Page 229 of Heat of the Everflame

I knelt at her side and leaned up against her. She curled a wing around me to protect me from the brisk night air.

I took her muzzle and pressed a kiss to the top. “You saved him. You saved us all, really.”

She gave a high-pitched whirr, and a wave of affection flowed across the bond.

“You were incredible up there. The Umbros gryvern had nothing on you. It’s too bad you weren’t there when I met the Ignios gryvern. I bet you could take him, too.”

Her golden eyes dimmed as she laid her head in my lap.

I frowned, feeling a flicker of her sadness. “You don’t like the idea of fighting him, do you?” Smoke floated from her nostrils in a soft whimper. “Did you know him once? Are you siblings, like the Kindred were?”

Her wing shuddered against me.

“Not siblings, then. Friends?” I cocked my head. “Morethan friends?”

She arched her head to the sky and let loose a low, mournful howl so thick with emotion it brought tears to my eyes.

“Oh, Sorae,” I whispered. “The Kindred separated you thousands of years ago, and you still care for him, even after all this time?”

Sorrow soaked the bond in answer. She slumped her head on the ground, her wings falling limp at her sides. I squeezed my arms around her and stroked a hand down her back.

“No wonder Tybold’s so cranky. He must miss you, too.” I sat up and looked at her. “He saved me in Ignios, you know. He worked around his King’s orders to protect me and Luther.”

Sorae’s head swung out toward the balcony’s edge. Her ochre gaze stared into the distance—over the trees and beyond the sea, toward a land of desert and fire.

I glared at the golden chain at her neck, the symbol of her forced servitude to my Crown. I wished there was some way I could see them reunited, but I was hardly a welcome guest in Ignios now. Even if I sent Sorae alone, the King might order his gryvern to kill her on sight.

“I’ll find a way,” I vowed. “You and Tybold saved me and the man I love. I don’t know how, but we’ll find some way to repay the favor.”

She nuzzled me lightly, though it was half-hearted and full of defeat. She knew I had no power to terminate the gryvern bonds, even our own. Perhaps past Crowns had made her similar promises, and she’d learned to stop hoping for a change of fate.

Lucky for her, I was a Bellator, and a stubborn one at that. Her doubt did not dissuade me. Itfueledme.

I dropped a kiss on her forehead and gave her a sympathetic hug, then returned to the bedchamber and walked to my wardrobe. I swung its door open, blocking myself from Luther’s view.

“Sorae says you’re welcome for saving your life,” I called out. “But next time she would prefer you not bleed all over her pretty wings.”

“Tell her I’ll make it up to her with all the apples she can eat.”

A trill rang out from the terrace.

“Be careful,” I said dryly. “I’m not sure there are enough apples in Emarion to fulfill that promise.”

I began to strip off my clothes. The key to the Umbros Queen’s library fell from where I’d tucked it in my bandeau and hit the ground with a clink.Doubt I’ll ever be using that again, I thought tartly as I snatched it up and tossed it to the back of my wardrobe.

“Also,” I added, smirking to myself, “I made Sorae a promise on our behalf. She’s in love with Tybold, the Ignios gryvern. We’re going to reunite them.”

“She... Tybold...What?”

I peeked around the door. “They love each other, just like us. We’re going to free them so they can be together.”

He threw back his head and laughed loudly. “Why am I not surprised? You’ve never met a person or creature you didn’t want to help.”

My nose wrinkled. “That’s not true. There’s lots of people I have no desire to help.”

“No? You didn’t save Vance’s life from Sorae’s fire back in Arboros?”

I scowled. “It doesn’t count if I regret it now.”

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