Page 67 of Wings of Cruelty and Flame

I imagined the sting of the fresh ink heightened as we wove around enemy wyverns—a term I never expected to use—but I was so hot, nearing the burnout of exhaustion, that it was hard to tell for sure.

Please let this work. Please let her be alive and unhurt.

Rain sluiced down harder, bouncing off Mak’s ivory scales. Focused on finding Ameirah, he whipped his head around when we passed over the burning wreckage of a row of stalls, and my stomach roiled at the smell, the ashes that remained. The vibrant souk Ameirah and I had walked through hand in hand was little more than char and cinders. Was the mark-scribe tent still standing? I couldn’t see from here, but the thought of its destruction made me want to scream.

Everything in me tensed, my senses sharpening at the low growl that trembled through Mak’s throat. Adrenaline made me straighten where I sat, buzzing with readiness to fight. He could smell her from here, and she was close.

“Find her, Mak,” I demanded, my heart thumping faster.

My mark burned so viciously now that I knew it wasn’t just my exhaustion. Something was wrong. My wife was hurt.

Someone had hurt her. People were going to die for this.

What we found when Mak tracked Ameirah down made me want to be sick. Two wyverns, one on each side of her, my Ameirah too small and easily broken between them. Protectiveness lit a torch to ward off the chill of my fear.

Makrukh whipped through the air with a threatening screech, driving his powerful tail into a bulky emerald as it leapt into the air. The emerald was thrown into a market stall with a crash that made my ears hurt. It went down with a whine and whatever it beheld in Mak’s face made it limp away instead of challenging him.

There,Mak rumbled, diving at the ground.She’s there.

My breath hitched when I focused on Ameirah, listing to one side as she faced down a sky blue wyvern whose stare never wavered from my wife. The wyvern was sleek and small, but still every bit as capable of murder as any other—razor claws, teeth that would shred fae skin and bones, a body capable of cracking bones, and that waswithoutfire that could melt skin, muscle, and organs. Fear made me so sick I thought I’d throw up.

“You grab her in your claws and we take off,” I called to Mak, my heartbeat frantic and slamming. My hands were slick when I reached for a knife to distract the sky blue while Mak made a grab—

He landed behind Ameirah instead of grabbing her, the ground shaking so hard she fell.No.No, no. A single breath from the sky blue wyvern and she’d be incinerated.

“Mak!” I yelled, fury making my blood pump faster. What the hell was he doing? The blue wyvern was so close it didn’t truly need to breathe fire. It could break Ameirah with a single step or slash her throat with its claws. I was one second from leapingoff his back and landing beside her, taking whatever blow was meant for my wife, when Mak gave me an urgent snarl.

It hit me like a punch to the stomach. “What the fuck do you mean she’s her wyvern?” I shook my head rapidly. “You know what? That can wait. Get Ameirah. Now!”

Ameirah was swaying so badly that both Mak and the other wyvern darted forward to catch her. My own warning growl shook my throat, primal and loud when I saw the blue wyvern touching my wife. But there were no teeth, no claws, no fire or blood.

Ameirah stared up at us, her eyes shooting past Mak’s scales until she landed on me. Her shoulders slumped instantly, a hard breath leaving her, and her relief felt like a blessing and gift. I hadn’t done anything to earn it yet, but I would guard that trust with my life.

“Mak’s going to pick you up. You can mount when we’re free from this place.”

Her eyes widened, but she didn’t fight it when Mak clasped her in his talons. She didn’t fight physically at least, but a scream tore from her when he jumped into the air, my wyvern speaking to the sky blue in a calm tone that changed the murder in their eyes to understanding. I met the wyvern’s silver eyes when they landed on me and didn’t break the stare even as Mak leapt into the air.

I began to breathe easier when we cleared the edge of Wyfell, the roars and screams and horrible, crackling flames behind us making a sour sickness twist my stomach. Those were normally sounds of victory, but having wyvernfyre turned against our own people was nauseating. I wanted to turn back and evacuate as many civilians as Mak and I could but… Ameirah was the priority. If I went back, she would too. My wife was too stubborn, too good and caring at her core, to let people suffer. I bet she only let us carry her away now because she was in shock.

I was looking forward to a) holding my wife for a solid hour without letting go and b) telling herI told you soabout being deserving of a wyvern. The sky blue flew alongside us, her eyes shifting from the chaos of the burning city behind us to the woman clasped in Mak’s talons. There was no doubt when I read her body language; this wyvern belonged to Ameirah.

“Land on the hill in the distance,” I called to Mak when we were far enough away. “Then I’ll get Ameirah on your back.”

He made a murmur of agreement, and then whipped his head around, angling his wings without warning to spin us in the air.

“Don’t drop her!”I screamed. I couldn’t fucking breathe.

But Mak’s attention wasn’t on the precious woman he held beneath him; his stare fixed on the seven wyverns that had followed us from Wyfell. Shit.

If we had the legion with us, I would have taken them on, but with just Mak and I and a wyvern whose fighting ability I didn’t know, I couldn’t risk it. I wouldn’t gamble my wife’s life on a merechanceof winning.

“Fly!” I yelled. “As fast as you can carry us.”

His low response askedwhere,and fuck it was a good question. If we went home, we’d lead the wyverns right to the Red Star.

“Try to lose them in the mountains,” I shouted eventually.

I didn’t let myself think about what would happen if we couldn’t shake them off our tail.

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