Page 92 of Kingdom of Shadows and Wings

Come close…agon…call…

I cock my head. What is the voice saying? Surely, flying a little closer couldn’t hurt.

Zephyr fights the command, but I barely notice. The voice keeps whispering. It’s such a nice sound. Soothing. Maybe if I just?—

An oily cloud bursts from the stalks in front of us. Zephyr banks a hard right, and we avoid the tainted air by the skin of our teeth.

Fear clogs my veins. An icy cold snakes down my throat and into my lungs.

I’ve seen that oily cloud before, in one of my nightmares.

But how?

The cloud and tendrils reach toward us, so I urge Zephyr upward until we’re high above the field. I force myself to take slow, steady breaths and squeeze my eyes shut.

“Lark?” Olive’s voice drifts across the field. “Why are you way up there? Did you see something?”

My eyes pop open. “Yes. You won’t believe this, but I saw?—”

I glance down at the eyril field and freeze. Everything looks normal. The tendrils are gone, and there’s no sign of the oily black cloud. The grassy field is as green as ever.

Could I have imagined it?

Maybe Nick isn’t the only one who needs his beauty sleep to function.

“Saw what?”

“Nothing. I saw nothing.” I nudge Zephyr toward Olive and Nova. “Just thought I’d fly higher to get a better overall view.”

Once we’re all satisfied no one is hiding in the eyril field, we head to the stable in silence. Everyone is tired. Even Nick and Abel aren’t ribbing each other, and I want nothing more than to put this day to rest and start over. Too many bizarre or unsettling events have happened in too short a time frame. One more, and my brain might explode.

Back in the stable, I groom Zephyr, making sure I brush him thoroughly. After the night we’ve had, he deserves the care.

Olive produces some sugar cubes from her pocket, handing me one to give to Zephyr and feeding a second one to Nova. “Do you think we baby these alicorns too much?”

Zephyr’s mouth tickles as he takes the treat from my outstretched palm. “Of course not.”

“I don’t think so either, but Nick and Abel love their alicorns and still got out of here in a flash.” She shakes her head. “Typical guys. Once they get what they want, they’re gone.”

I wonder if she’s speaking from experience. “There must be some nice ones out there.”

“Yeah, but nice guys are like dragons. You know they exist, but they’re a rarity.” Olive brushes Nova’s shoulder, laughing when the animal makes a contented grunt. “But is that what you really want?”

“What?”

“A nice guy.”

I never put much thought into what kind of man I might like but whenever I did, I pictured someone out of a storybook. Someone courtly and kind, who doted on me, agreed with everything I said, and whispered sweet words in my ear. Now, I’m certain a man like that would bore me to tears. “Umm?—”

She gives me a sly wink. “There’s a certain dangerous, brooding instructor who’d be a lot more fun than any nice guy I know.”

Swallowing hard, I widen my eyes and feign innocence. “Who would that be?”

“Don’t play dumb.” She shoots me ayou know exactly who I’m talking aboutlook. “I’ve seen the way you two act around each other.”

My face burns. “If you’re talking about Instructor Thorne, he was only helping me get up to speed with flying. And even if Ididlike him and hedidlike me, he’s off-limits. You know that.” Why is it so damn warm in here? “And what do you mean by how we ‘act’ around each other?”

“When you’re not arguing,” a grin spreads across her face, “you two act as if you’re a few seconds away from tearing each other’s clothes off and?—”

---