Page 32 of Wings of Cruelty and Flame (Heir of Wyvara #1)
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
AMEIRAH
I t was getting ridiculous now. Two more days had passed, and Varidian’s mood had soured after whatever was said at the meeting. He hadn’t told me the council’s exact words, only that we were all to carry on as normal and wait for Kalder to reveal their plans. I’d tried to ease his anger in my favourite way—flirting, bickering, then extremely satisfying sex—but the tiny niggle of discomfort
that had been growing for days expanded into a knot in my chest.
He hadn’t removed a single item of clothing around me in days. He even fell asleep fully dressed. When my hand snuck across his chest this morning, my eyes bleary with sleep, the room still dark around us, his hand had snapped out and grabbed my wrist, halting any exploration I planned. He took me so hard my eyes rolled back and I forgot how to breathe but—I was starting to feel like he was keeping distance between us, pushing me to arms length even when he was inside me, and it hurt right behind my breast bone.
Thus, I was in a fierce mood when I stomped out to the lawn at the back of the Diamond, taking great pleasure in trampling the grass. Yesterday I’d fared better mounting Raheema, and I’d drilled myself over and over until I managed to run up her leg and throw myself onto her back, even with my ribs throbbing and my ass blazing with pain. Progress.
Today, I wanted to practise with the seat straps until I could fasten and unfasten them in seconds, until the motion was so automatic that my fingers could do it themselves, and I didn’t particularly need my husband’s input for that.
I tried to remind myself he was grieving, and processing everything that happened at the Last Guard and Wyfell, but I was too irritated. Too hurt.
I sucked in a slow breath laced with humidity from the desert over the mountains, flicked a glance at Raheema who dipped her head to say she was ready, and leapt into a sprint. My feet slammed into the ground, getting my heart pumping, and I drew in slow measuring breaths to settle myself, fixing my stare on the place where I’d jump up and grab the curve of Raheema’s leg.
It wasn’t easy, and I still felt like my ribs were going to break at one point, but hand by hand I pulled myself up. Her scales were too fine to get a good grip, but she was smaller, so I could stand on the arch of her thigh and propel myself high enough to flop belly-first over her back. It wasn’t graceful, but I made it. Winded and groaning, but I made it.
Raheema flicked a look over her shoulder, her soft laugh speaking volumes.
“One day,” I panted, pulling myself into the leather seat, “I’m going to mount you like a real rider, and make you regret ever laughing. Or maybe I’ll make you climb a mountain and laugh at you.”
Try it, her sassy growl dared me.
I snorted, catching my breath. Okay, let’s do this. I grabbed the first strap and reached for the buckle, biting back a hiss of frustration at how awkward it was to fasten, then reaching for the next, and the next—
“Ameirah!” Varidian yelled, and I snapped my head up to see him racing from the back door across the lawn.
“I’m not in the mood, Varidian,” I sighed, not that he’d hear me. We’d argue, he’d let me close then push me away, and I’d just end up feeling worse. I just needed a day to clear my head and appreciate what I had—freedom, affection, and my life. I was alive, and I needed to remind myself of that.
“Wyverns have been sighted,” he yelled, something tight and frantic in his voice. I realised all at once his hair was pulled into a bun, his body dark with leather and weapons. “Just beyond the wall.”
“Are they ours?”
He shook his head, his expression panicked even from this distance. “We’re riding out to intercept them.” Movement drew my eye. The rest of the legion ran from the house to the wyvern barn and my stomach tightened. “Stay here, guard the Diamond.”
I straightened on Raheema’s back, finishing strapping myself in with rough tugs of the leather. “I’m coming with you, Varidian.”
“I can’t—”
“I’m not letting my husband ride off to face enemies alone.”
“Ameirah!” he shouted, so loudly that his voice echoed, stunning me into silence. “I can’t handle the thought of you riding into danger again, let alone delivering you to it. I need you to stay here so I can function. Please.”
The rawness of his tone made my stomach sink, and I sighed, dragging a hand through my hair.
“I can’t lose you,” he said, just loud enough for his voice to reach me. What I heard was I can’t lose anyone else and my chest compacted into a tight knot. It had only been days since he lost Fahad.
It made me want to scream, but I forced my head into a nod. “I’ll stay. I’ll guard the house.”
But I’d learned something about myself since leaving Strava. I couldn’t run from danger, no matter how afraid I was, no matter how traumatising those events would be. I was the idiot who ran into a fire to save someone instead of fleeing a fatal blaze.
“But if you get hurt,” I shouted down before he could speak, “I will kill you, Varidian Saber.”
His eyes curved shut, a smile tugging at his cheeks. “I’ll never tire of you saying my name.”
No, you just tire of my touch.
I didn’t voice that thought.
“Come back, or I mean it, I’ll hunt you down and murder you.”
He groaned. “I love it when you talk sexy.”
“I’m threatening to kill you,” I said, with exasperation that was almost drowned out by fondness. Just when I was angry at him, he said things like this and made me want to smile.
I jumped when Mak’s heavy wingbeats cut through whatever Varidian was going to say, the huge ivory wyvern landing on the lawn beside us. Raheema grumbled at him landing so close to her but the look he shot her was no-nonsense and full of warning. Raheema, sensing the seriousness of the situation, drew herself up higher and stopped grumbling.
Varidian tore his stare from me and raced up onto Mak’s back so fast he was mounted in a blink. Envy burned in my chest. One day, I promised myself, I’d be as fast as that.
“I mean it,” Varidian called across the distance, his face cut in stern lines, his hair pulled into a severe knot. My heart stuttered. Why did he have to look so good right now? “Stay put.”
“I will,” I promised. Lied.
“I love you,” he said, and he and Mak shot into the sky, leaving me stunned.
He loved me?
And he’d just flown off to face enemy wyverns, creatures no legion had been trained to fight because all the wyverns were on our side.
Despite how much I wanted to put salt in his tea and cut holes in all his clothes, with every smirk and comment and kiss, I was falling for him, too.
Fuck.