Page 172 of Once the Skies Fade

Swallowing the last bite of bread from lunch, I looked up as three figures drifted over the treetops and into view—massive creatures with scales of various hues and immense clawed wings, though I tried never to compliment those, lest it go to their heads. Isa and I rose to our feet to watch them circle above the castle twice before swooping down onto the gravel driveway.

Asher landed in the front, the sun reflecting off his bronze and gold scales as he stretched and brought his wings in close to his sides. Behind him, his two brothers, Dax and Kai, mimickedhis movements. By contrast, their darker scales—one a dark blue, the other a deep purple—seemed to swallow the sun’s light as it hit them.

They strode forward, their razored feet grating against the gravel, each step made slightly lopsided by the bundles they each carried in one of their front feet. I smiled warmly at them as they dropped the bundles to the ground beside them, but they made no move to shift.

“It’s going to be a bit difficult to plan with you in this form, no?” I asked Asher. His giant eyes rolled in annoyance, a sight that never failed to amuse me, even now.

Dropping his head low to the ground, he gave a massive shake from snout to tail. His wings shrank down, folding into his back as the rest of him seemed to melt away until he stood before us in his fae form. His clothes—which I never fully understood where they exactly went when he shifted—looked more suited to a leisurely holiday trip instead of the battle that likely awaited us across the Laraburn Sea.

“Thank you for coming so quickly, Asher,” Isa said from beside me. She dipped her head low to emphasize her gratitude.

“Honestly? I was looking for an excuse to get away from my current job,” he said. His brothers, still in their dragon forms, seemed to be struggling to stifle laughter, and Asher quickly glared over his shoulder at them before bounding up the steps to join us. “Never mind them. So, that Graham prick ran off with Matthias?”

I bristled, but when Asher’s brow shot up in intrigue, I tried to play my reaction off with a joke, grimacing as I said, “You make it sound like they eloped.”

Asher looked from me to Isa and back again. “So which one of you is going to tell me exactly why we’re all risking our lives for one male?”

“You said yourself he was a good one,” I noted.

He bobbed his head to the side and frowned. “True, but if you’re calling on us and risking war with Dolobare to get him back, I have to assume?—”

“He’s my mate.” I spit out the words like they were burning my tongue, but Asher didn’t laugh or make some quip at my expense. His eyes widened ever so slightly, before warming with affection again.

“I had a hunch.”

“You did not,” I grumbled. Not wanting to have to answer any prying questions, I clapped my hands and turned to Isa. “We’re wasting time.”

Isa shifted her gaze to Asher. “When can you be ready to go? Do you need to rest? Eat?”

Asher pivoted around, and after a brief moment, his brothers each nodded their giant heads to whatever he’d asked them.

“I’ll never get used to that dragon telepathy,” I muttered to Isa.

Giving one short burst of laughter, Asher said, “It’s not any weirder than that bond you have with our male in distress, is it?”

Male in distress.

I groaned quietly. “So? When do we leave?” I prompted Asher when he remained silent waiting for me to answer his dumbass query.

“We could leave now, but that would have us arriving in that barren-ass land in the middle of the night, and we wouldn’t be at our most energetic should we run into any trouble searching for him.”

Isa’s hand shot out to grab my wrist, squeezing hard. “I only thought of how to get us there quickly. How are we going to find him in all of those mountains?”

Shit.

I was about to echo the thought aloud when a thought struck me, and I angled my head at Asher.

“I have an idea,” I said.

Chapter 80

Matthias

Much like in the dungeon back in Arenysen, time ceased to matter in this stars-awful room.

Well, that wasn’t completely true. The breaks Graham provided were welcome reprieves that seemed to be over too quickly, though with nothing but stone and dust and chains surrounding me, I had no way of knowing exactly how much time passed. At least the asshole found it worthwhile to give me breaks to relieve myself—a courtesy I assumed was more for his comfort than for mine, so he could continue to slice and jab and carve away at me without a foul stench clinging to my body. He also offered water and food regularly, though like the salve, this was likely only meant to keep me alive for as long as he needed.

I just needed to survive long enough for someone to find me.

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