Page 147 of The Keeper of the Kingdoms

“They will catch us all. We have to go.” Faolan pushed my shoulder.

“Run, Kiera,”Jaxus cut through all the other noise. Right to my mind. “You must help Nyx if I don’t get out.”

“I can’t leave without you.” I’d nearly lost him once. I couldn’t get this close and allow it.

“Please just go. The fate of the kingdoms is in your hands.”

Faolan grabbed my arm, pulling me through the opening.

I struggled for a moment but let him take me. We ran until we came out under a treacherous sky. The weather groaned, angry and ready to snap.

We kept running until we hit a cliff face. I stepped to the edge. “What do we do?!”

Faolan took my hand. “Trust me?”

I nodded, and he backed up a few paces. I knew what he planned before he ran headlong for the edge. I went with him before I could let fear catch up. We went over the edge, and he didn’t shift. A scream filled my throat, but it was lost on the wind that whipped up around us, cushioning our descent.

Faolan squeezed my hand, his grin stretching ear to ear as our feet lightly landed on the black sand. “Not every dragon needs his wings.”

I rolled my eyes. “Do you want a cookie?”

He put his hand out. “I’d love one.”

I lifted my face to the sky, waiting for Jaxus to come over the edge. Minutes dragged, and he didn’t come.

“Goddess, please.”

Finally, his massive gold wings stretched out, but there were other dragons at his tail.

“Shit.” I turned towards the water and ran.

Jaxus swooped down, landing next to me and shifting back to his fae form while the other dragons struggled to stay in the air, the wind whipping up around us. It had to be Faolan manipulating it. I tucked my chin, fighting the gusts with every footfall.

“Should we go back for Drys? Try and convince him?”

“I barely got out of the tunnel. They ambushed us. There are half a dozen of them.”

“We have to fight them.” I risked a glance at him. “You can’t just leave him.”

“If we try, we won’t escape. We have to get back to Nyx.” Jaxus grabbed me around the middle, scooping me off my feet sadness consuming us both.

For our losses here and the ones I knew would come.

I reached for my last hopes of curing Nyx, realizing I’d lose him just like Kol, and it broke me.

Before this war was over, would I have to watch every person I loved destroyed by it?

Jaxus leapt aboard the ship while Faolan shoved off the shore and jumped aboard. The wind howled around us, threatening a storm. The air crackled, and the hair on my arms stood on end. The power in it filled my chest with dread.

“Will we even make it to shore?”

“We don’t have a choice.” Faolan held the ship’s wheel with one hand while lifting the other to the sky to bend the air to his will.

We tied ourselves in while Faolan sailed us to the open sea.

“Shouldn’t we fly?” I asked, watching the waves grow.

“We wouldn’t make it,” Faolan yelled.