Page 18 of Forgotten Arcane (Broken Ashes #6)

It looks easy enough. I hope I don’t regret thinking that. I flex my wings again to familiarize myself with the movement of them, and then I go for it. Excitement thrums through me as I run and launch myself into the air, remembering to flap my wings behind me.

The guys whoop and holler in encouragement as I manage to get into the air, and my smile is huge for a mere moment before I fall back to the floor.

“That’s okay, it’s all about practice,” Raiden yells down to me.

I keep trying, and I finally manage to get myself into the air properly, but I’m wobbly as hell for a moment.

I’ve been up here for a while, trying to get the hang of it, when I slip to the side slightly again, I frown.

“You need to dip that left wing more,” Coen calls up. He’s been yelling up suggestions for a while.

If I’m being completely honest, I figured it out pretty quickly after I finally managed to get up here, but as soon as Coen started yelling up suggestion to me instead of coming up to show me, I realized that he’s not shifting for a reason, and I would be willing to bet that the reason is that he’s scared that he’s not going to be able to.

For someone like Coen, who was so fucking good at flying, and who taught so many dragons complicated flight maneuvers, and how to fight while in dragon form, both against other dragons and other supernaturals as well, I can imagine that the thought of not being able to do that anymore is fucking terrifying for him.

However, my instincts are telling me that he’s wrong, and that he can absolutely still fly like he used to be able to.

I’m not entirely sure how I know that, but then again, when it comes to my instincts, I’m always saying that I don’t know how I know certain things.

I did see him transform into his dragon when he killed Kylen, though, and although I obviously couldn’t do a thorough examination of his wings, they didn’t appear to be obviously damaged or anything like that, so that at least makes me think that what my instincts are telling me is correct.

The point is, I know Coen, and I have seen how he trains dragons, he likes to show people what to do, he likes to demonstrate, and if a dragon is finding something particularly difficult then Coen gets up there a shows them how to do it, talking them through it step by step.

I also know from the increasing number of suggestions that he’s been yelling up to me, that he’s gradually getting more and more frustrated that he’s not up here, and not able to help me the best way that he knows how.

So, although I’ve got the hang of it, and I’m even fairly confident that I could pull off some of the moves that I’ve seen him teach in training, I’m still pretending that I’m struggling because I know Coen, and I know that he’s going to get so frustrated that he’s going to come up here.

At least that’s my theory.

It all depends on how much his instincts and need to help me go against his fear. I’m relying on him getting frustrated. I think that will probably be the biggest motivator for getting him into the air and to stop him from overthinking it. I’m hoping that it gets him past his fear.

If this doesn’t work then I will talk to him, he tends to be as stubborn as I am though, and also likes to use distraction techniques a lot when he doesn’t want to have a certain conversation, and I really fucking love his distraction techniques so it always works.

My mind drifts back to last night, and my flight falters as I tilt to the side because I’m so distracted. The silver lining is that it at least backs up what I’m trying to do.

At least I’m still in the air, and while I could have rescued myself fairly quickly, I make sure that I’m really wobbly for a while.

“What are you up to?” Reed asks me, as I continue to fly wobbly.

I make sure that none of the guys on the ground can see me properly, and then smile at him.

“Just go along with it,” I mutter.

“You’re not struggling as much as you’re making out, are you?” Griff asks.

Raiden chuckles, “She got it as soon as she got in the air.”

I blow him kiss, because it’s impressive that he noticed that, and because I’m not yet confident enough to kiss him while flying, and since it appears that my wings are super fucking sharp, I don’t want to risk trying to kiss him, and then end up slicing him instead.

That’s a sure way to kill the mood.

“Just carry on trying to help me, if my plan works, then you’ll get why,” I tell them.

“We can do that,” Raiden grins, curiosity sparking in his eyes.

“I’m intrigued to know what you’ve got planned,” Griff grins. He glances down at Coen, “Although, after what you told me when you joined my class at the Training Academy, I think I’ve got a pretty good idea about what it’s about.”

I nod and tap the side of my nose. “You got it.”

Griff smiles while Raiden and Reed just look curious, and I realize that I haven’t bobbed and weaved for a while and should probably do that before anyone down on the ground cottons on to what I’m trying to do.

River

T he more suggestions that Coen yells up to Neith, the more attention switches from her to him.

It’s obvious that he knows what he’s doing, and I vaguely remember Neith saying something about him being one of the best flyers that they had seen for a while.

When we were at the Magical Academy, before Coen joined the Draconian team and we went to the Training Academy, we only really saw him fly a few times because of the way that the classes were set up.

I get the feeling that there is something else going on with him right now.