Page 63 of Beautiful Beast

Smoke flowed up from Zovai, and I tasted it. I invited them along. Is that all right?

Nothing in the world could stop my smile. “Yes.”

I looked down at the sea to our right, the line of sparkling water leading to the moon over the horizon. “I’d never seen it before. Until those windows.”

The sea?

“Yes.”

Something from Endre rumbled in my mind. Let’s go see it closer then.

My shriek split the air as all three of them turned and dove. Wind rushed past, searing my skin with the cold and filling my lungs with the same sharpness. The temperature warmed as we dropped, the air turning damp and wilder. Winds that weren’t theirs swept through my hair and left it tangled. My face hurt from smiling so widely.

We were so low we nearly brushed the surface of the water. Salt and spray tickled my skin and clung to my shift. There was nothing in the world that could compare to this. It was no wonder that humans envied dragons so.

But the dragons had shared flight freely before the wars. Where did everything go wrong?

The air on my skin made me wonder. “Your power is the air, Sirrus. You all have them? Like Idroal and their whispers?”

The wind is my power, yes, Sirrus said. A swirl of air curled around my neck like a caress from him. Endre can conjure illusions. Convince your mind to see what is not there, or create things that appear real.

“And you?” I pressed my palm to the dragon I rode. He didn’t speak at first, and when he did, it was tinged with sadness.

I have none.

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

A warm chuckle filled my mind. Do not be sorry, Lena. I have been alive for a long time and have accepted it. Though it does not stop my envy sometimes. Still, I am not flying with you on my back to drag you down into sadness.

Zovai turned, dipping a wing into the water, splashing me. I laughed, not caring that my night dress was soaked, the mood shifting back to light and carefree. This was the happiest moment of my life.

What would you like to see? Sirrus’s voice felt in my mind the way the wind did on my skin.

“Everything.”

Wind caught their wings and lifted. Now instead of low, we went higher than I ever imagined we could. Until I saw my breath in puffs in front of me and the mountain of Skalisméra was laid out beneath us. The curves of the Bowl disappeared into the distance.

“How do you ever stay on the ground?”

There are things on the ground we cannot find in the sky.

“Like what?”

You.

My stomach tumbled like he’d dropped me from his back and into free fall. If I were more daring, I would ask if I could leap and let them catch me.

We flew in silence, zigzagging through the mountains, eventually slowing. As much as I wished I could fly forever, I grew cold.

“Can I touch the sea? Before we go back?”

They turned and flew down to the sand without hesitation. Claws dug into the soft earth and absorbed any sound of their landing. But now I heard the waves, rhythmic and soothing. I loved that sound.

Sliding off Zovai’s back, I wiggled my toes in the damp black sand. In Rensara there were paintings of the ocean that captivated me. And even though the water in front of me was calm and not stormy, not a single painting came close to capturing the true majesty of something so vast.

I walked forward until the waves licked at my toes and gasped. It was warmer than I imagined, sucking the sand away beneath my feet.

“Is it what you thought?”

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