Page 39 of Heart of Fire (Royal Ice Dragons #3)

THORNE

Kaelan paced down the halls, his footsteps echoing through the long marble passageway. He’d cut off the negotiations he’d been engaged in suddenly, leaving behind a confused lord.

Worse, there had been a terrified look that came over his face abruptly.

Only one person brought out such powerful emotions.

I glanced around to be sure we were alone before I hissed, “Is Hanna all right?”

“Doubtful.” His voice was dark.

“Tell me what the fuck is going on? Where are we going?”

“The roof.”

“And then what?” My jaw was so tight it might shatter. When Kaelan worried his emotions would break loose, he turned from his usual taciturn self into a completely non-communicative asshole.

“The Isle.”

“We need a ship!”

“Too slow.”

“Flying over the sea without a place to land to refuel is suicidal,” I snapped at Kaelan’s back. “Hanna doesn’t need a dead husband.”

Kaelan scoffed, never breaking his stride. “If you can’t keep up, don’t come.”

“Do you remember when we flew just half that distance?” I demanded.

The two of us burst out onto the roof of the castle. The wind howled around us, tugging at our clothes as if it were an enchantment that sought to drag us to shatter on the rocks below.

“Listen,” he told me, raising his hand to stop me as he raised a memory. He opened the door into his mind for me.

Hanna’s scream echoed through my mind. “ Help me ! The nursery — help !”

There was no denying the desperation in her voice.

Kaelan’s icy blue gaze met mine. “We’ll find a ship where we can stop as we cross. I’m not stupid. But nothing is going to stop me from having her in my arms by morning.”

It was madness.

But I nodded, already stepping onto the turrets. “Let’s go.”

Kaelan leapt up beside me, his cloak whipping round him in the wind.

The two of us let ourselves fall toward the ice far below, and then our wings snapped out, and we were soaring.