Page 73 of Ash and Roses

‘You have to let me go.’

‘I can’t.’

‘You’re not the monster you think you are. Be the king I know you to be.’I turn away from him and give myself to Jade.

“No!” Quinn shouts, throwing himself towards us.

“Goodbye.” There’s only enough time for a single tear to run down my cheek before I’m in the air. Jade holds me tight in his arms, his wings outstretched behind him, black and red against the grey-clouded sky, scales glistening silver in the moonlight. I never imagined it would feel so lonely up here amongst the stars.

A mournful howl echoes across the land, sounding so distant now as I’m torn away from the man who holds a piece of my heart.

CHAPTERTHIRTY-EIGHT

ABBY

It’s cold up here with the wind whipping against me as we fly over the forest. Humans were not meant to fly like birds, and the constant sensation of rising and falling has my stomach tingling. I know Jade would never drop me, but this is terrifying. The steady beat of his wings offers no comfort, as the memory of a hushed conversation between Guardians resurfaces. ‘It was perched atop the stables and had massive wings.’ Could Jade have been the monster they’d spoken of?

“You don’t have to be afraid of me,” he says. The suddenness of his words has the opposite effect, and it takes a moment to calm the rapid beating of my heart. I still haven’t been able to bring myself to meet his gaze, but I can feel his boring into me. What am I supposed to say to that? After tonight, he hasn’t exactly given me a reason not to be.

“Just don’t drop me.”

He chuckles. “Never.”

There’s a sudden rush of wind and my stomach drops as we swoop towards the trees. I want to scream, but keep my lips shut tight. I don’t know how we manage not to hit a single branch as Jade lands with surprising finesse. He releases me the instant we touch the ground, and, for a moment, I wonder why we’ve stopped here. There’s an energy to this area that has me instantly on edge.

“What happened here?” I ask, scanning the area until I spot two men from Rosewood sitting against a tree with their wrists and ankles bound. On the ground in front of them is Ruben. “No!”

I run for him, but don’t get far before arms wrap around my waist and lift me off the ground. “Slow down there, Princess.” That voice isn’t Jade’s, but it’s familiar. I don’t care who it is and jab them with my elbow. My assailant lets out a huff, but doesn’t release me.

“Let her go,” another voice says, and this one I recognize. It’s Merrick.

The man releases me, and I fall to my knees. “Oops, sorry!” I whip my head around and recognize Rhett immediately. When he reaches out a hand to help me up, I slap it away. Petra is there too, though she’s quietly watching me from her seat on a tree branch with what could only be hate in her eyes. If they all survived, how many others did too? There’s no time to ask because once again, I’m moving for Ruben.

I throw myself down on the ground beside him to check for a pulse. His skin is cold, and the only pulse I feel is my own. The only sign of damage to his body is the burn-blackened eye. It’s as if someone had pierced it with a flaming stick—or arrow—that has since vanished.

It would have killed him the moment it penetrated his brain, before he even had the chance to warn Tess of the impending threat. My heart breaks for him, but that emotion comes second to anger. Jade said this was self-defence, but the only way I could see that happening is if Ruben attacked him as a wolf. I can’t be certain how their anatomy works after a shift, but I can’t imagine the damage would line up so perfectly with his human form. If I had to guess, he was killed just as he is now.Human.

I wipe the tears from my eyes and turn my attention to the captives and their binds. “Release them!”

“So they can attack us again? Not likely.” Petra says, dropping from her branch ten feet in the air and nailing the landing.

“Then I’ll do it myself.” I pull out my knife. Before I dare cut them free, I scan the people around me for any sign of retaliation. Petra looks like she’d sooner take the knife and kill me with it, but she doesn’t move. Rhett looks like he doesn’t want to be here. Merrick stares me down, while Jade’s eyes flit between Merrick and me as if his loyalties are conflicting.

“Don’t be too hasty, Abby. I’m sure you know of the beasts they become.” If Merrick is trying to warn me, he’s doing a poor job of it.

“Of course I know what they are. But what about you? Do you turn into a bat, too?”

Jade and Rhett chuckle, but Merrick looks as if I’d hit a sore spot, given the tightening of his jaw. “Dragons are proud creatures.”

“Says the Drakling.”

He steps towards me in anger, but Jade moves to block him. “Don’t. She may have betrayed me, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let you anywhere near her.”

“Betrayed you?”That comment has me on my feet.

Jade whips around at the challenge. “I thought titles meant nothing to you, but the second we’re apart, you throw yourself at a false prince.”

The words sting. That’s not what happened at all, but the guilt I’ve felt since finding out Jade was alive is still very much present. “I thought you were dead.”

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