Page 39 of Wings of Cruelty and Flame

He answered with more grumbling, certainly nothing favourable. I ignored him, sucking down a long breath, tasting verdant life and fresh air and cool rain. It was a nice change to the humid heat of the Red Star, and Strava. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been surrounded by so many trees. Maybe I hadn’t ever.

Well, if I was going to crash to my death, at least I’d do it in such a picturesque setting. I braced my hands on Saif’s warm scales and shoved myself off his back. I knew instantly I wouldn’tland on my feet, or even my knees. Out of control, I flipped in the air, destined to hit the ground chest-first. Rain slicked Saif’s scales until I slipped faster, and only my gloves protected me from getting my hands cut open on the wicked edges of his scales.

I waited for death, for pain, for oblivion. Instead, magic smacked into me like a wall, jostling my bones, rattling through my head, and I groaned. The scent of cloves and cinnamon wrapped around me and slowed my fall, carefully lowering me to the ground.

I slumped into the wet grass on my knees. My head spun wildly and I pitched forward,justmanaging to catch myself with my palms on the ground. Not my finest moment. Maybe my worst.

When Shula grasped my arm in a firm grip a little harder than necessary, I grunted, “Thanks.”

She pulled me to my feet and made sure I was steady before letting go. It wasn’t a kind touch, wasn’t careful, but still there was kindness in it. She could have left me collapsed in the wet grass. “Don’t thank me,” she said. “That’s not my magic.”

I followed her gaze and froze when I saw Zaarib lower his hands, shoving them into the pockets of his rain-slick black coat.

“Let’s get inside,” he muttered, scowling, not acknowledging that he’d saved me from severe injury and potential death.

“Was that your first ride?” Nabil asked, coming up alongside us, his nose wrinkled as he looked at me.

“No,” I replied, keeping my head high, not letting these fuckers see how afraid I was. “My third, actually.”

Shula chuckled and slapped me on the shoulder. “You’ve got nerve, girl.”

Nabil shook his head and turned to the fortress, his long black hair clinging to his skull, making him look even harsher. I had to believe Varidian wouldn’t surround himself with cruelty.I might have known my husband only a day, but I hadn’t seen any sign of sadism in him, and he’d had multiple chances to show me that side of himself. Maybe it would develop later. Maybe they were all killers and monsters.

When I blinked, I saw the Last Guard burning, its people slaughtered. I saw the midnight wyvern cut through the sky, exhaling molten death. I saw the armoured tiger and its clergy rider. Whatever good I’d seen in faekind this morning, it was dead now. I didn’t see the good in anyone. I’d keep my guard up around this legion. Around everyone.

I followed Shula and Nabil towards the fortress, the doors heaving open with a crack and a low groan as Zaarib leant his tall body on the moss-covered wood. I expected a plume of dust and the scent of mildew but it looked tidy and smelled clean, so I followed them up the wise steps. But I paused when I realised Aliah remained in the middle of the landing field, not tending to her wyvern, just staring into space. The expression on her delicate face could only be described as horror.

Your kindness will get you killed,I chided myself as I trudged towards her, ignoring the imposing shadow of Zaarib’s gold wyvern as he leaned closer, inspecting me. I wiggled my gloved fingers at him. “My power works on all living things,” I told him. “Don’t test me.”

Truth be told, I’d only experimented on plants and flowers, but the threat made the massive golden beast rear back, allowing me to walk on.

“What is it?” I asked, my voice reaching across the field to Aliah. Her orange headscarf was so drenched it was three shades darker, the butterflies no longer gleaming but dull, matching the emptiness in her eyes. The others acted unaffected by what we’d seen at the Last Guard, but the haunted expression on Aliah’s rounded face echoed what I felt. “Can you see something?” Somewho possessed aether could see through it to the other side. “Are the people from the village there…?”

“No, I haven’t had a vision,” she rasped, her eyes focusing on me and then widening as she realised she was speaking to a stranger. “I have an ominous feeling I can’t shake. It’s probably nothing,” she hurried to add when I failed to conceal my worry. “I doubt it’s Fahad and Varidian; they’re experienced riders, even in this weather.”

But the weather grew heavier, the clouds pouring their rage onto us. It had been difficult enough flying to Willow Green. How much harder would it be to follow the wall further north, where patrols of tigers were regular and now even wyverns were enemies? Contrary to what newspapers claimed, Varidian wasn’t immortal. He couldn’t cheat death. He had dark control magic, but that wouldn’t save him from a treacherous flight or a fatal slip.

“Is that feeling a remnant of the attack on the Last Guard?” I asked hopefully. But I had to add, “Or something new?”

Aliah looked at the sky again, her mouth twisted. My stomach dropped when she said, “Something new.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

AMEIRAH

Two hours turned to four, and four turned to eight. Night descended on the fortress in Willow Green, enclosing the old stone walls in a sheet of drumming rain. The sky blackened, very few stars speckling the darkness. The air sat heavy in my lungs as I replayed the day, lingering more on the words I spat at my husband with every hour.

I leaned against the stone sill at the window in one of the tower staircases, where the fourth floor gave the best vantage over the woods, the fortress, the storm. Cold soaked through my clothes into my bones, cool dread settling in my heart. Where was he?

I’d changed from my leathers into a simple maroon djellaba for prayer, but standing at the window, shaking from the chill whistling through gaps in the old stone, I wished for sturdy leather. No, I wished for warm arms.

I banged my head against the old warped glass with a groan. I’d known Varidian two days. He should mean nothing to me.But he’d been kinder to me than most people all my life, and I found his humour, smiles, and maddening remarks addictive. I wanted to believe he was enamoured with me, wanted to believe hewantedme the way he seemed to last night. I remembered the way he marched into that room down the hall from his, threw me over his shoulder, and hauled me back to his room so he could sleep beside me all night.

He was my husband, and he might be a veritable stranger, but that meant something to me. Our marriage meant something to me. If he didn’t return… the thought made me sick with panic. Hehadto return.

Outside, moonlight flashed on the sharp edge of a sword, and I flicked a tear off my cheek, peering down at Zaarib. He’d been out there for hours, at first sitting beneath the arched entryway with the door cracked open, watching the skies for his friends, and now leaping and spinning over the grass, stabbing at invisible assailants with a barely restrained rage that gave me chills.

What if Varidian never returned? What would these people do with me? I wasn’t a traitor, so they had no reason to punish me, but I refused to believe my always-smiling, always-laughing cousin had betrayed Ithanys. Maybe they’d invent a reason to kill me, too. I brushed another tear off my cheek, the tips of my gloves stained wet.

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