside, the rain starts. It’s not one of those slow autumn storms; it’s as if a dam has opened, and all the water comes rushing out at once.

“Can you stand?” Raelan asks. Inside, it’s even darker, and I can only barely trace the shape of his face in the blackness.

“I . . .” I sniffle. “I think so.”

He lowers me slowly to the floor, and I let out a small breath when the cold wood under my bare feet sends a tingle up my legs. But my knees hold steady. I release my hold on Raelan with some hesitance, already feeling colder without him against me.

“This way,” he says, his fingers sliding down my arm until his hand grasps mine. “Watch your step.” He leads me through the dark. I can’t make out what the shapes are in the room we enter, but he helps guide me onto a couch, and I immediately relax into its embrace, my cloak still wrapped about me. “I’ll be back. Just a moment.”

His feet pad across the room, then up a set of stairs I didn’t even see. I stare into the darkness, listening to the rain on the roof and Raelan’s subtle movements upstairs.

Yes, he must know this place. It seems he’s familiar with it, even in the deep dark .

He returns to me a minute later, and I’m still sitting on the couch when he lights a fire in the hearth. The sudden brightness makes me squint. It takes a moment for my eyes to adjust. And when they do, my gaze goes to Raelan.

He pushes to his feet, then turns to face me. He’s wearing a baggy tunic and trousers—certainly fetched from upstairs—and his feet and throat are bare.

No chain.

For a moment, we regard each other. Something like timidity curls through my veins.

“Are you okay?” Raelan asks, his voice barely audible over the pounding of rain and the low hiss and crackle of the fire in the hearth as it climbs hungrily across the split logs Raelan stacked there.

I nod once, reaching up to swipe any remaining tears from my cheeks. “Sorry,” I whisper. “I just...” Brow furrowing, I shift my gaze to the flames. “I think I finally understand you. At least better than I did before. And I’m sorry for all of it.”

Raelan lets out a gentle sigh. Slowly, he crosses the room toward me, and my heart thrums as he sinks onto the couch beside me. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“But I do ,” I say, voice finally finding some strength. “That”—I gesture vaguely toward the sky—“was amazing , Raelan. It was... the most exhilarating thing I’ve ever felt.” My skin prickles with the memory of the star-filled sky, the quiet to be found so far above the earth. “That’s where you belong. You deserve to be free.”

Raelan is searching my face, and he lets out a gentle chuckle before glancing away. “You don’t think I’m free? ”

I shake my head vehemently. “No. That chain, the magic that binds you...” I recall the shackles that were placed about my wrists, the frustration and anger that arose when I realized I couldn’t access my magic. “It’s not fair. It’s not right .”

Raelan lifts his shoulders in a small shrug. “It’s what I must do.”

“To keep from hurting others, you mean?”

He nods once, the firelight illuminating his face as he stares into the flames.

“I want to help you. I don’t want you to have to live in chains anymore.” The thought of having to wear those magic-dampening shackles day in and day out makes me queasy.

His eyes cut to me. “How? I know of no such magic.”

Biting my lip, I shake my head. “I don’t know yet. But that’s my promise to you. I’ll figure something out. We’ll figure it out... together.”

Raelan regards me through dark eyes. A bolt of lightning offers brief bright illumination. But I don’t look about the room; I look only at Raelan.

“I was so worried,” he says at long last. “When I learned you’d been taken, I—” He flexes his jaw and shakes his head. “I wanted to kill them all.”

Recalling the moment Raelan was handed over to them, bound in chains with his eyes covered in a blindfold, I whisper, “I know just how you felt...”

Slowly, I reach out from beneath my cloak, allowing my fingers to inch across the dusty couch cushion until they touch Raelan’s. And his skin is as warm as the flames. He spreads his fingers, allowing me to twine mine through them.

“I don’t ever want to be parted from you,” I say into the darkness. I’m not quite brave enough to look upon Raelan’s face as I speak; instead, I stare down at our fingers—his light bronze, mine a soft brown. “Please don’t push me away anymore. I don’t... I don’t think I can go through that again.”

Raelan turns our hands over, his thumb tracing my palm delicately. A shiver dances down my spine, and a light layer of frost forms on my skin, but it melts immediately beneath Raelan’s warm touch. “I thought I was doing the right thing,” he says. “For both of us.”

I finally look up at him. His brows are drawn low over his eyes, his lips pulled into a slight frown. A tremble returns to my hands as I reach out to touch his face. His eyes lift to mine as my fingers trace his jaw.

“And now?” I whisper.

His gold-flecked eyes search mine, trail across my face, my lips. They leave heat in their wake. “Now...” His jaw flexes beneath my fingers. He lets out a short sigh. “I’m tired, Alina. I don’t think I can fight it anymore, even if I should.” His gaze burns.

The emotion in his eyes reaches right into my chest, filling my heart until I feel it might burst.

“Then don’t.” I start to lean toward him, but he goes rigid.

“I don’t have my chain,” he says, starting to pull away. “I... I won’t be able to control myself. ”

Despite his effort to keep space between us, I scoot closer, pressing my thigh to his on the couch. “I trust you. And I want you. All of you.”

He turns his face away, the muscles in his neck and jaw straining. “Alina, I—”

A sudden realization burns through me like a star shooting across the summer sky. I don’t question it, don’t try to hold it in. Instead, I allow it to fill me with a truth I know deep in my bones, in my blood.

I open my mouth and whisper, “I want you to claim me.”

Now Raelan’s head whips toward me. In the golden light of the fire, his pupils contract, and a few scales shimmer into existence across his neck and collarbones. But this time, there’s no chain around his throat, nothing to attempt to force him into submission. There’s only us, this quiet abandoned cottage, the deluge of an autumn rainstorm upon the roof.

“What?”

“I’m your fated mate.” I reach for him again, finding his cheekbone, cupping his face so he can’t turn away. “My magic wants you. Your magic wants me. I think we’ve both resisted long enough.”

His breathing is turning heavy, like the very thought of it already has his heart racing in his chest. “Do you understand what this means?” He lifts his hands to mine, trying to pry them away, but I hold fast, forcing him to look me in the eye. “Once I claim you, there’s no going back. We mate for life. It... It’ll change everything.”

I scoot closer. This time, Raelan doesn’t attempt to move away. “I understand.” Slowly, I inch my fingers around the back of his head, pulling him toward me. He allows me to press my forehead to his. “Claim me. I want to be yours.”

He squeezes his eyes shut. His body starts to shake. I lean away, catching my breath.

And when he opens his eyes again, they’re those of his dragon.