Page 33 of The Storm of the Empire (Flyers Of The First Kingdom #3)

THIRTY-TWO

LUKA

S he blew the door out and we spilled into the corridor.

The corridor was empty, but my gut told me they’d be on us any second. I kept a hold of her hand because they were armed with whatever they’d used on Kol, and I would not let that happen to her.

I’d protect her with my life if I had to.

We turned to run down the hall back the way we’d come in, expecting the ambush at any second because of the noise the explosion made. The guards who’d thrown us in the cell were at the end of the corridor, just coming out as we approached.

My instinct was to tuck Hazel in behind me, but I’d clearly forgotten who and what she was because a change came over her as she faced the males. A taste of her dragon reared her head, revealing the Archeiai in her. Faster than the lightning she wielded, she had the first male disarmed and splayed out on the floor before he could even react. Then she struck the second with the hilt of the sword she had taken from the first.

I looked both the unconscious guards over and then up at her in awe. “Fuck, that was hot.”

She wiped at her face with the back of her hand and eyed the sword in her grip. “Arsehole took my favorite sword.”

“By the Goddess, that should not have made me hard.”

Hazel looked at me all predator, still seething, but a knowing in her gaze reminded me that she might be able to hear my thoughts. I’d need to get a handle on that because around her, the majority were lustful.

“You can eat me next.”

“I can hear you.” Her tone came with a smirk.

“I know.”

“I hope you don’t mind having a partner who can kick your arse.”

“Not even a little.”

She rifled through the belts of both fallen fae and retrieved the weapons they’d stripped us of and thought to keep for themselves. She tossed me a sword.

I caught it as dread filled me. Our time was running out. “We have to go.”

She nodded once, and we ran.

Shouting came from the way we’d come as they discovered our messy escape, and we pushed on, tracing our way back towards the temple stairs because we didn’t have time to hide or evade. We only had one shot at this, or they’d make sure she couldn’t use her magic.

“Stop them!” Octavian bellowed from behind us.

The way he’d battled Nyx made me sure I didn’t want him on our tail. Hazel was formidable, but she was also half Nyx’s size, and he’d nearly killed Nyx. If they shifted, she’d have a much harder time fighting him.

We had to get clear of the temple and fast—our only hope was to outrun him.

As we turned towards the stairs, more guards spilled out into the hall ahead of us.

“Fuck.”

“Goddess save us,” Hazel muttered, taking on a fighting stance.

I took my place at her side. The guards weighed us, and I knew that would be their downfall. They’d target me because I was a closer match in size while they’d completely underestimate the deadly female by my side.

I almost felt sorry for them.

Almost.

“Stand down,” one of them ordered.

Hazel laughed. She actually laughed, and they did not anticipate what was coming. She moved like lightning taken fae form, cutting down the first and letting the second slip by for me to take on while she lunged at the third. We fought like we had been training together for years.

Our mental connection made us a more complete team than even training could have given us. Every movement she made was given to me a second before she made it.

When the guards were all on the ground, boots thundered down the corridor behind us.

“Move!” I said, and we reached the stairs climbing as fast as we could.

We burst through the door and into the temple, causing priests to turn and stare.

“Come on.” She grabbed my arm and took off at a run across the temple towards the door.

Two priests in the doorway held up their hands in surrender as she charged, sword in hand. They looked terrified, but a sick feeling hit me in the gut, and I knew something was amiss.

“Don’t just let them go!” came Octavian’s harsh command from the stairway.

As Hazel approached the temple doors to either take the priests on or blow right past them, another came from the side, wielding a giant candle stick and doing Octavian’s bidding.

“Hazel!” I screamed, warning her.

She spun without breaking stride and ran her sword straight through him.

I skidded to a stop, mouth agape at the way she’d just cut him down. I almost had to adjust myself. She was too hot for words.

“Really? ” She rolled her eyes.

“Really. Would you rather I not enjoy your murderous rage?” I had no shame.

“Males.”

The other two priests scattered, clearly not wanting to be caught at the end of her blade, and we both cleared the doors and ran down the steps in seconds with the sounds of more fae now in close pursuit.

Hazel tossed me her sword as we ran and immediately began to shift, shredding through her clothes because there was no time left.

“Jump on!” she called into my mind as she kept moving, and like it was a rehearsed move, I came alongside her and jumped on her back, tucking her sword into my belt as we launched into the sky.

I slumped forward, breathing hard, barely keeping a hold of her.

“Are you okay?” she asked even as she hauled us into the sky with her powerful wings.

“Not really,” I deadpan. “I’m hard as fuck, and these leathers don’t have enough give for what you do to me. Do you know how hard it is to run like that?”

“How can you think of sex at a time like this?” s he growled into my mind. Her rage and ability to be in my thoughts did nothing to ease my raging libido.

“How can I think of anything else? The way you fight is about the sexiest thing I've ever seen.”

“Well, can you focus for a minute? We will have Octavian on our arses if we don’t get clear. I need your magic.”

“What are you going to do?” I asked, looking over my shoulder to see if there was a dragon in pursuit. I didn’t see one, just the temple getting smaller at our backs.

“I can’t outfly him for long if he follows, but —if there’s a storm—I will have the advantage.”

“The storms passed for today.” I replied, never having thought I’d say that with any regret, but it might have helped us . “How are we going to find one?”

Maybe she knew something I didn’t.

“Thats why I need your magic, I’m going to summon one.”

“You’re—what?” I choked. “Won’t that kill me? Disrupt my magic?”

“No, we’ve melded. We share magic now, which means mine won’t hurt you.”

“So we could go flying in a storm?”

“Yes. When I say now, give me all you’ve got,” she instructed me, undeterred. Then she drew up magic from all around us.

It gathered and buzzed in my ears, making the hair on the back of my neck stand. Electricity vibrated over my tongue until we were almost one with it.

The sky was full of it, and she had it all in her command.

Goddess alive.

“Now!” she cried into my mind, and I forced out all the power from inside me, untrained and unchecked through the invisible strings that bound us, straight to where she connected to my soul.

Thunder rattled the air around us and the sky darkened.

We darted through the gathering clouds and dodged forks of lightning, weaving through the tempest like she was made to do.

“Fuck my life,” I muttered to myself, holding on for all I had.

“I swear to the Goddess, if this is turning you on, I will have to get you seen by the mind healers.”

“I can’t help it,” I groaned, trying to adjust myself in my torturous leathers but unable because if I released my hold on her, I’d fall straight into the ocean.

“Just hold on and don’t die,” she ordered and banked sharply over the coast.

I looked back into the tumultuous skies we were leaving behind and was sure Octavian had not given chase.

“Where are we going?”

“As far as we can get away from here,” she said, dodging another bolt of lightning.

She twisted and rolled through the sky, more like it was a dance than flight. She followed the air currents better than breathing. It was truly a sight to behold. I held my seat like it was second nature. Something had synched within us, and I didn’t need to think too hard to be one with her up here.

“You’ll never make it in a straight flight,” I cautioned. “You haven’t had enough rest.”

“I’ll have to make a stop,” she agreed, “but not at Damona Island. They might look for us there.”

I thought for a minute. “Hug the coast. It’s a longer flight around the edges of the Sixth, but they will expect you to go out over the Middle Sea. If they search, they will look for us there. We can break up the flight and lose ourselves easily in the coastal mountain towns where they would never think to look.”

In wordless agreement, she banked again, setting a course for the border to the Mountain Kingdom, and before long, we were flying through clearer skies.

We flew for hours, and my head reeled. All the changes that had just been thrust upon us were going to take more than hours to get used to.

I had magic.

At least some to give her.

I had a dragon!

“You mean I have a ryder,” she laughed, having heard the thought.

Well, okay, I was a ryder, I didn’t actually think anyone could just like have a dragon.

But we were bonded—that much I understood. She would have to explain the rest to me in very clear detail. This was not a course change I was expecting.

I guessed I could join all the classes I wanted now. I had a real reason to be there. But my drifting days were over.

I’d thought it would be the worst thing to have to give up the constant motion my life had been in, always seeking more while not counting on anyone but myself. But everything was different now. I would have to be based in the capital, and even if I was called away, wherever I was going to be from now on, it would be with her. And I wasn’t sure how to wrap my head around it all yet, I just knew everything had changed and I was not unhappy about it.

I surveyed the land rolling away beneath us and caught sight of a town in the distance.

“Look,” I told Hazel. “Somewhere we can rest.”

“You think it will be safe?” she asked.

We hadn’t spoken in a long while, and I was shocked by the fatigue in her voice.

“I’ll protect you,” I teased. “Just please land before we fall out of the sky.”

She flew in over the trees to a clearing just north of the town, and we landed softly on the pine needle-covered ground.

I slid off her back and groaned as I stretched. I couldn’t imagine how she felt.

“Luka, we might have a slight problem,” she said from behind me.

I turned to find her gloriously naked. “I’m not seeing the problem…”