Page 53 of Fae Exile

But little Saffron, whom I’d believed to be sleeping soundly, jerked upright atop the saddle and scrambled into my arms with such ferocity that it was as if he were trying to burrow under my very skin.

Xeno chortled, an equal mixture of misery and amusement. “It doesn’t look like he’s ready to give you up either.”

“But ... what if something happens to him?”

“With me and you watching over him, that won’t happen.”

But even he must realize they were empty assurances when we were dealing with the likes of the queen.

I pressed a kiss to the soft scales at the dragonling’s crown. “Please, Saff. I need you to be safe. Please let us take you home.”

But Saffron whined then whimpered and pressed himself against me till not even a sliver of air drifted between us.

A sinking despair slunk deep in my gut as I exhaled loudly.

“What about the rest of you?” I asked, not bothering to increase my volume since they were all so obviously eavesdropping. “Do any of you want out of this suicide mission?”

“Nah,” Roan said. “I’ve been wantin’ to kick the queen’s pretty arse since I first laid eyes on her. I’ve been itchin’ to bring her a fight. With a chance to finally beat ‘er, no way am I goin’ anywhere else with anyone else. We got us a queen to murder, lassie.”

“Same,” Finnian echoed.

Pru and Reed were silent, which I could only take to mean they too had lost their minds along with the rest of us.

“Though it’s entirely possible Rush’ll kill me before I get to so much as lift a boot in the cunt’s direction,” Roan added. “I promised to take you as far from her as I could n’ do what I can to keep you safe. And he gave up everythin’ for you. Now I’m marchin’ you right back into the dragon’s den.”

I swallowed thickly. If we were truly returning to Embermere, then the dragon’s den was exactly where we were going. And I was bringing practically every person and creature I cared about in the entire world to face the dragon with me.

We were all almost certainly going to die.

I knew it with a sickening churning in my gut.

But the compass deep inside me, the one that sang loudly that I was doing what I must, what I was born to do, kept pointing the way forward.

“Fuck,” I muttered.

“Yeah,” Xeno repeated. “Fuck us all.”

As if the Sorumbra itself were alive and following every word we said, it chose that moment to speak back.

Something large and dark blotted out what was left of the sun as it swooped overhead—then dove straight toward us.

19.IF THEY WERE TO BE MY LAST WORDS, I SHOULD’VE DONE SO MUCH BETTER

~ ELOWYN ~

“Incoming,” Reed yelled, though I couldn’t imagine any of us had missed the beast so large it blotted out our entire slice of sky as it headed straight toward us.

Finnian, Pru, and Roan shot into the tall brush to either side, joining Reed who was already there. Xeno jerked Bolt’s lead, guiding the horse—and me and Saffron atop him—through dense brambles that clawed at my legs and then into a copse of trees beyond them.

The trees, a mixture of old and new growth, tangled close together, and by the time I was able to turn Bolt around to face the faintly marked path we’d been traveling, Xeno was gone. Only the boots he’d worn remained behind, signaling he anticipated the need to shift into his dragon no matter the state of his wings.

My heart leapt into my throat as I encouraged Saffron out of my arms and alone onto the saddle. But after I dismounted, he scrabbled back into my grip despite my attempts to keep him where he was.

Now was so not the time for his clinginess. But I could already tell it was a fight I wouldn’t quickly win.

“Get onto my back right now,” I ordered in an urgent hush while patting my shoulders.

Saffron wasn’t ordinarily a fan of obedience, but he must have sensed the threat mere seconds from reaching us. As he’d done with Pru during the umbrac attack, he wrapped his legs around my torso and clung on tightly. It wasn’t exactly what I’d call a comfortable fighting position, but it’d have to do.

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